First announced in September, Tempo, the payments-focused blockchain incubated by venture firm Paradigm ($12.7 billion AUM) and payments giant Stripe (valued at $159 billion), is finally going live.

The companies are also introducing the Machine Payments Protocol (MPP), an open payment standard designed to enable AI agents to pay for products and services on their own, whether for access to data, computing power or software tools.

AI can already write code, manage schedules and even trade with minimal human involvement. But when it comes to making purchases online, it still runs into infrastructure built for people: creating accounts, entering card details, filling in billing information and, in some cases, verifying the........

© Forbes