The Race to Build an Open Financial System for AI Agents (Visa, Artemis)
As artificial intelligence reshapes the digital economy, a new strategic race is unfolding in the shadows of crypto: building an open and programmable financial system designed not for humans, but for autonomous AI agents. Visa, Artemis, Alpaca, and other players are already competing to capture this nascent market, with stakes reminiscent of the early days of the internet.
The starting observation is simple: today’s financial infrastructure is not suited for software robots. While large language models (LLMs) and autonomous agents from companies like Anthropic or OpenAI can now execute complex tasks — booking a hotel, buying a domain, paying for a SaaS subscription — they hit a wall at the payment stage. Bank cards, SEPA transfers, and traditional banking APIs require human verification, a physical address, and KYC identity. AI agents have none of that.
It is this gap that several players intend to bridge, and the battle for dominance over this new “financial system for machines” is now underway.
Visa and the x402 Standard: The Payment Giant Enters the Fray
The strongest signal comes from Visa. The global payments giant, which processes over $12 trillion in transactions per year, has unveiled a surprising initiative: the x402 standard, an open specification that allows AI agents to trigger payments autonomously via existing card networks. The idea, driven by the Visa Innovation team, is to require no new infrastructure: agents would simply use programmable “virtual cards” with spending limits and built-in controls.
In a recent demonstration, Visa showed an AI agent capable of automatically negotiating and purchasing cloud computing credits, paying for third-party APIs, and even subscribing to digital insurance services — all without human intervention. Each transaction is cryptographically signed by the agent, ensuring full traceability.
Visa’s move is strategic: rather than letting competing decentralized solutions (stablecoins, specialized blockchains) emerge, the group is proposing an evolution of its own network to capture this new volume. But this raises a central question: does a financial system designed by Visa remain an “open” system?
Artemis: Decentralized Infrastructure for Agents
Facing Visa’s centralized vision, the Artemis protocol champions a radically different approach. Artemis is building a dedicated settlement layer for AI agents, based on blockchain and smart contracts. The idea is to allow any software agent — whether developed by a startup, a company, or an individual — to open an “autonomous wallet,” receive and send payments in stablecoins or digital assets, without permission.
Artemis’s architecture relies on several innovations. First, a decentralized identity (DID) system for agents, which gives each bot a unique and verifiable cryptographic identity without going through a central authority. Second, a “fund delegation” mechanism: a human can fund an agent with a defined budget, in a smart contract that ensures the agent cannot spend beyond that. Finally, Artemis integrates a marketplace where agents can offer their services and be paid automatically.
“Our vision is that of a completely open and frictionless agent economy,” the Artemis team recently stated. The protocol has already attracted attention from several major crypto funds, and its testnet already records thousands of agent transactions per day.
The question now dividing the industry is this: will the financial layer for AI agents be an extension of the traditional banking system (Visa) or a natively decentralized infrastructure (Artemis)? Both approaches have their advantages and risks.
Alpaca: $135 Million for Agent-First Infrastructure
A third pole is emerging with Alpaca, which has closed a spectacular $135 million funding round to build what it calls an “agent-first infrastructure.” Alpaca positions itself as a technical intermediary between AI agents and existing financial systems — a kind of “Stripe for autonomous agents.”
The platform offers a single API that allows any agent to issue transactions, check balances, manage subscriptions, and even execute automated treasury strategies. Alpaca’s originality lies in its “agnostic” approach: it supports both traditional card networks (via banking partnerships), stablecoins on multiple blockchains, and even local mobile payment solutions.
This $135 million round — one of the largest in the crypto-fintech sector this year — shows that investors are betting heavily on the thesis of an economy where AI agents become full-fledged economic actors. “We believe that by 2028, the transaction volume generated by AI agents will surpass that of traditional e-commerce,” said a partner at the fund leading the round.
The Missing Link: Identity, Trust, and Programmability
Beyond simple payment infrastructure, an entire layer of trust and identity needs to be rethought. How does an AI agent prove its identity? How can a seller verify that a buyer agent is indeed authorized to spend the funds it claims to have? How are disputes between agents managed?
The three approaches — Visa (centralized), Artemis (decentralized), Alpaca (hybrid) — answer these questions differently. Visa relies on the reputation of its network and back-office verification mechanisms. Artemis uses on-chain cryptographic proofs and a DAO-based arbitration system. Alpaca combines both with an algorithmic trust-scoring layer.
For many observers, the real issue is not technical but regulatory. Financial authorities are only just beginning to look at automated AI payments. The SEC, FCA, and AMF are already examining implications for anti-money laundering (AML) and consumer protection. A system where AI agents can spend money autonomously raises unprecedented questions: who is responsible in case of error? The agent? The developer? The user who delegated the funds?
The BTC Market and the Macro Context
In this innovation context, Bitcoin is trading at $63,423, in a market that is closely watching the evolution of these infrastructures. The emergence of a financial system for AI agents could represent a new vector for massive crypto adoption: if millions of agents begin transacting in stablecoins or digital assets, demand for these assets could experience exponential growth.
Several analysts believe this scenario is already materializing. The volume of stablecoins handled by non-human addresses (contracts, bots, DAOs) has increased by more than 300% year-over-year, a sign that software agents are already significant economic actors.
Toward a Multi-Agent Economy
The long-term vision is that of a “multi-agent economy” where thousands — or even millions — of AI agents interact with each other, negotiate services, exchange value, and execute complex on-chain transactions. In this world, financial infrastructure is no longer a simple payment pipeline but a programmable layer of economic coordination.
Startups like Skyfire (which allows agents to pay APIs directly in real time) and Nevermined (which builds a micropayment system for data and models) are joining this fragmented but rapidly expanding landscape. Each brings a complementary piece: real-time payments, rights management, on-chain reputation.
What makes this race unique is that it is not just between technology companies, but between two economic philosophies. On one side, a vision where AI agents integrate into the existing financial system, with its safeguards, intermediaries, and regulations. On the other, a vision where agents create their own financial circuit — decentralized, permissionless, and potentially unstoppable.
The outcome of this race will determine not only the structure of tomorrow’s financial infrastructure but also the degree of autonomy we grant to AI agents in our economies. And unlike many debates in crypto, this one is not theoretical: the first concrete applications — buying cloud compute, paying APIs, booking services — are already in production on test networks.
For investors and observers, the message is clear: financial infrastructure for AI agents is not a lab experiment; it is the next battlefield of the digital economy. And as often in crypto, the first movers could well redefine the rules of the game for decades to come.
This article was written by Daily Crypto News and does not constitute investment advice. Cryptocurrencies carry risks. Do your own research before investing.
📬
Get the weekly crypto briefing
Analysis, trends and opportunities — straight to your inbox.
