Why Settlement Timing Breaks Pay-Per-Call MCP Systems

Pay-per-call infrastructure is becoming essential for monetizing AI agent tools, but few understand its true complexity. The core issue is settlement timing: processing payments after execution exposes you to non-paying agents draining resources, so authorization and credit reservation must happen before execution. MnemoPay's implementation demonstrates this is a significant architectural challenge, signaling that payment infrastructure is now a competitive necessity for scalable MCP services.