Stablecoin industry races to dominate AI-agent payments market… but real demand remains limited

Stablecoin companies such as Circle and Stripe are accelerating efforts to build payment infrastructure for transactions between artificial intelligence (AI) agents. However, the market remains at an early stage, and actual use cases are still limited, according to assessments.

According to Bloomberg on the 7th (local time), Circle and Stripe are pushing ahead with building payment systems premised on a future in which autonomous AI agents transact using stablecoins.

Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said in an earnings call on Feb. 25 that “stablecoins can become the base currency for machine-to-machine commerce.”

He added, “We are building a new internet financial system,” explaining that “Circle can play an important role at the intersection of AI, stablecoins and blockchain.”

The stablecoin industry has recently been pitching “agentic payments” as a key use case. This refers to a structure in which software-based AI agents repeatedly execute small payments while using services from one another.

For example, if transactions arise between AI agents for data lookups or simple information requests, ultra-micro payments of just a few cents may be needed. In such cases, blockchain-based payments could be more efficient than card-fee structures.

To that end, Circle has unveiled a blockchain called “Arc” for stablecoin payments and is also testing a “nanopayments” feature that would allow AI agents to hold their own balances and execute payments across networks.

Stripe is also moving aggressively to build stablecoin payment infrastructure. Along with venture capital firm Paradigm, Stripe is developing “Tempo,” a blockchain dedicated to stablecoin payments. The project raised about $500 million and was valued at roughly $5 billion.

Stripe has also invested more than $1.1 billion in the space, including the acquisition of stablecoin infrastructure company Bridge in 2025.

Still, the actual market size so far remains limited. Transaction volume over the past 30 days on the “x402” network, developed as an agentic payments standard, totaled about $24 million. That is tiny compared with the global e-commerce market, expected to reach about $6.88 trillion this year.

Chris Donat, head of global payments and fintech research at BWG, said, “Merchants are reluctant to adopt a payment method that consumers don’t actually demand,” adding, “It’s hard to say consumers are actively calling for stablecoin payments right now.”

Experts say that even if AI-agent payments expand, it is more likely to evolve into a model where virtual cards and stablecoin payment infrastructure are used together, rather than fully replacing card networks.

Meanwhile, Allaire said of when AI-agent payments will scale into meaningful transaction volumes, “It’s hard to predict a specific timeline.”