Stablecoins Seen Powering Future AI-Driven Machine Payments

• Coinbase is making the x402 agent payments protocol, which sets payments into the HTTP layer of the internet.
• Circle also rolled out nano-payment infrastructure for agents. 

Bernstein analysts noted Circle and Coinbase as prominent vehicles for stablecoin exposure, highlighting the USDC collaboration between the two companies and the emerging role of stablecoins in agentic machine payments as a potential upside driver. 

The analysts headed by Gautam Chhugani wrote in a note to clients on March 23 that “we see agentic machine payments as an upside optionality for stablecoins. And this is not a ‘here and now’ material influence on stablecoin demand but some potential role of stablecoins in the agentic machine economy.”

The analysts marked out machine payments as transactions started, authorised and settled completely by software or autonomous devices instead of humans. Dissimilar to automated bill payments or repeating subscriptions, these payments are naturally programmatic, permitting real-time decision-making, price negotiation, and settlement without human interference. 

Bernstein mentioned stablecoins are mainly suited to this environment, as they are programmable, quick, micro-payment-friendly, and accessible all over the globe. Payment logic like escrow, conditional release, or revenue cutting can be rooted directly in stablecoins, permitting agents to transact without calling a bank or waiting for confirmations. 

The Contribution To The Future

According to the note, transfer settlements can be done in seconds, permitting AI agents to pay for compute or data in real time. To make it financially efficient, high-throughput blockchains and state channels can be used to perform microtransactions at scale. 

Also, stablecoins are borderless, eliminating the need for SWIFT, correspondent banking or FX conversion, the analysts mentioned. A lot of companies have started making infrastructure to operationalise these capabilities. 

Coinbase is making the x402 agent payments protocol, which sets payments into the HTTP layer of the internet, while Circle rolled out nano-payment infrastructure for agents. Meanwhile, Stripe, via its blockchain investment in Bridge and Privy, rolled out the Machine Payments Protocol on the Tempo blockchain. 

Bernstein mentioned that the traction on machine payments protocols has already been restricted, highlighting that Stripe’s MPP registered $5,000 in volume in its first week of launch. Coinbase’s x402 protocol has generated around $25 million in volume in the past month. 

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