Circle CEO Predicts Billions of AI Agents Will Adopt Stablecoins Within Five Years
Jeremy Allaire, CEO of Circle, predicts AI agents will rely exclusively on stablecoins for transactions, with widespread adoption expected in three to five years as autonomous systems handle daily economic tasks.
According to Jeremy Allaire, who leads the stablecoin issuing company Circle, the next three to five years will witness billions of autonomous artificial intelligence agents utilizing cryptocurrency and stablecoins to handle routine payment transactions for users, operating independently of human intervention.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Thursday, Allaire projected a future where autonomous AI systems dominate economic transactions. "Three years, five years from now, one can reasonably expect that there will be billions, literally billions of AI agents conducting economic activity in the world on a continuous basis," Allaire said.
"They need an economic system. They need a financial system. They need a payment system. There is no other alternative, in my view, other than stablecoins to do that right now."
During his appearance at the WEF on Thursday, Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao echoed these sentiments, asserting that crypto will serve as the "native currency for AI agents" and will facilitate all manner of transactions, from purchasing tickets to settling restaurant checks.
Zhao emphasized the incompatibility of traditional payment methods with AI systems, stating: "They're not going to use bank cards. They're not going to swipe credit cards. They're going to use crypto," Zhao said, adding that blockchain is the "most native technology interface for AI agents."
Crypto making tools for AI commerce
Last May, the development team at Coinbase unveiled x402, an online payments protocol designed to facilitate AI agent transactions using stablecoins across the internet.
This innovative tool leverages the largely overlooked HTTP web standard known as HTTP 402 "Payment Required" status, combined with Ethereum Improvement Proposal 3009, which provides pre-signed authorization capabilities, allowing AI agents to execute fund transfers autonomously without requiring manual authorization or incurring gas fees.
Google entered the agentic commerce space on Jan. 11 with the launch of its Universal Commerce Protocol, establishing itself as a potential rival to cryptocurrency-based solutions.
The protocol developed by Google leverages its Agent Payment Protocol 2 to execute transfers on users' behalf, designating Google Pay as the primary payment handler for transactions conducted in US dollars.