Stripe and Paradigm Launch Tempo Mainnet

Payments giant Stripe in partnership with crypto VC Paradigm officially launched the mainnet of Tempo, their purpose-built Layer 1 blockchain for real-world payments at internet scale. The project, incubated by the two companies, is now live and open to developers via public RPC endpoints.

Tempo delivers enterprise-grade performance: high throughput, ~0.6-second deterministic block finality (no re-orgs), predictable low fees paid directly in stablecoins (USDC, USDT, etc.), and no volatile native token. It also includes a built-in DEX optimized for stablecoins and tokenized deposits.

The standout innovation is the Machine Payments Protocol (MPP) — an open standard co-developed with Stripe (with extensions from Visa for cards and Lightspark for Lightning). MPP lets AI agents and autonomous software make payments without constant human approval. The key feature is sessions: an agent authorizes a spending limit once and can then stream thousands of micro-payments seamlessly.

Tempo already ships with a payments directory of 100+ integrated services (including Alchemy, Dune Analytics, Merit Systems, and more), so agents can pay for APIs, compute, data, and workflows without traditional keys or accounts.

Tempo Use Cases:

• Global remittances and payouts
• Payroll
• Embedded finance
• Sub-cent microtransactions
• Tokenized deposits
• Agentic commerce (autonomous AI payments)

Design partners include OpenAI, Anthropic, Shopify, Revolut, Visa, Deutsche Bank, Mastercard, Nubank, DoorDash, Ramp, Standard Chartered, and other Fortune 500 companies. Tempo runs as an independent company but combines Stripe’s payments expertise with Paradigm’s crypto infrastructure.

Developers can start building today: public RPCs, full docs, SDKs, and a hackathon (March 19 in San Francisco + online) are live. More enterprise features and opt-in privacy are coming soon.

This launch is set to accelerate mainstream stablecoin adoption in the enterprise world and power the emerging “agentic economy,” where AI agents handle their own finances autonomously.