Odaily Planet Daily reports that, according to a recent report by crypto market-making and investment firm Keyrock, blockchain-based stablecoin payment rails are increasingly becoming the default payment layer for AI agents, as traditional card payment systems struggle to meet the demands of micropayments.
The report shows that between May 2025 and April 2026, AI agents completed over 176 million transactions via on-chain infrastructure, with a settlement volume exceeding $73 million.
"Agentic Payments" refers to AI software's ability to autonomously purchase data, computing power, APIs, or AI services without requiring manual authorization for each transaction. For example, an AI trading agent can continuously and automatically buy market data, cloud computing resources, or AI analytics services. Keyrock believes this growth rate could even surpass the early explosive phase of stablecoins.
Currently, Coinbase’s x402 protocol has emerged as one of the leading crypto-native machine payment solutions, enabling AI agents to directly pay for on-chain analytics, cloud services, and other resources using USDC, without requiring accounts or subscription systems.
Data shows that approximately 76% of AI agent payment amounts fall below the traditional credit card fixed fee threshold of 30 cents, with most transactions ranging from just 1 to 10 cents—making traditional payment networks unsuitable for machine-to-machine micropayments. On chains like Base and Tempo, stablecoin settlement costs are “less than a penny.”
However, regulation may still remain a limiting factor for industry growth. The report notes that new regulatory frameworks, including Europe’s MiCA, the U.S. GENIUS Act, and the EU AI Act, have not yet directly addressed key issues such as autonomous trading by AI agents, liability attribution, and identity verification. (CoinDesk)