Introducing the Machine Payments Protocol (MPP)

As AI agents evolve beyond simple Q&A into flows that involve planning, executing tasks, and evaluating results, a payment method that lets them actually transact in the internet economy has become necessary.

However, existing financial systems are designed around humans, making them difficult for agents to use. Procedures like account creation, plan selection, entering payment information, and billing setup get in the way of the purchase process, ultimately requiring human involvement.

To solve this, the Machine Payments Protocol (MPP) has been unveiled. This open standard, co-designed by Tempo and Stripe, allows agents and services to coordinate payments programmatically, and supports patterns like microtransactions and subscriptions.

Stripe users can accept MPP payments with just a few lines of the PaymentIntents API. Additionally, through Shared Payment Tokens (SPTs), they can accept agent payments not only via existing payment methods like cards and BNPL, but also via stablecoins.

Several agent businesses are already using MPP on top of Stripe.

• Browserbase: agents spin up headless browsers and pay per session
• PostalForm: agents pay to have physical mail printed and sent
• Prospect Butcher Co.: agents place sandwich orders for pickup or delivery within New York City
• Stripe Climate: agents can contribute programmatically

Parag Agrawal of Parallel Web Systems explained that Stripe integration was completed in just a few lines, enabling agents to autonomously pay for web access costs on a per-API-call basis.

The way it works is simple. When an agent requests a resource from a service, API, MCP, or an HTTP-accessible endpoint, the service returns a payment request, the agent approves it, and then receives the resource.

For Stripe businesses, this payment appears in the existing Stripe API and Dashboard just like any other transaction, and funds settle into the existing balance. The default currency and standard payout schedule remain unchanged, and existing infrastructure such as tax calculation, fraud protection, reporting, accounting integrations, and refunds can also be used as-is.

Beyond MPP, Stripe is expanding its financial infrastructure for the agent economy to include the Agentic Commerce Suite, the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP), MCP integrations, and even support for x402.