AI Robots Are Now Paying Each Other With Crypto — 138 Million Times
AI programs made over 138 million tiny crypto payments to buy data and services, with the U.S. leading the spending.
Imagine computer programs that can shop, pay bills, and buy services all on their own — without a human clicking anything. That future is already starting. AI agents (smart software that can act and make decisions by itself) have made more than 138 million payments using cryptocurrency, according to a new report from blockchain research firm Chainalysis.
These AI programs are using digital money to buy things they need to work better, such as data, computing power, and access to other AI models.
What are they buying — and how?
Most of this activity happens through a system called x402, a payment tool built by Coinbase (a major crypto company). It lets AI agents automatically pay for digital services using crypto, no human needed. Many payments use stablecoins — a type of crypto designed to hold a steady value, like being worth exactly $1.
Why stablecoins? Because they can handle extremely tiny payments:
- Over 87% of payments were worth between one-hundredth of a cent and 10 cents
- These amounts are too small for normal credit cards to handle profitably
- This makes crypto ideal for "micropayments" (very small transactions)
The United States is far ahead. Here's the breakdown:
- U.S. wallets: 88.1% of payments for AI model usage (called "inference")
- Chinese wallets: just 0.1% of those payments
- China's focus: about 90% of payments for security and code-checking services
Why it matters
Some experts believe AI agents could become the internet's biggest users. One estimate suggests up to 100 billion AI agents could soon be making payments online — and many will use crypto.
For now, the amounts are tiny. But the report shows that autonomous software is starting to behave like a real customer, spending money and building its own shopping habits. The U.S. is currently leading this brand-new economy.
This is an AI-generated summary. Read the original article at: https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/10/14/ai-agents-make-138-million-crypto-payments-as-u-s-dominates-spending-on-ai-models