CoinDesk
Animoca Brands Chairman Yat Siu expects 50 billion to 100 billion autonomous AI agents to transact online within the next few years, and argues the only infrastructure capable of banking them is crypto, not traditional banks. The pivot is already underway at Animoca, which announced a $10 million developer investment program in May for applications built on its AI agent platform, Minds.
Why it matters
The dispute inside crypto is no longer whether AI agents will pay each other, but in what. Siu argues agents will move across thousands of tokens without forcing humans to manage each one. Erald Ghoos, CEO of OKX Europe, counters that one neutral "super currency" will win, and that a USD-pegged stablecoin cannot serve as a global machine settlement layer because China and other jurisdictions would not adopt it. The disagreement is structural: it determines whether the machine economy runs on permissioned rails or open ones, and whether settlement is anchored to one country's monetary policy or none.
Market impact
Juniper Research forecasts agentic commerce will generate $1.5 trillion globally by 2030, though it does not say which currency automated agents will use. Citi's head of payments, Debo Sen, said trust, identity and authorization safeguards must improve before autonomous purchases can scale, and predicted agentic payments will first emerge in small merchant transactions before moving to higher-stakes business-to-business flows. Coinbase's Keith Grose framed the deeper contest as one over who owns the underlying rails. The agents themselves may not care, but the platforms they transact on will determine who captures the value of every automated payment.
Frequently asked questions
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How many AI agents does Animoca's Yat Siu expect to transact online?
Yat Siu expects 50 billion to 100 billion autonomous AI agents to be transacting on the internet within the next few years, settling through crypto wallets rather than bank accounts.
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What is Animoca's Minds platform?
Minds is Animoca's AI agent platform. The company announced a $10 million investment program in May for developers building applications on it, as part of a pivot from virtual worlds to an AI-driven metaverse.
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Will AI agents use stablecoins or a new "super currency"?
Industry leaders disagree. Yat Siu expects agents to route across thousands of tokens without human oversight. OKX Europe's Erald Ghoos predicts one neutral "super currency" will win, noting a USD-pegged stablecoin would face adoption resistance in jurisdictions like China.
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How big could the agentic commerce market be by 2030?
Juniper Research forecasts agentic commerce will generate $1.5 trillion globally by 2030, though the forecast does not specify which currency automated agents will use for settlement.
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What safeguards are needed before AI agent payments can scale?
Citi's head of payments Debo Sen said industry protocols must first address trust, identity and authorization. She predicted autonomous payments will first emerge in small merchant transactions before moving to higher-stakes business-to-business flows.
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