Both are machine payment protocols built on HTTP 402, but x402 settles one payment per request while Tempo MPP opens payment channels through which many payments flow. As of August 12, 2026, x402 has recorded 162,161,335 settlements moving $41,284,271, and Tempo MPP has recorded 44,751 channel events across 1,843 unique payers and 90 payees. The counts are not comparable one-to-one — a channel event is not a payment, and one channel can carry many.
Per-request settlementone payment, one on-chain record
Tempo MPP — mechanism
Payment channelsmany payments per channel
x402 cumulative settlements
162,161,335
x402 settled volume
$41,284,271
Tempo MPP channel events
44,751
Tempo MPP unique payers
1,84390 payees
Per-request settlement versus payment channels
Both protocols answer the same question — how does a machine pay another machine for a resource — and both take HTTP 402 as their starting point, which is why they get lumped together. The mechanism differs. x402 settles each request on its own: a payment per call, independently visible on-chain. Tempo MPP opens a channel between a payer and a payee, through which many payments can flow before the channel closes.
That difference makes the raw counts incomparable. An x402 transaction is one payment. An MPP event is a channel lifecycle step, and a single channel can carry a great deal of value across many interactions while emitting few events. A protocol with fewer events is not necessarily smaller.
Maturity, and why the smaller number is not the weaker one
x402 has a longer public history and far more measured activity. Tempo MPP is early: the figures here are measured first-hand from the chain since mainnet debut, which is narrow but complete — this site runs its own indexer for it rather than relying on a third-party dataset. Its unique payer and payee counts are the more informative early signal, because they show whether usage is spreading or concentrated in a handful of parties.
Also asked
Is Tempo MPP smaller than x402?
By raw count, far smaller — 44,751 channel events against 162,161,335 x402 settlements — but the units differ and MPP is much younger. A channel event is not a payment, so the ratio overstates the gap in economic activity by an unknown factor.
Do x402 and Tempo MPP compete?
They overlap in intent and differ in shape. Per-request settlement suits one-off calls to arbitrary services; channels suit sustained relationships between two parties where opening a channel amortises over many interactions. Which is better depends on the traffic pattern, not on which has the larger counter.
Cite this page
agent economy, “What is the difference between x402 and Tempo MPP?”, agenteconomy.to/stats/x402-vs-tempo-mpp, figures as of August 12, 2026 (UTC). Recomputable from agenteconomy.to/data.json.