Original Title: "Cobo Stablecoin Weekly Report NO.23: AI Payments and Stablecoins Make it to the Fed Agenda, Stripe Launches Payment Chain"

AI Agents and stablecoins, two seemingly parallel tracks, are joining hands to reshape the future of finance. In the past, financial transactions were filled with "friction" — lengthy settlements, high fees, and complex manual approvals. Now, stablecoins are eliminating these frictions, and AI Agents are taking these "frictionless" transactions to an unprecedented high-frequency world. As fund flows and intelligent decision-making reach their peak, what fundamental changes does the human financial system need?

Check out the highlights of the 23rd issue of the Cobo Stablecoin Weekly Report:

· Fed's October Payment Innovation Meeting: AI and payments, along with stablecoin applications, will be discussed side by side. Why could stablecoins become the natural currency for AI Agents?

· Stripe Announces Tempo: The launch of a payment-specialized public chain. What industry signal does this move send?

Market Overview and Growth Highlights

Total stablecoin market cap reached $288.119 billion, with a weekly increase of $4.813 billion. In terms of market dominance, USDT continues to hold the leading position with a share of 59.21%; USDC ranks second, with a market cap of $72.109 billion, accounting for 25.03%.

Top Three Stablecoin Networks by Market Cap:

· Ethereum: $153.131 billion

· Tron: $81.643 billion

· Solana: $12.223 billion

Top 3 Fastest Growing Networks This Week:

· Falcon USD (USDf): +24.58%

· M By M^0 (M): +15.30%

· Circle USYC (USYC): +12.49%

Data Source: DefiLlama

Entering the Fed Agenda: The Payment Prospect of AI × Stablecoin

Stablecoins have already built a high-speed track for cross-border payments, and with the arrival of AI Agents, this track's usage frequency may be pushed to the extreme. Imagine if everyone had multiple dedicated AI Agents automatically handling various transactions for us; there would inevitably be continuous and massive payment demands behind this. Such demand cannot rely on traditional payment channels; only stablecoins can support this scale and frequency of real-time settlement. The Fed has keenly observed this trend. At the upcoming payment innovation meeting on October 21, the Fed will place "AI and payments" and "stablecoin applications" side by side as core topics, indicating that these two directions have entered the mainstream policy vision. Although not directly merged into "AI+Stablecoin Payment," the trend's convergence is almost self-evident.

The alignment between AI and stablecoins is almost "natural." AI agents are borderless, capable of simultaneously utilizing computing power in Japan, purchasing digital goods in Brazil, and paying developers in India, while the banking system is inherently fragmented by nation and currency. Stablecoins standardize currency formats, provide low-cost, cross-border real-time settlement, and make global payments as seamless as local transactions. Particularly important is that AI's operating model itself consists of numerous microtransactions and condition-triggered logic, where a single task may be divided into hundreds of API calls, each requiring automatic settlement and fee splitting. Credit cards and traditional bank transfers are entirely unsuitable for this frequency, whereas the programmability of stablecoins and smart contracts can directly turn payments into "intelligent actions," enabling automatic payment upon task completion and automatic settlement of transaction volumes.

Furthermore, at a deeper level, for AI, payments are not just about fund flows but also information flows. Traditional payment records only capture amount and time, lacking context; whereas on-chain stablecoins inherently possess attributes of traceable data and real-time readability. For an AI agent, payment data itself is a trainable and optimizable asset. This means that stablecoins not only address payment execution but also provide intelligent potential that traditional systems cannot support.

Therefore, the finance market has already begun to place its bets. This week, PayPal Ventures led an investment in Kite, an AI payment infrastructure company. Its core product, Kite AIR, can provide AI with identity verification, risk control barriers, and programmable payment rails, directly transplanting the "compliance and security modules" from traditional payments into AI scenarios, enabling AI agents to become trustworthy and controllable economic entities.

In the past, PayPal has connected Venmo and the PayPal network, bridging consumers and merchants; it has also introduced PYUSD stablecoin and "Global Venmo," embedding channels for global distribution and low-cost settlements. Kite provides the security and execution layer for AI agents, while PayPal offers stablecoins and distribution networks. The combination of the two is shaping an incipient automated payment network driven by AI agents.

Stripe Launches Tempo, a Payment-Focused Public Blockchain

After several rumors and job postings, Stripe today officially announced the launch of Tempo, a payment-focused blockchain, confirming speculations about its "self-built public chain." The company positions Tempo as a Layer 1 blockchain specifically designed for payments, aiming to bridge the performance gap between traditional public blockchains and real-world payments. While Bitcoin and Ethereum operate at the level of tens of transactions per second (TPS), Stripe can handle over tens of thousands of transactions during peak times. Tempo claims to support one hundred thousand TPS, sub-second settlement, be EVM-compatible, and enable gas fees to be paid in various stablecoins. In the initial stage, it will use selective validators to prioritize performance and security, gradually moving towards decentralization in response to concerns from external parties regarding centralization and compliance.

Unlike most public blockchains that have been looking for use cases from infrastructure to applications, Tempo has been focused on specific applications such as cross-border settlement, merchant payments, tokenized deposits, and AI agent payments from the beginning. Its lineup of partners covers banks, merchant platforms, and fintech companies, including Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered, Shopify, DoorDash, Revolut, Visa, Nubank, Mercury, and more. The official team has also introduced the concept of "Agentic Payments," allowing AI agents to autonomously process payments on-chain. This means that once Tempo is launched, it could potentially handle real business from large institutions and focus on the most advantageous aspects of stablecoins—cross-border mobility, merchant settlement, and intelligent entity payments, aligning well with the recent regulatory focus, including that of the Federal Reserve.

Strategically, after integrating wallet access and compliance infrastructure, Stripe has incorporated settlement into its ecosystem through Tempo, directly competing with Visa's settlement advantage. However, what's intriguing is that Visa did not choose to oppose this but instead joined as a partner. The reason might be that the two have different positions in the stablecoin ecosystem, with Visa's strength lying in its global merchant network and brand rather than on-chain performance. Visa's approach is to connect to multiple chains (Ethereum, Solana, Tempo) through VTAP and then direct them to its own merchant system to maintain its core position. Stripe has taken a different path, positioning Tempo as a "stablecoin neutrality layer" to attract the native flow of all stablecoins. These two paths, though different, ultimately converge in seizing the right to global payment liquidity. This also means that besides Visa, another directly affected participant is Circle—Tempo's connection to its stablecoin network, Arc, may lead to direct competition for the right to global payment liquidity.

Regulatory Compliance

Ukrainian Parliament Passes First Reading of Cryptocurrency Legalization and Taxation Bill

Key Highlights

· The Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) on Wednesday passed the first reading of the cryptocurrency legalization and taxation bill with 246 votes in favor, proposing an 18% income tax on digital asset profits and a 5% military tax, with a temporary tax rate of 5% for the first year of fiat-to-crypto exchanges;

· This bill would bring Ukraine's crypto tax system closer to crypto-friendly nations, exempting taxes on transactions between cryptocurrencies and stablecoin trades, though the regulatory authority (whether it is the central bank or the National Securities and Stock Market Commission) has not yet been determined;

· Ukraine ranks eighth in Chainalysis' 2025 Global Cryptocurrency Adoption Index, showing strong performance in centralized value receiving (retail and institutional) as well as DeFi value receiving, the latter gaining traction in the Eastern European region.

Why It Matters

· This bill will create an opportunity for Ukraine to attract crypto investments and repatriate overseas assets of domestic crypto enthusiasts, contributing to economic recovery and market modernization. Crypto tax legislation has become a global trend, with Denmark, Brazil, and the United States all advancing related policies in the past year, demonstrating that digital assets are gaining worldwide acceptance.

India Stuck in Bureaucratic Gridlock, Lagging in Asia Stablecoin Race

Key Highlights

· Polygon's Head of Payments and RWA, Aishwary Gupta, points out that India's stablecoin regulation is stuck in bureaucratic delays due to multiple departments shirking responsibility, with no government entity willing to take on regulatory duties;

· Gupta estimates that integrating stablecoins into India's international payment flows could save $68 billion annually, but regulatory uncertainty is hindering banks from acting, while 80-85% of top crypto talent has already moved overseas;

· Meanwhile, other Asian countries are moving swiftly: Japan has licensed the issuance of JPYC yen stablecoin, South Korea has proposed a won stablecoin bill, and Hong Kong launched a stablecoin regulatory regime in August.

Why It Matters

· The global economy is shifting towards programmable money and tokenized assets, with India holding one of the world's largest Web3 developer and user bases. However, regulatory gridlock has put it behind in this geopolitical competition dubbed the "crypto cold war."

ECB President Calls for Addressing Non-EU Stablecoin Risks

Key Highlights

· ECB President Christine Lagarde urges policymakers to address stablecoin regulatory gaps, especially for those stablecoins issued outside the EU's MiCA framework;

· Lagarde emphasizes that non-EU stablecoin issuers must comply with a "robust equivalent regulatory regime" to operate in the EU, including allowing investors to redeem holdings at face value and requiring issuers to provide full reserve backing;

· ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone is concerned that U.S. stablecoin policies could lead to euro deposits shifting to the U.S., further strengthening the dollar's role in cross-border payments.

Why It Matters

· With the United States implementing the GENIUS Act to establish a stablecoin framework, major global economies are competing for dominance in the stablecoin market, and the European Union needs to strengthen regulation to protect the euro's position.

EU to Propose RWA Tokenization, Regulators Emphasize Balancing Innovation and Investor Protection

Key Takeaways

· European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) Managing Director Natasha Cazenave stated that tokenization has market transformation potential but must be developed within investor protection and financial stability frameworks. An EU Commission advisor revealed plans to propose a Savings and Investment Alliance with elements of financial instrument tokenization in December;

· The global tokenized asset market is approximately $600 billion, with Europe holding over half of the global tokenized fixed income market and growing to $3.5 billion last year. However, most projects are still small-scale, illiquid, and experimental, potentially causing Europe to lag behind the United States and Asia in the pursuit of perfection;

· The EU aims to make its DLT pilot mechanism "more useful" by upgrading it to overcome national barriers and address the decentralization of 27 small capital markets, focusing on Real-World Asset (RWA) tokenization rather than developing the "MiCA 2.0" regulatory framework.

Why It Matters

· Traditional financial institutions' attitudes towards blockchain have shifted from hesitation five years ago to acceptance. The EU sees blockchain as a key technology for integrating decentralized capital markets. Regulatory authorities are striving to strike a balance between financial innovation and investor protection, with the DLT pilot mechanism providing a regulatory sandbox to test different approaches under controlled conditions, preventing Europe from falling behind in the digital asset competition.

South Africa Plans to Open Payment Systems to Non-Bank Institutions

Key Takeaways

· The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) plans to introduce a proposal in the first half of next year to allow non-bank institutions to access the National Payment System (NPS), ending the commercial bank monopoly;

· Currently, non-bank payment platforms must collaborate with commercial banks to clear and settle payments. The central bank believes that increasing access will promote competition, efficiency, innovation, and financial inclusion;

· Non-bank institutions worldwide are accelerating their entry into real-time payment space, such as Walmart planning to introduce real-time bank payment options to avoid high card interchange fees, improve cash flow, and operational efficiency.

Why It Matters

· An open payment system will fundamentally alter the South African financial landscape, allowing non-bank innovators to directly participate in payment infrastructure, enhancing market competitiveness and service efficiency.

Timing of Yen Stablecoin Launch Opportune Ahead of Bank of Japan Rate Hike

Key Takeaways

· The Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA) may approve the first yen stablecoin as early as this fall, with Tokyo fintech company JPYC planning to register as a remittance business and introduce a yen-backed stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the yen;

· Top bankers and economists anticipate the Bank of Japan (BOJ) to raise rates in the fourth quarter, with Hokuriku Financial Group's Hiroshi Nakazawa suggesting the BOJ could hike rates in either October or December, following rate hikes in July last year and January this year;

· Japanese government bond yields have surged to multi-decade highs, with the 30-year bond yield exceeding 3.2%, the 10-year bond yield reaching 1.64%, and the Japan-U.S. 10-year yield spread narrowing to 2.62%, its lowest since August 2022, implying yen appreciation.

Why It Matters

· The anticipated BOJ rate hike is expected to boost the yen and yen-denominated asset attractiveness, with BTC/JPY down 8% and forming a technical top reversal pattern, making the yen stablecoin launch timely.

New Product Spotlight

Bybit Launches Cryptocurrency Debit Card in Europe

Key Takeaways

· One of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Bybit, has launched a debit card across the entire European Economic Area (EEA), enabling users to spend digital assets through the Mastercard payment network;

· This debit card supports cryptocurrency payments such as Bitcoin, USDC, and can be linked to Apple Pay and Google Pay, with users also able to withdraw cash at ATMs, fully compliant with the European MiCAR regulatory framework;

· Bybit has introduced promotional activities: new users in September can receive 20% cashback on spending (requires a minimum deposit of 100 USD in cryptocurrency), a 5 EUR reward for the first transaction, and offers rebates on subscriptions like Netflix and Spotify.

Why It Matters

· Over 2 million Bybit cards are already in circulation globally, expanding into the European market enables the exchange to tap into a market with increasingly clear regulatory rules, reflecting a pivotal moment for the crypto industry as regulatory clarity and institutional adoption are on the rise.

Catena Labs Launches ACK-Lab Developer Preview to Build Trust Infrastructure for AI Agents

Key Takeaways

· Catena Labs (building the first AI-native financial institution) has launched the ACK-Lab developer preview, based on the open-source Agent Commerce Kit (ACK) protocol, providing AI agents with three core functions: encrypted identity authentication, secure wallet, and executable policies;

· Two demo projects are offered: one showcasing an agent autonomously executing a simulated exchange of USDC to SOL, and another demonstrating the agent negotiating access rights in a data marketplace and automatically finding a mutually beneficial price within policy scope;

· Developers can register their agents within 5 minutes via ack-lab.catenalabs.com, use Replit demo projects to experience agent transactions, adjust policies to observe different outcomes, with all transactions leaving an audit trail.

Why It Matters

· Existing financial infrastructure was not designed for AI agents, and Catena Labs is leveraging the ACK protocol to build AI-native financial institutions. ACK-Lab allows developers to experience these open protocols without starting from scratch, paving the way for future AI agents to securely and efficiently conduct financial transactions.

Visa Opens MCP Server to Accelerate AI Agent Commerce Development

Key Takeaways

· Visa announced on Thursday the opening of its Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for production environment access, enabling developers to directly connect AI agents to Visa's Intelligent Business API, reducing what used to take weeks of custom development to just hours;

· The company also released the Acceptance Agent Toolkit, allowing non-technical teams to generate invoices, create payment links, and run analytics through simple natural language commands, enabling common payment functionalities without the need for coding.

· Visa's Senior Vice President of Global Growth, Birwadker, stated that several major retailers have been exploring pilot projects for the holiday season, with the MCP server acting as a secure integration layer that standardizes the interaction of agents with Visa services, aiming to extend Visa's brand trust into the agent commerce space.

Why It Matters

· E-commerce is transitioning from combating malicious bots to embracing AI agents acting on behalf of consumers. Visa is building a foundation of trust through authentication, standardized data, and security frameworks, enabling agent commerce to have the same ubiquity and reliability as card-present transactions.

Market Adoption

Ripple Introduces $700 Million RLUSD Stablecoin to Africa, Pilots Extreme Weather Insurance Project

Key Highlights

· Ripple collaborates with Chipper Cash, VALR, and Yellow Card to distribute the USD-backed RLUSD stablecoin to businesses and institutional users across the African continent, providing a stable digital dollar for cross-border payments, liquidity, and on-chain settlements;

· RLUSD, launched by the end of 2024, is issued by a trust company regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services, with a current supply exceeding $700 million on the Ethereum and XRP ledgers, usable for financial operations, remittances, and as collateral for tokenized assets such as commodities or securities;

· Mercy Corps Ventures is testing a climate risk insurance plan in Kenya based on RLUSD, including a satellite data-based pilot for automatic fund releases to address drought conditions and rainfall insurance triggering payouts for extreme weather events.

Why It Matters

· Stablecoins are becoming a cheaper and quicker alternative to traditional payment channels, especially in emerging markets with limited currency and banking service reliability. Residents in parts of Africa have already been using digital dollars like USDT for savings or cross-border transfers, and the introduction of RLUSD provides institutional users with a regulated alternative, addressing the challenge of institutions accessing stable local currency liquidity.

Ethena's USDe Stablecoin Supply Skyrockets to $12 Billion, Accounting for Over 15% of USDC

Key Takeaways

· USDe has emerged as a strong competitor challenging the dominant position of USDC and USDT, with its unique selling point as a yield-bearing crypto-native stablecoin, providing a 9%-11% annualized yield through a delta-neutral hedging strategy;

· USDe maintains its stablecoin peg through a delta-neutral strategy between ETH/BTC collateral and short futures positions, leveraging the positive funding rate in the current bull market environment to generate yield;

· Supply expansion is primarily driven by a complex yield amplification strategy: users collateralize USDe to mint sUSDe, which is tokenized on Pendle, enabling a leveraged yield through a recursive borrowing loop on Aave, with a significant amount of USDe locked in Pendle and Aave.

Why It Matters

The explosive growth of USDe showcases the significant appeal of innovative stablecoin designs in the current market environment, challenging the dominance of traditional non-yield-bearing stablecoins. Its innovative mechanism based on ETH/BTC collateral and futures hedging allows stablecoin holders to earn substantial yields while maintaining price stability. However, this ecosystem relying on leverage and recursive borrowing also raises concerns about sustainability - a shift to negative funding rates or deteriorating market conditions could trigger a cascading liquidation risk, akin to patterns observed in previous DeFi cycles. The growth of USDe reflects a genuine demand for high-yield stablecoin assets in the current bull market but also serves as a reminder to market participants to be cautious of systemic risks from overleveraging. This complex yield amplification strategy represents the frontier of DeFi innovation but could also serve as an amplifier of future market volatility, warranting close attention from regulators and market participants.

Macro Trends

Galaxy Digital CEO Predicts AI Agents Will Become Largest User Group for Stablecoins

Key Takeaways

· Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz predicts that in the near future, AI agents will become the largest users of stablecoins, as opposed to operating through traditional payment methods;

· Novogratz illustrates an example where future AI agents may autonomously purchase groceries for users, understand user dietary preferences and nutritional needs, and conduct transactions using stablecoins, expecting to drive explosive growth in stablecoin transaction volumes;

· This prediction aligns with market trends: some tech companies are exploring stablecoin payments, Visa has expanded the types of stablecoins supported on its settlement platform, and 90% of institutional participants are using or exploring stablecoins.

Why It Matters

· As the Coinbase development team predicts AI agents will become the largest users of Ethereum, the Web3 space is accelerating the construction of specialized infrastructure for AI agents.

Financial Times: Stablecoins Will Force Financial System Modernization

Key Takeaways

· U.S. stablecoin legislation has sparked global shockwaves, with many countries concerned that USD-backed stablecoins will strengthen the dollar's dominance in international payments. The European Central Bank has warned of the potential loss of monetary sovereignty;

· Stablecoins are revealing the inefficiencies of the current financial system, demonstrating how to leverage new technology to create efficient, low-cost domestic and cross-border payment methods, while exposing trust crises in various central banks and currencies;

· The best strategy is not to restrict the use or issuance of domestic currency stablecoins but to develop more robust and inclusive domestic payment systems, reduce cross-border payment frictions, and enhance trust in the national central bank and currency.

Why It Matters

· Stablecoins are driving financial market improvements, compelling commercial banks and central banks to enhance their service levels, which will become their true legacy.

Citi: Stablecoins and AI Set to Drive Post-Trade Settlement Transformation

Key Takeaways

· Citigroup's latest survey shows that by 2030, 10% of the global market transaction value will be conducted through tokenized assets, primarily driven by bank-issued stablecoins. The Asia-Pacific region is leading in adoption due to strong retail crypto demand and regulatory support;

· 86% of surveyed institutions are testing AI technology for customer guidance processes, with 57% piloting AI specifically for post-trade processing, focusing on applications such as customer guidance and post-trade reporting;

· As the industry faces the workload of transitioning to a T+1 settlement cycle (settling one business day after the trade date), technology-driven automation will help institutions address the challenges of accelerated settlement.

Why It Matters

· Citigroup's "Securities Services Evolution" whitepaper (based on a survey of 537 market participants) indicates that the global post-trade industry is entering a new transformation phase driven by digital assets and AI. Bank-issued stablecoins as a primary catalyst will enhance collateral efficiency and fund tokenization, while AI will further improve post-trade efficiency. As market participants accelerate the adoption of digital assets and implement generative AI in operations, the industry is at a critical point of significant change. This convergence reflects a trend towards modernization of financial infrastructure, from asset servicing automation to enhanced shareholder engagement and corporate governance, with the collective vision of global institutions focusing on the same core themes, signaling that the deep integration of traditional financial infrastructure with emerging technologies will reshape the transaction settlement processes of global capital markets.

Report: Check Fraud Risk is 31 Times Higher for Real-Time Payments

Key Takeaways

· Only 2% of businesses report fraud in RTP or FedNow real-time payments, while 63% report check fraud, with ACH and wire transfer fraud rates at 38% and 30%, respectively;

· Despite data proving real-time payments are more secure, 78% of financial institutions choose to implement real-time payments in receive-only mode, limiting their value; 85% of payment professionals expect an increase in real-time payment fraud;

· Real-time payment system designs include a push architecture, API-level security, and instant transaction visibility, with the UK's Confirmation of Payee technology reducing fraud by 60%, and the US is deploying similar protective measures.

Why It Matters

Financial institutions' overconcern about the risks of real-time payment systems hinders adoption, requiring a mindset shift to leverage this inherently most secure payment channel.

Capital Deployment

Utila Raises $22 Million in Funding, Valuation Triples Amid Surge in Stablecoin Infrastructure Demand

Key Takeaways

· Crypto infrastructure provider Utila completes a $22 million funding round led by Red Dot Capital Partners, with its valuation nearly tripling in six months, expanding the Series A funding total to $40 million;

· Utila offers an enterprise-focused digital asset operating platform handling payments, fund management, and trading functionalities, processing over $15 billion in monthly transaction volume, serving clients such as payment providers, neobanks, and asset management firms.

Why It Matters

· The stablecoin market has surpassed $280 billion, becoming a killer application of blockchain technology. Retail giants such as Walmart and Amazon are exploring the use of stablecoins, while Utila plans to use new funding to accelerate its expansion into emerging markets in Latin America, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific region.

Obita Raises $10 Million to Build Stablecoin-Based Cross-Border Payment Network

Key Highlights

· Cross-border payment and digital financial network company Obita has raised $10 million in angel funding. The funds will be used for research and development, compliance infrastructure building, and market expansion to accelerate the deployment of its stablecoin-based cross-border payment network;

· Obita is building a blockchain-native payment network under its "Obita Mesh" framework, integrating enterprise-grade compliance systems, cross-border settlement networks, and unified fund management tools to address industry pain points such as high forex costs, settlement delays, and lack of fund flow transparency;

· The company will initially focus on high-growth markets in Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America, primarily serving cross-border trade, e-commerce, and supply chain platforms.

Why It Matters

· With the rise of global stablecoin legislation and compliance progress, cross-border payments are undergoing a revolutionary transformation. Obita's funding reflects investors' recognition of the importance and potential of stablecoin-based solutions in the global financial system. As highlighted in a PYMNTS report, the past decade's parallel operation of cryptocurrencies and traditional finance is crumbling, with stablecoins being embedded as a digital settlement layer in the financial system, providing a more efficient architecture for international fund flows than traditional networks. This represents a technological competition around settlement means, with stablecoins offering a streamlined architecture for international fund transfers. Obita focuses on providing low-cost, real-time settlement regulatory compliance solutions for businesses through compliant stablecoins, integrating the revolutionary potential of blockchain technology into actual global capital flows, representing a significant direction in cross-border payment infrastructure innovation.

AI Company Kite Raises $18 Million Led by PayPal Ventures to Build AI Proxy and Stablecoin Payment Infrastructure

Key Highlights

· AI company Kite has completed an $18 million Series A funding round led by General Catalyst and PayPal Ventures, bringing its total funding to $33 million. It will expand its stablecoin-based autonomous proxy transaction platform;

· Kite's flagship product, Kite AIR (Agent Identity Resolution), provides AI agents with verifiable identity, policy protection, and programmable payment rails, enabling them to use stablecoins for authentication, payment, and interaction;

· Through integrations with Shopify and PayPal, any merchant can choose to open up discovery to AI shopping agents, with purchases settling through on-chain stablecoins, avoiding high transaction fees of traditional payments. Kite positions itself as the default stablecoin payment layer for autonomous agents.

Why It Matters

· The "Agent Network" infrastructure built by Kite marks a key integration point between AI and crypto payments. The application prospects of stablecoins in the AI economic model are vast, with their instant settlement and low-cost features supporting inter-agent billing, micro-subscriptions, and machine-speed business activities. This infrastructure will transform the interaction between AI and the financial system, providing the necessary payment channels for the emerging agent economy. As autonomous AI agents become more prevalent in business scenarios, Kite's solution addresses the three core challenges of identity verification, policy compliance, and settlement, potentially becoming a crucial bridge connecting the AI revolution with blockchain finance. This funding round reflects investors' strong confidence in the fusion of the AI agent economy and stablecoin payments, with PayPal's strategic investment particularly indicating that traditional payment giants are actively positioning themselves in this emerging field.

Reflect Money Secures $3.75 Million in Funding, Launches Solana Yield Stablecoin USDC+

Highlights at a Glance

· Reflect Money has announced the completion of a $3.75 million funding round led by a16z crypto CSX, with participation from Solana Ventures, Equilibrium, BigBrain VC, and Colosseum, while also launching a new flagship yield stablecoin, USDC+, on Solana;

· The Reflect protocol addresses the issue of traditional stablecoins relying on off-chain custody systems for yield generation by achieving 100x capital efficiency through eliminating idle assets and removing intermediaries, allowing stablecoins to enhance the efficiency of their issuing networks;

· This protocol enables users and developers to earn blockchain's most crucial infrastructure's yield in stablecoin form, with developers now able to launch their own yield stablecoins with zero custody overhead.

Why It Matters

· Reflect Money's funding and the launch of USDC+ represent a significant innovation in the stablecoin space - on-chain capital efficiency. Compared to traditional stablecoins, yield-bearing stablecoins can generate passive income for holders while maintaining price stability, addressing the opportunity cost issue that crypto asset holders have long faced. As the DeFi ecosystem matures, capital efficiency has become a key competitive point, and Reflect's solution, by directly integrating stablecoins with on-chain yield sources, provides users with a trustless income mechanism.

Original Article Link

Welcome to join the official BlockBeats community:

Telegram Subscription Group: https://t.me/theblockbeats

Telegram Discussion Group: https://t.me/BlockBeats_App

Official Twitter Account: https://twitter.com/BlockBeatsAsia