Report: Cryptocurrency Emerging as Default Payment Layer for AI Agents, with 98.6% of Transactions Settled via USDC

BlockBeats News, May 24th, Keyrock's latest report shows that the cryptocurrency rails are gradually becoming the default payment layer for AI Agents. Over the past year, AI Agents have conducted over 176 million transactions via blockchain, with a settlement value exceeding $73 million. As AI Agents begin to autonomously purchase data, cloud computing power, API services, and AI inference resources, the traditional bank card payment system has struggled to cope with high-frequency, micro-value payment scenarios. Currently, approximately 76% of Agent payments are below 30 cents, and some on-chain stablecoin transfer costs are only "a fraction of a cent."

Coinbase, Stripe, Google, and Visa have all begun to establish infrastructure for machine-to-machine payments. Among them, Coinbase's x402 protocol allows AI Agents to directly use USDC to pay for on-chain analytics and cloud service fees. Data shows that currently 98.6% of AI Agent payments are settled via USDC. The report believes that this further strengthens Circle's key position in the crypto payment sector but also indicates a rising industry reliance on a single stablecoin issuer.