Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz said that AI agents will soon become the top users of stablecoins.
During an interview with Bloomberg published on Wednesday, Novogratz said that “in the not-so-distant future, the biggest user of stablecoins is going to be AI.” He said he expects users will be able to ask an AI to buy their groceries, and have it independently engage in the necessary transactions:
”Your grocery agent, who knows what you like to eat, knows that you’re on a diet or not on a diet, is going to figure out what groceries to buy from where.”
AI agents are autonomous software programs that can perceive their environment, make decisions, and take actions to achieve goals without constant human intervention. The primary feature that distinguishes these systems from most current AI systems is their higher degree of independence.
Novogratz highlighted that such an agent would not “send a wire instruction or a Venmo” and instead would rely on stablecoin transactions. He said that he is unaware of whether such systems will be in place in one or five years, but he expects us to “see an explosion of stablecoin transactions.”
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Stablecoins are on the rise
Novogratz’s remarks follow reports suggesting that stablecoin adoption in payments is growing significantly. Early June reports indicated that at least four tech companies, including Apple, X, Airbnb, and Google, were exploring stablecoins as a means to lower fees and improve cross-border payments.
Last month, global grocery giant Spar announced support for stablecoin and cryptocurrency payments in its stores across Switzerland. In mid-June, e-commerce giant Shopify rolled out early access to stablecoin payments in Circle’s USDC in collaboration with major US exchange Coinbase.
At the end of July, payment company Visa expanded its stablecoin offerings on its settlement platform by adding support for the Global dollar (USDG), PayPal USD (PYUSD), and euro Coin (EURC) stablecoins. A mid-May survey of 295 executives across traditional banks, financial institutions, fintech companies and payment gateways revealed that 90% of institutional players are using or exploring the use of stablecoins in their operations.
Related: How to develop an AI agent for crypto trading
AI agents are expected to participate in Web3
Novogratz’s statements on AI agents follow those of the Coinbase development team members, who said that such systems “are about to become Ethereum’s biggest power users.” AI agents have distinct capabilities compared to humans and interact with these systems differently, resulting in the need for specialized infrastructure and middleware.
For instance, Adrian Brink, co-founder of Web3 AI agent infrastructure firm Anoma, recently claimed that such systems require intent-based blockchain infrastructure. Such infrastructure utilizes user-defined goals or desired outcomes expressed at a high level, preventing unexpected transaction outcomes.
Decentralized AI agent infrastructure startup Kite AI recently raised $18 million in its Series A funding round led by PayPal Ventures, bringing total cumulative funding to $33 million. An example of an AI agent service integrated into Web3 infrastructure is Clanker, a decentralized application (DApp) built around an artificial intelligence agent that creates memecoins based on prompts.
“Clanker is an AI that launches crypto tokens for you,” the DApp’s website said. “Give it a name and symbol, and it handles deployment, market creation, and fee sharing automatically.”
According to early August reports, Clanker had generated over $34.4 million in fees for its users at the time.
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