Visa announced Tuesday its role as an “anchor validator” for the blockchain network Tempo, which is backed by Stripe. The company joins forces with Stripe and Zodia Custody by Standard Chartered to support this layer-1 blockchain designed for agent commerce and real-time payments. Together, these entities handle trillions of dollars in payment transactions annually across numerous countries, representing a significant milestone in the adoption of blockchain infrastructure for payments. Future announcements will reveal additional validators.
Since its inception, Visa has been a design partner alongside Stripe and Paradigm—a crypto venture capital firm—to develop Tempo. Over six months, Visa configured and managed its validator node internally with Tempo’s engineering team.
“Our years of expertise in blockchain have led us to manage critical infrastructure directly,” stated Cuy Sheffield, Visa’s Head of Crypto, emphasizing that their participation as a validator extends Visa’s commitment to reliability, security, and trust within blockchain networks. This involvement supports the creation of stablecoin payment systems meeting the high standards expected by Visa’s clients and partners.
As Tempo expands its capabilities, it launched its mainnet in March and introduced the Machine Payments Protocol (MPP). This protocol is an open standard that allows AI agents to autonomously pay for services. As a Tempo validator, Visa earns stablecoin rewards when processing transactions into blocks as lead validator.
“Visa’s extensive transactional operations across numerous countries exemplify the operational rigor we seek in Tempo validators,” said Nischay Upadhyayula, Tempo’s go-to-market lead. “Their long-standing partnership and current validator status are a natural progression of our collaborative efforts.”