Atum emerges with $13.5M for agent payments

Atum emerged from stealth with $13.5 million to build an open payments network that coordinates settlement across currencies, chains, apps, and local rails, the company’s launch announcement says. Its layer supports agentic payments through x402 and MPP without issuing currency, running a blockchain, favoring a rail, or taking custody, so builders testing commerce agents should watch whether neutral routing reduces payment integration work; Anthropic’s checkout boundary shows why the handoff still needs backend authority.