Stripe describes Machine Payments Protocol as an ‘internet-native way for agents to pay’.
Big Tech leaders are convinced that consumers will soon be using AI to shop online, despite public sentiment reflecting some level of apprehension.
McKinsey has found that most European consumers already use AI to help shape their purchase decisions, but not at checkout, where money passes hands. However, it noted that this sentiment could change, and fast.
McKinsey also found that by 2030, agentic commerce could orchestrate up to $5trn globally. But Morgan Stanley research earlier this year noted that only 1pc of shoppers currently choose the agentic route, leaving much to speculation and a hope that consumers will let AI shop for them.
Regardless, many – such as Revolut, Google and PayPal – are already trying to build protocols to support this new incoming age of AI-led shopping.
Adding to that is Stripe’s joint venture with Paradigm, Tempo, which has launched the ‘Machine Payments Protocol’ (MPP). Described as an “internet-native way for agents to pay”, MPP is attempting to create an alternate financial system built specifically for AI agents to use.
The protocol is offering a system where AI agents are not met with the challenges of navigating a financial system built for humans, such as the need to create shopping accounts, navigate pricing pages, choose between subscription tiers, enter payment details, and set up billing.
“The tools of the current financial system were built for humans, so agents struggle to use them”, noted Stripe’s agentic commerce leads in a blogpost. MPP lets agents and services coordinate payments programmatically, enabling micro-transactions and recurring payments.
Once Stripe users set up MPP, businesses can accept payments directly from agents in both stablecoins and fiat, as well as use features such as ‘buy now, pay later’. Companies such as browser infrastructure provider Browserbase and New York City-based Prospect Butcher Co already use MPP to allow agentic commerce.
Tempo was reportedly valued at $5bn last October, after a $500m raise. The crypto venture launched from incubation a month prior.
In November, Swedish fintech giant Klarna, whose CEO was once a crypto sceptic, became the first bank to plan to launch a stablecoin on Tempo with ‘KlarnaUSD’. The coin, set to release this year, is expected to help cut down on transaction fees.
At the time, sources told the Financial Times that the stablecoin would also help Klarna move large amounts of money globally by cutting out parties such as the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) network.
Meanwhile, Stripe acquired US billing and invoice software provider Metronome in December. Metronome enables organisations to create and manage user-based pricing models, which Stripe CEO Patrick Collison said is “the native business model for the AI era”.
Bloomberg news reported last month that Stripe was considered acquiring some or all of its long-standing fintech rival PayPal. Founded in the late 1990s, PayPal has struggled in recent years to modernise against its emerging rivals. The 2010-founded Stripe, meanwhile, was recently valued at $159bn after an employee tender offer.
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