Stripe and Tempo Launch Mainnet for AI Agent Payments

Tempo Goes Live: L1 Blockchain Built for Machine Payments

Tempo, the blockchain platform incubated by Stripe and Paradigm, has activated the mainnet of its L1 network. Alongside the launch, the team unveiled the Machine Payment Protocol (MPP) — an open standard for automated AI agent transactions, co-developed with fintech giant Stripe.

The new blockchain is engineered to handle high transaction volumes. At launch, the team opened a directory of more than 100 services already integrated with Tempo's solutions, including Alchemy, Dune Analytics, and Merit Systems.

Why This Matters

The debut of a purpose-built blockchain for AI agents signals the emergence of a new market segment at the intersection of artificial intelligence and decentralized finance. The MPP protocol aims to become a universal standard for machine-to-machine payments, and its compatibility extends beyond blockchains to traditional financial rails like Visa and the Lightning Network — dramatically expanding its potential reach beyond Web3.

The involvement of major corporations such as Mastercard, Visa, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Shopify in testing the Tempo ecosystem underscores significant enterprise interest in autonomous payment infrastructure.

Funding and Ecosystem Growth

Tempo raised $500 million in a Series A round in October 2025, at a $5 billion valuation. The round was backed by Thrive Capital, Greenoaks, Sequoia Capital, Ribbit Capital, and SV Angel. While Stripe and Paradigm originally incubated the startup, neither participated in this latest funding round.

The public testnet had been running since December. During that period, major players across commerce and finance joined the ecosystem:

• Anthropic
• DoorDash
• Mastercard
• Nubank
• OpenAI
• Revolut
• Shopify
• Visa

These companies tested stablecoin use cases for cross-border transfers, global payouts, and tokenized deposits.

How the Machine Payment Protocol Works

The centerpiece of the launch is the MPP standard — an open protocol enabling software agents and services to execute payments autonomously. The MPP source code has been published as open source.

The protocol is not limited to the Tempo blockchain. It is compatible with multiple financial gateways:

• Visa adapted MPP for card-based payments;
• Stripe integrated the standard into its wallets and platform;
• Lightsparkenabled Bitcoin payments via the Lightning Network.

A key feature of MPP is its "sessions" mechanism for continuous payment flows. An AI agent reserves funds in advance and draws them down as it consumes services. This eliminates the need to confirm each individual on-chain operation — the system aggregates thousands of microtransactions into a single final settlement.

Earlier in February, Stripe had announced a preliminary version of a tool for autonomous machine transactions, marking the company's first public step toward AI payment infrastructure.