Author: Coach Liu
Note: When AI starts to spend money on its own, cryptocurrency finally finds its long-awaited killer application. But you might be wrong about who will be the biggest beneficiary.
Have you ever thought about a question: If one day, AI is no longer just a little assistant answering your questions, but can go online to buy things, order services, rent servers, and even make investments, how does it pay?
This is not science fiction. On this day in 2026, AI Agents are evolving from chatbots into true digital employees. Anthropic has received a $5 billion data center plan supported by Google[1]. xStocks has brought private company shares onto the blockchain, allowing ordinary people to buy shares in Anthropic and Databricks. In the prediction markets, AI Agents have already begun to seize arbitrage opportunities[2].
But behind all these stories lies a more fundamental question: when software starts to spend money like humans, is the financial system ready?
The answer may surprise you. The real beneficiaries are not the hype tokens with AI in their names, but these three you are most familiar with: Bitcoin, Ethereum, and stablecoins.
1. What is an AI Agent? Simply put, it's AI that can get the job done.
Past AI was like a compliant customer service representative. You ask a question, it gives an answer. You ask it to check the weather, it reports the temperature. You ask it to write an email, it drafts it for you. But that's as far as it goes; the rest you still have to handle yourself.
The new generation of AI Agents is different. You give it a goal, such as booking flights and hotels for next weekend in Shanghai, and it can search and compare prices, select options, place orders, and make payments, and then send you the confirmation information. You don't need to intervene at all.
This sounds simple, but the changes behind it are revolutionary. Once AI can complete tasks on its own, it needs to pay for itself. And the traditional financial system is not designed for software at all.
2. Banks won't open accounts for AI, but blockchain can.
Think about it: what would happen if an AI Agent tried to open a bank account? It has no ID, no proof of address, and not even a physical presence. The bank teller would simply refuse.
Even if you force the issue and have a human open an account on its behalf, there are still a bunch of problems: banks have business hours, while AI doesn’t take holidays; cross-border payments can take two or three days, plus the high fees; API interfaces have many restrictions, and applying to write an automated trading program could take half a year.
Cryptocurrency has none of these problems.
An AI Agent can generate a wallet address in seconds, without needing anyone’s approval. It can transfer funds 24/7, regardless of where the recipient’s server is located. It can use smart contracts to implement complex payment logic, like releasing funds only upon meeting certain conditions. All of this is programmable, automated, and does not require human intermediaries.
Visa has publicly announced that it is researching secure Agents to drive transactions, Stripe has launched products specifically for Agent commerce, and Mastercard has also started a new crypto partnership program[3]. These giants are not fools; they see the trend: future payments will increasingly come from non-human users.
a16z has even proposed a new concept called Know Your Agent. According to their estimates, the number of non-human identities in financial services has already surpassed that of human employees, with a ratio of 96 to 1[3]. In other words, in the eyes of the system, machines outnumber humans.
3. Why might AI coins actually underperform?
There has always been a batch of so-called AI coins in the market, which hype artificial intelligence and have skyrocketing prices. But think carefully: does an AI Agent really need to use a specific AI coin to make payments?
The answer is no.
When an AI Agent pays API fees, the counterpart requires dollars or stablecoins. When an AI Agent rents GPU computing power, cloud service providers accept fiat currency or mainstream cryptocurrencies. When an AI Agent participates in prediction market arbitrage, the platform supports USDC or ETH.
Issuing a dedicated AI coin has too many issues. First, acceptance is extremely low; no service provider will integrate a niche token just for an AI Agent. Second, the price volatility is high; AI Agents need stable and predictable payment methods, not something that can buy one server today and only half a server tomorrow. Finally, the technological ecosystem is immature; AI Agents prefer to use infrastructures that have been proven over years, with comprehensive documentation and active communities.
Bitcoin, Ethereum, and stablecoins are different.
Stablecoins are the most direct beneficiaries. AI Agents need to make payments, and the easiest way to do that is with dollar stablecoins. They are stable, universally accepted, and programming-friendly. Even the Bank for International Settlements recognizes that stablecoins are becoming increasingly attractive for cross-border payments and trade settlements[3].
Ethereum provides a complete programmable environment. AI Agents can deploy smart contracts on Ethereum to automatically execute complex trading strategies. The popularity of Layer 2 has reduced transaction costs to negligible levels, making microtransactions a reality.
Bitcoin may not be as flexible, but its advantages lie in its broadest recognition and strongest security. When AI Agents need to store value long-term, Bitcoin is a natural choice. Solutions like the Lightning Network are continually enhancing Bitcoin's programmability and payment efficiency.
4. The three stages of AI Agent spending
In the short term, within one to two years, AI Agents will first spend money in three scenarios: API calling fees, data purchasing, and computing power leasing. These scenarios are characterized by small amounts, high frequency, and clear demand, perfectly matching the micro-payment capabilities of stablecoins.
In the medium term, in two to five years, AI Agents will participate more deeply in financial activities. For instance, arbitraging in DeFi protocols, betting in prediction markets, and even managing cross-border payments in supply chains. Prediction markets like Polymarket have already emerged with AI-driven arbitrage opportunities, with researchers estimating around $40 million profit from these inefficient markets[2].
In the long term, in over five years, a truly autonomous economy might emerge. AI Agents will own independent assets, earn their own money, pay taxes, and invest on their own. Multiple AI Agents can collaborate and complete complex tasks through token incentives. By then, cryptocurrency will no longer just be a payment tool; it will be the underlying operating system of an entire intelligent economy.
5. What does this mean for ordinary people?
If you are an investor, instead of chasing after those concept-hyped AI coins, focus on the real infrastructure. Payment infrastructure is the highest priority track, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and stablecoins. Next comes the AI Agent development frameworks and programmable payment layers. The use cases for dedicated AI tokens are limited, and the risks are higher.
But also be aware of the risks. Regulation is a big issue; if AI Agents spend autonomously, who is responsible when something goes wrong? Technical security is also crucial; AI Agents managing assets require extremely high security guarantees. The market is still in its early stages, and many visions may take years to materialize.
OECD data shows that the proportion of companies adopting AI will rise from 8.7% in 2023 to 14.2% in 2024, and then to 20.2% in 2025[3]. This is not an overnight explosion, but a wave of continuous growth.
Cryptocurrency has been waiting for over a decade, always searching for that irreplaceable application scenario. Speculation brought attention, trading brought liquidity, but it always felt a bit lacking. Now, the emergence of AI Agents has finally found the perfect user for programmable currency—software itself.
When the AI Agent opens its wallet, the true era of cryptocurrency may just be beginning.
References:
[1] Cointelegraph, "Google plans to back $5B data center for Anthropic"
[2] Cointelegraph, "How AI agents can reshape arbitrage in prediction markets"
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