AI agents make 138 million crypto payments as U.S. dominates spending on AI models
U.S.-linked wallets account for just over 88% of tracked AI model payments, dwarfing China’s 0.1% share, according to new Chainalysis research.
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Summary
- AI agents made more than 138 million transactions through Coinbase’s x402 protocol, using cryptocurrency to buy data, computing power and access to AI models.
- U.S.-linked wallets accounted for 88.1% of identified payments for AI model inference, while Chinese-linked wallets dominated payments for security and code-analysis services.
- More than 87% of analyzed x402 payments were worth 10 cents or less, underscoring stablecoins’ potential for micropayments while leaving questions about genuine commercial demand.
