Crypto rails are becoming the default payment layer for AI agents, report says
A report from Keyrock indicates that stablecoins are becoming the primary payment method for AI agents, as traditional payment systems struggle with micropayments. AI agents have conducted over $73 million in transactions on blockchain networks, though this is minimal compared to the overall payments market. Major companies like Coinbase, Stripe, Google, and Visa are developing infrastructure to support machine-to-machine payments, highlighting the growing significance of this sector.
- ▪AI agents settled over $73 million across 176 million blockchain transactions in the past year.
- ▪Currently, 98.6% of machine payments are made using USDC, indicating a heavy reliance on a single stablecoin issuer.
- ▪Major firms are racing to build competing systems for machine-to-machine payments, reflecting the potential growth of this market.
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FinanceShareShare this articleCopy linkX iconX (Twitter)LinkedInFacebookEmailCrypto rails are becoming the default payment layer for AI agents, report saysA new report from Keyrock says stablecoins on blockchain rails are becoming the go-to payment layer for AI agents as traditional card rails struggle to handle micropayments.By Krisztian Sandor|Edited by Jamie Crawley May 24, 2026, 1:00 p.m. 2 min readMake preferred on Robots (Unsplash/Sumaid pal Singh Bakshi/Modified by CoinDesk)What to know: AI agents settled more than $73 million across 176 million blockchain transactions over the past year, according to Keyrock, though that remains a tiny fraction of the global payments market.Coinbase, Stripe, Google and Visa are building competing infrastructure for machine-to-machine payments as…
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