Key Takeaways
- RippleX added XRP Ledger support for the Machine Payments Protocol, an open AI-payment standard co-authored by Stripe and Tempo.
- AI agents can make one-off payments using XRP and XRPL-issued assets such as RLUSD, with settlement taking around 3–5 seconds.
- XRP also supports session payments, while recurring/session payments using RLUSD still depend on a proposed XRPL upgrade.
Ripple is pushing XRP deeper into the emerging AI economy, giving autonomous software agents a way to pay for data, computing and other online services using XRP and RLUSD.
Version 1.1 of the XRP Ledger AI Starter Kit adds support for the Machine Payments Protocol (MPP), an open payment standard co-authored by Stripe and Tempo.
Instead of requiring an account or traditional checkout, MPP allows a service to return a price to an AI agent, which can authorize payment and automatically receive the requested resource.
For Ripple, the integration puts XRPL alongside an emerging standard designed specifically for machine-to-machine commerce.
AI Agents Can Now Pay With XRP
Under the new integration, XRP Ledger becomes one of the settlement rails available through MPP.
An AI agent requesting an API, model inference, dataset or other paid digital resource can receive an HTTP 402 payment request and settle it using XRP or supported XRPL-issued assets.
RippleX says an ordinary XRPL payment settles in roughly 3–5 seconds with sub-cent fees.
RLUSD, Ripple’s dollar-backed stablecoin, can also be used for one-off payments.
XRP goes a step further.
The native token supports session payments through XRPL Payment Channels, allowing an agent to make repeated payments during an ongoing interaction without putting every individual payment on-chain.
RippleX says payment-channel vouchers can be signed at rates exceeding 100,000 per second, while only the opening and closing transactions need to settle on-chain.
RLUSD does not yet support that session-payment model. RippleX said extending payment channels to issued assets depends on the proposed XLS-93d upgrade.
XRP’s Second Push Into AI Payments
MPP isn’t Ripple’s first attempt to make XRP usable by autonomous agents.
The original AI Starter Kit launched in June with support for x402, another HTTP-based machine-payment protocol. RippleX says XRPL has recorded 5.6 million x402 transactions since the integration began.
Version 1.1 also adds the Open Wallet Standard, giving agents a common interface for managing wallets across different blockchains without requiring XRPL-specific key infrastructure.
The update does not mean Stripe itself has begun accepting XRP or RLUSD through its regular consumer and merchant payment products. MPP is an open protocol co-authored by Stripe and Tempo, and XRPL has now been added as a settlement option within that framework.
The MPP software also remains in beta, and Ripple has not disclosed commercial customers or transaction volumes for the new integration.
Still, the strategy is clear: rather than creating an XRP-only system for AI payments, Ripple wants XRP and RLUSD available wherever developers build autonomous payment applications.
Top Trending Crypto Articles
The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be, nor should it be construed as, financial advice. We do not make any warranties regarding the completeness, reliability, or accuracy of this information. All investments involve risk, and past performance does not guarantee future results. We recommend consulting a financial advisor before making any investment decisions.
Dr. Guneet Kaur is a senior editor at CCN.com and a Science Fellow at Exponential Science. She is a fintech and blockchain expert with extensive experience in digital finance education, blockchain ecosystems, and cryptocurrency markets. She has worked with global media such as Cointelegraph, as well as education and blockchain platforms, to design and lead strategic content and learning initiatives. As an educator and assessor for top-tier executive programs, she bridges real-world fintech trends with academic insight.
Dr. Kaur is also a published researcher and peer reviewer across fintech and data science journals, including Financial Innovation Journal and International Journal of Big Data Intelligence and Applications. Her work spans data-driven analysis, Web3 innovation, and technical content development. With a strong foundation in both industry and academia, she translates complex financial technologies into practical applications, empowering learners, professionals, and institutions across the rapidly evolving digital finance landscape.
