Stripe just launched its own blockchain. The payments company, which processes transactions for millions of businesses worldwide, debuted Tempo on March 18. It’s a Layer 1 blockchain built specifically for stablecoin transactions, paired with something called the Machine Payments Protocol, which lets AI agents execute real-time payments autonomously.
From acquisition to architecture
Stripe’s blockchain ambitions trace back to its $1.1 billion acquisition of Bridge in early 2025. Bridge provided the stablecoin orchestration tools and plumbing that Stripe needed to build a crypto-native payments layer without starting from scratch.
In May 2025, Stripe rolled out Treasury stablecoin accounts to businesses across 101 countries. Those accounts let companies manage both stablecoin and fiat transactions from a single interface.
The Machine Payments Protocol and agentic finance
