The rise of agentic commerce, where AI agents conduct internet transactions using cryptocurrency, is accelerating rapidly. A recent report by Chainalysis highlights that developers are increasingly equipping AI bots with budgets to purchase computing power, live data, and coding tools autonomously. This trend is being fueled by the crypto ecosystem, particularly on Base, the blockchain incubated by Coinbase.
On Base, payments via the x402 protocol, which enables bots to pay for services automatically, surged from about 1,500 in mid-2025 to over 138 million by the third quarter of 2026. The x402 protocol allows developers to fund a bot’s wallet with stablecoins like USDC, enabling the bot to pay for services without human approval. This model is particularly efficient for small transactions, with over 87% of payments being less than 10 cents.
The efficiency of blockchains for these small transactions makes them ideal for AI-to-AI commerce, according to Eric Jardine, head of research at Chainalysis. He noted that the combination of speed and low transaction costs is crucial for this emerging economy. The report also found that bots are spending funds more quickly, with the median time between receiving funds and making a payment dropping from 73 days in late 2025 to just 18 minutes by the third quarter of 2026.
Repeat funding has also increased, with around 90% of active wallets receiving another deposit within 30 days, up from 71% a year earlier. This suggests that developers are increasingly using AI agents for ongoing tasks rather than one-off experiments. With major companies like Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, and Google supporting the x402 protocol, the trend is expected to grow exponentially as more platforms accept payments from AI agents.