For years, companies like Coinbase and Solana Labs have ruminated about how to onboard the next billion users into crypto.
Those users may soon arrive, but not in the form executives once expected. They won’t be underbanked people in the developing world, or people seeking a way to escape hyperinflation. In fact, the industry’s next big wave of users might not be people at all — they might be software.
AI agents, artificial intelligence software capable of carrying out multi-step tasks, are now transacting on behalf of their users. To perform these tasks, an agent often needs to purchase something.
Crypto and fintech giants alike are rushing in to build the rails — and the money — these agents will use. Coinbase has developed x402, a payment protocol for AI agents, while MoonPay’s PayBox gives agents access to their users’ cards and crypto wallets.
Cloud-computing company Cloudflare is also getting in on the rail-building, rolling out Cloudflare Wallets and cloudflare.pay earlier this month. The infrastructure will enable AI agents to make online purchases within set limits, while also allowing online sellers to see the human identity behind a given agent.
