Stablecoins support AI payments, but cards lead

Stablecoins cannot yet replicate the trust infrastructure that cards offer, but that may change

- Bloomberg

Several companies that launched with stablecoin-only agent payments are now adding card and bank integrations.

(ISTOCKPHOTO)

For years, the stablecoin industry has been waiting for its killer app—the use case that would prove digital dollars are more than a tool for crypto speculators, by powering everyday commerce at global scale.

When the idea took hold that artificial intelligence (AI) agents would need fast, cheap, programmable money to transact at machine speed, it looked like the moment had finally come. The thesis captivated markets—a single Citrini Research scenario imagining agents bypassing card fees wiped billions off Visa Inc., Mastercard Inc., and American Express Co. in a day.

But the companies actually building payment systems for AI agents are finding that the answer is more complicated.

Credit cards offer chargebacks, fraud protection, and dispute resolution—a trust infrastructure that hundreds of millions of users depend on and that stablecoin payments cannot yet replicate. Most Americans carry a card and earn rewards for using it. Relatively few have ever held a stablecoin. Crypto will account for just 1% to.5% of retail gross merchandise value in online and offline retail by 2030, according to Crone Consulting LLC. Traditional rails will handle the rest.

“It’s over-hyped,” said Christian Catalini, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who helped create Meta-initiated Libra stablecoin project, later renamed Diem. “If you think about agentic commerce, the most likely scenario is, the incumbents are going to dominate it.”

Card networks are positioning themselves to own the shift. Visa Intelligent Commerce for AI agents is already in trials, and Mastercard’s Agent Pay is live for US cardholders.