Circle’s CEO painted a clear picture at Davos this week: Autonomous software agents working for humans could, within three to five years, apply stablecoins to pay for everyday things.
He said these agents will need a money system that is stable, rapid and programmable. This, he argued, is what he points to stablecoins as a likely choice.
AI agents and money
According to reportsCircle’s Jeremy Allaire said that in the near future, “literally billions” of AI agents could conduct transactions on behalf of users.
“In three to five years, we can expect that billions, literally billions, of AI agents will be continuously conducting business around the world” – Allaire he said during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
He described work on recent networks and tools that will allow software to act like miniature businesses or helpers that buy services, settle bills and tip content creators.
The idea is seemingly elementary: software needs a reliable unit of account when spending money, and tokenized dollars can fulfill this role.
Building tools
Reports say that companies from all over the cryptocurrency and technology world are racing to build a plumbing facility for this purpose future. Circle presents USDC as a neutral payment layer to which software can be connected.
Other companies are testing protocols that allow a machine to sign a payment when certain conditions are met. Some vast tech groups are also exploring ways their platforms would allow software to automatically pay for services. Progress is noticeable, but the path is not yet clear.
What regulators might ask
Regulators will have questions. The reports highlight concerns about money flow, consumer protection and where bank deposits are kept for stablecoins grow rapid.
At Davos, the CEO rejected the idea that stablecoins would exhaust bank deposits in the way some fear, saying comparisons with other financial instruments were more appropriate.
Still, lawmakers in the U.S. and other countries are watching it closely. Regulations could be introduced more quickly if policymakers recognized that the real volume comes from so-called agent trading.
New networks, recent risks
Reports suggest that technical choices will impact both comfort and danger. If agents are able to transfer value at scale, the risk of fraud and theft could also enhance.
Systems will need clear identity controls, error handling and ways to prevent uncontrolled payments. Some security work is already underway, but much remains to be designed and tested.
Featured image from Pexels, chart from TradingView
