Stripe Enables Autonomous Payments by AI Agents Using Stablecoins

Payment provider Stripe has unveiled a preview feature for so-called Machine Payments that enables AI agents to autonomously pay for services. Transactions are processed using the stablecoin USDC via the Ethereum Layer-2 network Base, as announced by Jeff Weinstein, Product Lead at Stripe, on the X platform.

Companies can use this to bill automated programs for the use of interfaces or digital services. The technical foundation is Coinbase's x402 protocol, an open payment standard that links payments directly with online requests. Weinstein announced that additional protocols, payment methods, currencies, and chains will follow.

Crypto data provider CoinGecko is also introducing x402 payments and will charge $0.01 in USDC per data query going forward – without requiring a user account. CoinGecko justifies this move by stating that traditional monetization models are reaching their limits, as AI agents are increasingly emerging as primary API users and require on-demand, machine-native data access.

In parallel, Stripe is preparing a share buyback offer that would value the company at $140 billion, according to Bloomberg – an increase of 31 percent compared to last year's valuation.