Tempo, a blockchain project incubated by Stripe has officially gone live alongside a new payments standard designed for AI agents.
Tempo, developed with crypto venture firm Paradigm, has launched its mainnet together with the Machine Payments Protocol’ (MPP), an open framework enabling autonomous software agents to send and receive payments in both fiat and crypto.
https://t.co/m1LvWf3PBz
— Stripe (@stripe) March 18, 2026
The protocol is built to support machine-to-machine transactions allowing AI agents to pay for services, data, or digital goods without human intervention marking a step toward what developers describe as an ‘AI-native’ economy.
INTRODUCING | Automated Payments for Crypto Using AI Agents Are Finally Here
Tempo is looking at offering payments for familiar use cases such as cross-border payments or paying large groups of works at once both of which often involve multiple intermediaries and take days to execute.
Agentic commerce for micro-payments has also been proposed as an area where Tempo is seeking to establish a footprint.
Tempo’s network is designed for high-speed payments and stablecoin settlement with fees payable in major stablecoins rather than a native token. It also aims to integrate with existing financial infrastructure including card networks and enterprise systems while remaining compatible with multiple blockchains.
The launch reflects growing industry momentum around ‘agentic payments,’ where AI systems transact independently. Competing efforts are already emerging from firms such as Coinbase and Google highlighting a race to define the underlying rails for machine-driven commerce.
Tempo said its infrastructure targets large-scale use cases including cross-border payments and automated B2B transactions positioning blockchain as a settlement layer for the next generation of internet-based economic activity.
EXPERT OPINION | Why AI Agents in Commerce Will Use Both Cards and Stablecoins
Stay tuned to BitKE on crypto AI developments globally.
Join our WhatsApp channel here.
Follow us on X for the latest posts and updates
Join and interact with our Telegram community
___________________________________________