Visa and Tempo launched tools for AI-agent payments in one day — and both projects claim to be the new standard in the rapidly developing segment of autonomous transactions.
Visa CLI: payments without API keys
Visa's cryptocurrency division introduced Visa CLI — a command-line tool that gives AI agents the ability to conduct payments independently during operation. On social media platform X, Visa Crypto Labs head Cuy Sheffield announced this, calling the product the first experimental tool of the division.
According to the description on the official website, Visa CLI gives the agent the ability to securely pay for necessary services and resources directly while writing code. A key feature is the abandonment of API keys when making card payments. Traditional API keys contain sensitive data that the AI agent might accidentally expose, creating a security threat. Visa CLI eliminates this vulnerability by shifting authorization to the command line level.
Tempo: blockchain for machine payments
On the same day, the Tempo blockchain launched on the mainnet with support from payment company Stripe. Developers position it as an infrastructure specifically created for payments, focusing on high-throughput transactions in stablecoins — one of the key applications of AI agents today.
Alongside the launch, Tempo introduced the Machine Payments Protocol (MPP) — an open standard developed in collaboration with Stripe. The protocol provides agents and services with a unified mechanism for programmatic payment coordination. The authors emphasize that MPP is not tied to a specific payment system: Visa has already expanded support for the protocol on its card network, Stripe encompasses cards, wallets, and other payment methods, while Lightspark connected MPP to the Lightning Network for bitcoin payments.
In a social media post, the Tempo team highlighted the essence of the problem: agents are already capable of writing code, coordinating services, obtaining data, and executing complex workflows. As their capabilities grow, they increasingly need to conduct transactions — and this is precisely the gap MPP aims to fill.
The race for a standard
Both launches fit into a broader competition for dominance in the agent payment segment. Previously, Coinbase launched the x402 protocol for payments by AI agents in stablecoins, which integrated the World project — an initiative by Sam Altman — earlier this week. The developer included it in the toolkit for creating agents with verified human identifiers.
The simultaneous release of Visa CLI and Tempo MPP underscores the main vector: autonomous agents are becoming full participants in the financial infrastructure. Visa is betting on the command line and the familiar card network, while Tempo is focusing on an open protocol supporting multiple payment instruments. Which approach proves to be more advantageous will largely determine the architecture of agent payments in the coming years.
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