Stripe and Tempo Launch Mainnet for AI Agent Payments

Tempo activates its L1 blockchain mainnet, introducing an open MPP protocol with Stripe.

The platform Tempo, developed by Stripe and Paradigm, has activated the mainnet of its L1 blockchain. The project also introduced an open protocol for machine transactions (MPP), developed in collaboration with the fintech giant.

The new blockchain is designed to handle a large volume of operations. Alongside the release, the team unveiled a catalog of over 100 services that have already integrated Tempo’s solutions. These include Alchemy, Dune Analytics, and Merit Systems.

Funding and Partners

In October 2025, Tempo raised $500 million in a Series A round, valuing the company at $5 billion. Investors included Thrive Capital, Greenoaks, Sequoia Capital, Ribbit Capital, and SV Angel. Initially incubated by Stripe and Paradigm, they did not participate in the latest round.

The public testnet operated since December. During this period, major players from commerce and finance sectors joined the ecosystem, including Anthropic, DoorDash, Mastercard, Nubank, OpenAI, Revolut, Shopify, and Visa.

Companies are testing the use of stablecoins for cross-border transfers, global payments, and tokenized deposits.

Machine Payment Protocol

A key feature of the launch is the implementation of the MPP standard. It allows software agents and services to conduct payments automatically. The protocol’s code is open source.

MPP operates not only on the Tempo blockchain. The standard is compatible with various financial gateways:

• Visa adapted it for card payments;
• Stripe — for wallets and its platform;
• Lightspark — for Bitcoin payments via the Lightning Network.

The protocol supports a “session” function for continuous payments. An AI agent reserves funds in advance and spends them as services are consumed. This eliminates the need to confirm each on-chain operation — the system simply aggregates thousands of microtransactions into one final transfer.

Back in February, Stripe announced a preliminary version of a tool for autonomous machine transactions.