KEY FACTS: Visa and Stripe-backed blockchain project Tempo simultaneously launched complementary tools to enable AI agents to perform autonomous and secure online payments, addressing the growing demand for infrastructure supporting agentic commerce. Visa, via its Crypto Labs division, introduced Visa CLI, an experimental command-line interface tool that allows AI agents to execute programmatic card payments securely, without relying on vulnerable API keys, facilitating same-day transactions for tasks like coding-related purchases. Concurrently, Tempo activated its mainnet, a payments-focused layer-1 blockchain optimized for high-throughput stablecoin transactions, and unveiled the open-source Machine Payments Protocol (MPP), co-developed with Stripe. MPP provides a standardized, rail-agnostic framework for AI agents and services to coordinate programmatic payments autonomously within predefined limits, with integrations extending support to Visa's card network, Stripe's fiat and wallet methods, and Lightspark's Bitcoin Lightning Network.
Source: Visa CLI
Visa and Stripe-Backed Tempo Launch Rival Tools for AI Agent Payments
Visa and Tempo, a blockchain project backed by payments giant Stripe, unveiled new tools on the same day to enable AI agents to conduct autonomous, secure transactions online. The announcements, made on March 18, 2026 (with coverage emerging prominently the following day), highlight the rapidly growing need for infrastructure that allows AI systems to handle payments independently as they perform complex tasks.
Visa, through its Visa Crypto Labs division, introduced Visa CLI, an experimental command-line interface (CLI) tool designed specifically for AI agents. Announced by Cuy Sheffield, head of Visa Crypto Labs, via a post on X, the tool represents the first product from the lab. Visa CLI empowers AI agents to make programmatic card payments securely and efficiently, without the traditional reliance on API keys, which can pose significant security risks if leaked by autonomous systems.
The tool's website emphasizes its core benefit, which is, giving AI agents "the ability to securely pay for what you need as you code." It enables same-day payments and supports "programmatic card payments without the pain of API keys." This addresses a key challenge in the emerging field of agentic commerce, where AI agents increasingly execute tasks like purchasing cloud resources, making API calls, or handling automated B2B workflows. Visa positions this as a step toward "Command Line Commerce," evolving payments infrastructure to match the capabilities of advanced AI agents.
On the same day, Tempo, the layer-1 blockchain incubated by Stripe and venture firm Paradigm, launched its mainnet after a public testnet phase that began in late 2025. Tempo is purpose-built for high-throughput payments, with a strong emphasis on stablecoin transactions, one of the most common use cases for AI agents today.
Accompanying the mainnet activation was the release of the Machine Payments Protocol (MPP), an open-source standard co-developed by Stripe and Tempo. MPP provides a standardized, programmatic way for AI agents and services to coordinate payments autonomously. It is designed to be "rail-agnostic and extensible," meaning it can operate across different payment methods and networks without being tied to a single system.
The protocol supports stablecoins natively on Tempo's blockchain, while partners have extended its functionality, as follows:
- Visa integrated MPP to enable card-based payments on its global network.
- Stripe added support for cards, wallets, and other payment methods.
- Lightspark adapted it for Bitcoin payments via the Lightning Network.
Tempo highlighted the necessity of such tools in a blog post, that Agents can write code, coordinate services, retrieve data, and execute complex workflows across the internet. According to Tempo, as these systems become more capable, they increasingly need to transact. The protocol allows agents to enter payment sessions with pre-defined limits, enabling continuous, automated transactions for services like data access, computing power, or other digital resources, without requiring human intervention for each step.
These launches arrive amid surging interest in AI agents and their economic potential. Industry observers note that agent payments could soon surpass human-initiated transactions online, driven by hype around AI autonomy and stablecoins. Earlier efforts include Coinbase's x402 standard for agentic stablecoin payments (launched in May 2025 and recently integrated into tools like Sam Altman's World developer kit) and collaborations involving Cloudflare and others to standardize AI-native payments.
The simultaneous announcements from Visa and Tempo underscore a competitive yet collaborative push toward interoperable infrastructure. While Visa focuses on enhancing its card network for AI use cases, Tempo's blockchain targets fast, low-cost stablecoin flows tailored to machine-to-machine interactions. Partnerships during Tempo's testnet phase included major players like Anthropic, OpenAI, Mastercard, Nubank, Revolut, Shopify, and DoorDash, signaling broad ecosystem buy-in.
As AI agents evolve from assistants into active economic participants, tools like Visa CLI and MPP could accelerate the shift to autonomous commerce, thus, transforming how digital services are bought, sold, and consumed across the internet.
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