Tempo, the payments-focused Layer 1 incubated by Stripe and Paradigm, has officially launched its mainnet together with the Machine Payment Protocol (MPP). The dual release signals a clear strategy: rather than competing as a general-purpose blockchain, Tempo is positioning itself as settlement infrastructure purpose-built for high-frequency, real-world payments.
Stablecoin fees instead of a native gas token
According to the project’s published design, Tempo is built for performance, targeting tens of thousands of transactions per second and sub-second deterministic finality. One of its most unusual features is the absence of a native gas token at launch. Instead, users can pay transaction fees in major stablecoins through an integrated AMM using the TIP-20 standard. The team said no token is being issued at launch, citing the need for greater regulatory clarity.
That model is especially relevant for enterprises that want predictable settlement costs. By allowing fees to be paid in stablecoins rather than a volatile native asset, Tempo is trying to align blockchain payments more closely with business finance and treasury requirements.
MPP is designed for machine-to-machine commerce
The release of MPP may be the more consequential part of the announcement. Co-developed by Stripe and Tempo, the protocol is intended as an open standard for payments between software agents, AI systems, and automated processes, without requiring human intermediaries. As AI agents begin to handle real commercial workflows on their own, payment capability is increasingly seen as foundational infrastructure.
Stripe’s CEO had previously described Tempo as a “decentralized, internet-scale SWIFT” for next-generation settlement. That framing highlights the project’s ambition to serve as a universal payment rail not only for crypto-native applications, but also for machine-driven and enterprise-grade transactions.
Targeting cross-border and B2B settlement
The business opportunity Tempo is chasing is substantial. Stripe processed $1.9 trillion in total payment volume in 2025, up 34% year over year. Over the same period, global stablecoin volumes doubled to $400 billion, with 60% tied to B2B activity. Tempo is aiming at the $190 trillion annual cross-border payments market, where traditional correspondent banking can still take one to three days to settle and often comes with opaque fees.
To make adoption easier for banks and large companies, Tempo supports ISO 20022, the global financial messaging standard widely used in banking systems. The chain is also EVM-compatible, and developers can access public RPC endpoints, lowering friction for teams already familiar with Ethereum tooling.
Early enterprise interest has already emerged
On the ecosystem side, Klarna has announced plans to issue a stablecoin on Tempo’s mainnet. The report also cited Visa, Nubank, and Shopify as early adopters during the testnet phase. For a newly launched blockchain, that kind of early attention from major payments and financial players suggests Tempo is being evaluated less as a speculative network and more as practical settlement infrastructure.
The launch comes during a period of broader pressure across crypto and risk assets. Even so, Tempo’s thesis is not centered on token appreciation. Its bet is that the next major phase of blockchain adoption will be driven by scalable, compliant, enterprise-ready payment rails that can support AI agents, global businesses, and machine-native commerce at meaningful scale.