Tempo, a payments-focused blockchain incubated by crypto VC Paradigm and private payments firm Stripe, launched its mainnet Wednesday. The network is designed to support the emerging agentic economy through seamless machine-to-machine transactions.
Alongside the launch, Tempo introduced the Machine Payments Protocol (MPP), a new open standard co-authored by Stripe and the Tempo team. MPP enables AI agents to request, authorize, and settle payments programmatically without relying on fragmented billing systems.
"MPP provides a standard way for agents and services to coordinate payments programmatically," the network stated. The protocol is payment-method agnostic, supporting stablecoins on Tempo, card payments, and Bitcoin via the Lightning Network.
Visa has already extended MPP to support card-based payments, while Lightspark integrated Bitcoin’s Lightning Network. Stripe added support for cards, wallets, and other global payment methods.
MPP operates using "sessions"-allowing continuous, streaming payments within predefined limits. This enables real-time payment flows between autonomous agents and service providers like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google, all listed in Tempo’s public directory of compatible services.
Tempo aims to modernize global payments infrastructure, targeting cross-border remittances and outdated financial rails. Its focus reflects a broader industry shift: the Ethereum Foundation recently formed an AI team and supported ERC-8004, a similar agent transaction standard. Coinbase also launched an AI agent wallet with built-in guardrails in February.