[Report: AI Agents Settled $73 Million Across 176 Million Transactions in the Past Year] According to a report by Cointelegraph, as cited by Jinse Finance on May 25, crypto investment firm Keyrock revealed that AI agents have settled $73 million through 176 million transactions over the past 12 months. Machine-to-machine payments have evolved from a concept into a mature ecosystem. The report's authors noted that traditional payment channels cannot serve this market, as a fixed processing fee of approximately 30 cents per transaction makes transactions under $1 uneconomical. Stablecoins have almost by default become the settlement layer for machine commerce. Over 98% of AI agent settlements use Circle's USDC, which represents both validation and vulnerability, as the entire ecosystem relies on a single stablecoin issuer, posing systemic risks. By the end of Q1, more than 104,000 agents were registered across over 15 directories, with an average transaction size of approximately 31 cents. Circle's CEO previously predicted that within five years, billions of AI agents will use stablecoins to operate on behalf of users.