AI’s money bots are here and everyone wants to handle their cash

For years, the stablecoin industry has been waiting for its killer app — the use case that would prove digital dollars are more than a tool for crypto speculators, by powering everyday commerce at global scale. When the idea took hold that AI agents would need fast, cheap, programmable money to transact at machine speed, it looked like the moment had finally come.

The thesis captivated markets — a single Citrini Research scenario imagining agents bypassing card fees wiped billions off Visa Inc., Mastercard Inc., and American Express Co. in a day. But the companies actually building payment systems for AI agents are finding that the answer is more complicated.

Credit cards offer chargebacks, fraud protection, and dispute resolution — a trust infrastructure that hundreds of millions of users depend on and that stablecoin payments cannot yet replicate. Most Americans carry a card and earn rewards for using it. Relatively few have ever held a stablecoin.

Crypto will account for just 1% to 5% of retail gross merchandise value in online and offline retail by 2030, according to Crone Consulting LLC. Traditional rails will handle the rest. “It’s overhyped,” said Christian Catalini, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who helped create Meta-initiated Libra stablecoin project, later renamed Diem.

“If you think about agentic commerce, the most likely scenario is, the incumbents are going to dominate it.” Card networks are positioning themselves to own the shift. Visa Intelligent Commerce for AI agents is already in trials, and Mastercard’s Agent Pay is live for U.S. cardholders.

“Most people don’t have a stablecoin wallet,” said Rubail Birwadker, Visa’s global head of growth. “It’s incredibly important that we separate the very well deserved attention that stablecoins get in the agentic world, and the reality.” Many start-ups building this future are arriving at a similar conclusion.

Several companies that launched with stablecoin-only agent payments are now adding card networks and bank integrations. X402, an open standard for agent payments incubated by crypto exchange Coinbase Global Inc. is in discussions to add traditional payment methods this year. Skyfire, which built a platform for AI agents to transact, has just added Visa and is about to integrate Mastercard, and is in talks with banks.

“On the consumer side, at least for the foreseeable future, credit cards will continue to be a big factor,” said Amir Sarhangi, CEO of Skyfire. “We are so accustomed to our points, to all the benefits like purchasing protection.” He believes stablecoins will find more traction among corporate customers.

Even among corporate users, cards may hold their ground. Sean Neville, who co-founded the company behind the USDC stablecoin and now runs Catena Labs, said he expects AI software to end up holding its own one-time use cards with spending limits. Catena is testing with banks a system designed to help such software move money, lend, and transact more safely.

“It is true that using stablecoin rails makes a lot of sense for some use cases, but it doesn’t mean you can’t use traditional rails for agentic flows,” Neville said. “There’s increasing warmth toward stablecoins, but there’s also a lot of interest in other rails.” None of this means stablecoins have no role.