Crypto trading and investment firm Keyrock has revealed that AI-powered software agents processed more than $73 million in blockchain-based payments over the past year, highlighting the rapid emergence of machine-to-machine commerce. According to the company’s latest report, AI agents completed nearly 176 million transactions between May 2025 and April 2026, signaling growing adoption of automated digital payment systems.
The report suggests that AI agents are increasingly being used to autonomously purchase digital services such as cloud computing resources, API access, data feeds, and AI inference tools without direct human intervention. Keyrock noted that this evolving ecosystem is creating a new payment infrastructure layer where machines can transact with one another in real time. Industry leaders including Coinbase, Stripe, Google, and Visa are now actively building competing frameworks to support the emerging machine economy.
One of the key findings from the report is the growing dominance of stablecoins in AI-driven payments. Nearly 98.6% of all recorded AI agent transactions were settled using USDC, the stablecoin issued by Circle. Analysts believe stablecoins have become the preferred option because traditional card payment systems are not economically efficient for the extremely small transaction sizes common in AI commerce. The average transaction value reportedly stood at around $0.31 to $0.48, making blockchain settlement significantly cheaper than conventional payment rails.
Keyrock also highlighted how traditional financial infrastructure struggles to support large volumes of microtransactions. The company stated that roughly 76% of AI-agent transactions fall below the standard $0.30 processing fee floor typically associated with card networks. In comparison, blockchain-based stablecoin transfers can cost only fractions of a cent, making them more suitable for automated machine payments occurring at high frequency and low value.
The report further revealed intensifying competition among major technology and payment firms seeking dominance in the AI payments ecosystem. Coinbase has developed its x402 protocol for machine payments using stablecoins, while Stripe introduced the Machine Payments Protocol (MPP). Google is focusing on authorization systems for AI agents, and Visa is extending tokenized card infrastructure to support AI commerce applications. Analysts say the race to build the foundational infrastructure for autonomous AI transactions could become one of the next major battlegrounds in fintech and digital payments.
Despite the rapid growth, Keyrock warned about significant regulatory and systemic risks surrounding AI-driven payments. The heavy dependence on USDC creates concerns about concentration risk, while current financial regulations in the US and Europe still lack clear rules governing autonomous machine-to-machine transactions. Industry experts believe governments and regulators may soon face pressure to establish frameworks covering AI agent identity, liability, fraud prevention, and transaction accountability as the machine economy continues to expand globally.
