AI is becoming more and more capable, helping you check information, write code, and book air tickets. But there is one thing it has been unable to figure out: pay. Stripe and blockchain payment company Tempo released a machine payment protocol: AI intelligence is reflected in the ability to spend money on its own This is an open set of standards that allow AI agents to complete payments autonomously without human intervention. The process is very simple, four steps: 1. The agent makes a request to a service (it can be an API, MCP server, or any HTTP endpoint) 2. The service returns a payment request ("This resource costs X yuan") 3. Agent authorization payment 4. Deliver resources to the Agent No account registration, no filling out forms, no package selection, no request, payment, taking things, and finishing. The key details are in the third step. MPP introduces a mechanism called "sessions" that allows agents to pre-authorize a spending limit and then continue to micropay within this limit, without the need to confirm each transaction individually.

The payment methods are comprehensive: stablecoins, credit cards, debit cards, buy now pay later, all processed through an intermediary layer called Shared Payment Tokens (SPTs). Visa is responsible for the standards of credit and debit card payments, and Lightspark has integrated Bitcoin Lightning Network payments. If you are already using Stripe, integrating MPP only requires adding a few lines of code to the existing PaymentIntents API.

Visa, as a design partner for MPP, has done two things: First, it released the Card-Based MPP Spec (which allows credit card payments to run on the MPP protocol). Second, it launched the Visa CLI developer tool. Visa CLI allows agents to initiate credit card payments directly in the terminal without needing to manage an API key or pre-fund an account... Visit: to install For more detailed information: