Are AI agent payments the next big thing?

Is science fiction becoming reality? And how much is the hype vs the potential? Let’s take a look.

Are AI agent payments the next big thing? Is science fiction becoming reality? And how much is the hype vs the potential? Let’s take a look.

What are AI agent payments?

— When we talk about agent payments, we mean letting AI agents handle payments on our behalf.

— AI agents are AI software programs capable of autonomously performing tasks based on broadly defined, open-ended goals. They use tools, make decisions, and take actions to achieve their goals.

Why are AI agent payments important?

— Because it can be a directional, cross-industry pivot, radically changing strategy, business models and monetization.

— Because it might represent the build-up of a next-gen payments’ infrastructure layer that will work on top (but not replace) of existing platforms and methods.

Who are the players?

1. Stripe:

— It’s the latest joiner (and by far the biggest player) by releasing a few days ago the Stripe Agent Toolkit, a software development kit (SDK) enabling Payment and Billing Capabilities for AI Agents.

— Killer use case: the combination with Stripe Issuing where agents create single-use virtual credit cards (spend controls as safeguards) to pay for products. Automating of the purchase flow combined with embedded financial services!

2. Coinbase:

— Multi-party computing (MPC) wallet launched by Coinbase Developer Platform (CDP). It can be integrated with AI Agents to enable them to pay autonomously.

— Self-hosted crypto wallets to provide support for AI Agents. AI to AI crypto transactions.

3. Skyfire:

— A payment network specifically for AI agents.

— Agent funding via traditional rails and with USDC (USD stablecoin).

— Bet on the growing agent network and interoperability with other frameworks.

4. Protegee:

— A startup focusing on voice payments via AI voice agents accepting payments over the phone.

— AI call centers are a typical use case with Protegee agents collecting booking details, processing transactions, and returning back payment confirmation.

5. Payman:

— Pre-seed startup invested by Visa.

— AI to Human payments platform.

— A human marketplace for AI: building a marketplace for AI to find humans to get assistance in completing tasks.

— Multiple Payment Rails: fiat, crypto, bank account.

My main takeaways:

1. This a race to capitalize on the new AI agent economy, which is why interest is huge with over $1 billion invested in 2024 alone.

2. It’s an infrastructure game taking place across several layers.

3. It’s a matter of time before more big players join the race (directly or indirectly).

4. Crypto is emerging as a promising rail, mainly because of facilitating agent-to-agent transactions without identity verification.

5. Main challenges across 2 directions: a) Regulation (i.e. is KYC or AML needed and how do you perform them on AI agents?) b) Controls and safeguards for bots managing our personal and business accounts.

Guest post by Kriaris

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