Stablecoins Drive Surge in AI-Agent Transactions, $140 Billion Opportunity Ahead

The stablecoin sector is presently valued at over $140 billion, with potential for significant expansion as new applications arise. When integrated with artificial intelligence (AI)—another multi-billion-dollar industry—stablecoins could see a rapid increase in demand.

This is likely, as a recent trend in the Web3 domain involves the merging of stablecoins with AI agents. Rebecca Liao, CEO of the Layer-1 network Saga, informed Cryptonews that autonomous payments and transactions represent perhaps the most direct and widespread application.

“AI agents are being developed to execute payments, finalize transactions, and manage funds on behalf of users or even independently,” Liao stated. “A recent illustration of this is Mastercard’s Agent Pay and Visa’s Intelligent Commerce platform, which enable verified AI agents to conduct tokenized payments.”

#Stablecoins, meet 150M+ checkout counters. Enterprises and #fintechs can now offer Mastercard-branded cards linked to consumers’ stablecoin balances — unlocking new ways to pay and be paid.
In partnership with @moonpay, we’re combining our trusted global #payments network with… pic.twitter.com/WMX6sqclze

— Mastercard News (@MastercardNews) May 15, 2025

Stablecoins: The Essential Component for AI Agents

With the growing utilization of stablecoins by AI agents, it is crucial to comprehend their significance.

Illia Otychenko, lead analyst at CEX.IO, asserts that stablecoins serve as a vital component for AI agents. He pointed out that stablecoins can resolve several challenges that AI agents may encounter when executing financial transactions without human oversight.

“Stablecoins generally function in networks that do not depend on user expectations or behavior to validate transactions,” Otychenko explained. “Moreover, bots already play a significant role in this area. In 2024, bots represented 70% of all stablecoin transfer volume, and this trend has persisted into 2025. These networks and infrastructures are inherently designed with machines in mind.”

Otychenko clarified that conventional payment systems are human-centric, where a human user is involved at one or both ends of a transaction. However, he noted that AI-driven transactions do not follow this model.

Supporting this view, Jesse Shrader—co-founder of the Bitcoin payment platform Amboss—told Cryptonews that AI agents need a digital form of value to conduct transactions, and traditional payment systems are inadequate in these scenarios.

“Traditional payment methods like wires, ACH, and card payments do not scale well for micropayments and take too long to settle. Stablecoin payments are better suited for rapid settlement, aligning with the timeframes of AI queries,” Shrader stated.

Otychenko further mentioned that the synergy of stablecoins and AI agents holds significant promise for applications such as micropayments, subscriptions, and investment activities like arbitrage, liquidity provision, or portfolio rebalancing.

“These transactions are sensitive to fees and value, making predictability essential,” he remarked. “Additionally, using altcoins instead of stablecoins would necessitate hedging against price volatility, introducing an inefficient and unnecessary layer.”

How Stablecoins Enable AI Agents to Transact

Although this remains a developing concept, several use cases are currently being implemented.

Erik Reppel, head of engineering at Coinbase Developer Platform (CDP), informed Cryptonews that stablecoins provide AI agents with the capability to transact instantly, globally, and autonomously—without human involvement.

For instance, Reppel noted that CDP recently launched “x402.” This is an open standard that utilizes the original HTTP “402 Payment Required” status code. The x402 standard from CDP integrates stablecoin payments directly into web applications.

“Tools like x402 allow agents to pay for data, APIs, and services,” Reppel stated. “And since stablecoins are programmable, they come with robust built-in security features—such as signed intents and scoped approvals—that will be crucial as agents enhance their autonomy and capabilities.”

While x402 has only recently been introduced, Reppel explained that the standard is already being utilized. For example, he mentioned that Amazon Web Services (AWS) is investigating how x402 could be applied for paid compute.

This could be transformative, as projections indicate the global Cloud Computing Market is anticipated to reach $1902.66 billion by 2030. This growth is fueled by the rising adoption of advanced technologies such as AI and machine learning (ML).

Reppel added that the decentralized compute and AI-as-a-Service platform Heurist is employing x402 to fund deep research. The Web3 file storage platform Pinata is also utilizing x402 to pay per file stored.

1/ Ever wondered why every internet service needs API keys and subscriptions? Why users can’t just… pay for things?
We launched Heurist Deep Research using @coinbase’s groundbreaking x402 protocol.
Here’s how we built it pic.twitter.com/mCGstwkbKQ

— Heurist (@heurist_ai) June 2, 2025

“We’ve observed individual developers create everything from monetized music playlists to research bots that pay per article. It’s still in the early stages, but the momentum is tangible—x402 is unlocking an entirely new category of applications and agents that can pay as they go,” Reppel stated.

AI Agents Integrate Stablecoins with the Lightning Network

Shrader highlighted that the forthcoming wave of AI agents may also witness an integration with stablecoins on the Bitcoin Lightning Network.

“Tether’s recent announcement regarding the issuance of USDT on the Lightning Network indicates a departure from the crypto industry’s everything-on-the-blockchain approach towards limitless scalability through Lightning’s off-chain scaling,” he remarked.

Shrader added that the Lightning Network already supports the “L402 protocol,” which offers a universal HTTP-based payment flow. According to the L402 protocol documentation, this merges the advantages of Macaroons for improved authentication with the strengths of the Lightning Network for enhanced payments. Macaroons are defined as “bearer authentication tokens.”

Shrader shared that Amboss, along with several other companies, are already integrating the Lightning Network and AI in anticipation of stablecoin issuance on the Lightning Network.

A Financial Institution Driven Entirely by AI

In addition to HTTP payment flows, Circle co-founder and Catena Labs CEO Sean Neville recently initiated a project aimed at establishing a financial institution entirely powered by AI.

Neville stated in a news release that AI agents will soon handle the majority of economic transactions. Consequently, Catena Labs will utilize its recent $18 million funding led by a16z crypto to create the “first fully regulated AI-native financial institution (FI).”

Catena Labs further noted that while AI agents can utilize traditional systems and financial infrastructures, stablecoins should be regarded as “AI-native money.” The company emphasized that regulated stablecoins like USDC facilitate near-instant, low-cost, global transactions, which are vital for agents.

Challenges to Consider

Despite the significant potential of stablecoins and AI agents, several challenges persist.

Reppel believes that the primary challenge with agentic payments is ensuring that agents act appropriately. He posits that stablecoins can assist in this regard.

“Stablecoins are inherently programmable, which simplifies the addition of safeguards like spending limits or maintaining human oversight,” he stated.

However, Reppel noted that the tradeoff for this type of programmability is the introduction of a wallet, which can be complex to implement or secure effectively.

Liao further informed Cryptonews that fragmentation, regulatory ambiguity, and on-and-off ramp limitations pose challenges. Liao explained that Saga is tackling these issues in various ways.

For instance, she elaborated that Saga has developed a “chainlet infrastructure” tool that offers infinite horizontal scalability and dedicated blockspace for applications. “This is essential for AI agents, as it ensures they won’t be hindered by network congestion or unpredictable gas fees, enabling them to execute high-frequency transactions with stablecoins reliably,” she stated.

Additionally, Saga has created a “Liquidity Integration Layer” aimed at establishing a unified liquidity environment across different blockchain ecosystems. This is designed to facilitate seamless and automated asset movement.

“For AI agents, this means they can more readily access and utilize stablecoins from various sources and transfer them where needed without complex bridging,” Liao explained.

Despite the challenges, the use cases for stablecoins and AI agents are anticipated to flourish. Reppel remarked that on-chain tools for key management can simplify the development of secure and reliable agentic systems.

“In summary, these challenges are being addressed with tools that connect AI and Web3, making them more accessible, intuitive, and developer-friendly,” Reppel stated.

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