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More →AI agents make 138 million crypto payments as U.S. dominates spending on AI models
Artificial intelligence (AI) agents are no longer just talking to each other. They are paying for services, buying data and even purchasing access to tokens the AI models, with more than 138 million transactions recorded through the x402 protocol on Coinbase’s Base blockchain, according to a Chainalysis’ <a href="https://www.chainalysis.com/blog/north-america-crypto-adoption-2026/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">><em>Inside North America's $3 trillion crypto economy: Agentic commerce accelerates</em> report</a>. The United States dominates this emerging market. U.S.linked wallets accounted for 88.1% of the geographically identified payments for AI model inference, compared with just 0.1% for Chinese-linked wallets, the blockchain analytics firm found. "One possible explanation is that Chinese developers are more inclined to use open-weight models such as DeepSeek and Qwen, reducing their need to purchase metered inference services," Eric Jardine, Chainalysis' head of research, told CoinDesk. The findings, released Wednesday, come as Visa, Mastercard, Stripe and other payments giants <a href="/tech/2026/07/15/visa-mastercard-and-ripple-join-the-standard-letting-ai-agents-pay-in-stablecoins" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">have backed the x402 protocol,</a> while Coinbase <a href="/business/2026/07/23/coinbase-closes-the-gaps-in-ai-agent-economy-for-businesses-users-and-developers" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">has begun allowing business customers</a> to accept payments from AI agents. Yat Siu, co-founder and chairman of Animoca Brands, <a href="/business/2026/08/29/the-next-trillion-dollar-currency-may-not-be-a-stablecoin-it-might-not-even-have-a-name-yet" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">recently told CoinDesk</a> that over the next few years he estimates up to 100 billion AI agents will be transacting on the internet and they will be using crypto. And crypto’s <a href="/business/2026/08/23/crypto-s-next-billion-users-might-be-ai-agents-and-they-re-paying-with-stablecoins" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">next billion users might be AI agents</a> paying with stablecoins. “Stablecoins are particularly well suited to the kinds of transactions we expect AI agents to make at first,” Stephanie Cohen, Cloudflare’s chief strategy officer, <a href="/business/2026/08/23/crypto-s-next-billion-users-might-be-ai-agents-and-they-re-paying-with-stablecoins" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">told CoinDesk.</a> Unlike traditional card payments, stablecoins can handle transactions worth fractions of a cent, allowing AI agents to buy data, computing power and other services without human intervention. The new Chainalysis figures offer evidence of growing use of those payment systems, although transaction counts alone do not establish how much represents genuine commercial demand. Much of the activity runs through x402, a payments protocol incubated by Coinbase that allows AI agents to pay automatically for digital services using crypto. More than 87% o
ETH liquidation pressure: watch $2,254.34 to the downside and $2,771.83 to the upside.
CoinWorld data: ETH is currently priced at approximately $2,379.25. If the price drops about 5.25% to around $2,254.34, some high-leverage long positions may face concentrated liquidations; if the price rises about 16.5% to around $2,771.83, some high-leverage short positions may face concentrated liquidations. The liquidation zone below is currently closer to the current price, meaning that if the price moves downward, long liquidation pressure may appear earlier. Other notable zones: below at $2,171.07 and $2,004.52; above at $2,819.41 and $2,825.36. The above levels are estimated based on public market prices and changes in open interest, and do not mean the price will necessarily reach them, nor are they predictions of price movement. Compared with the same-caliber snapshot 24 hours ago, it is down 5.22%; compared with the same-caliber snapshot 7 days ago, it is down 7.3%.
Jeff Yan: Regulatory obligations should be borne by on-chain market operators, not by the blockchain itself.
According to news from Bijie, Hyperliquid founder Jeff Yan stated that regulatory obligations should be borne by the financial companies operating markets on the Hyperliquid blockchain, rather than by the blockchain itself. This distinction allows Hyperliquid to expand its business to Wall Street without bearing the full compliance burden of a traditional exchange.
Hyperliquid founder: US regulation should be borne by market operating institutions.
According to Bloomberg, Hyperliquid founder Jeff Yan said on the Odd Lots podcast that the regulatory obligations for Hyperliquid in the United States should mainly fall on the institutions that deploy and operate trading markets on its blockchain, rather than on the underlying blockchain protocol itself. He believes that regulation should apply to the entities that actually hold control over the market, while Hyperliquid can serve as infrastructure providing an order book, clearing, and liquidity. Yan emphasized that Hyperliquid does not seek to replace traditional exchanges, but rather hopes to provide underlying trading technology for Wall Street institutions. Currently, Hyperliquid is not yet open to U.S. users, and the relevant regulatory arrangements remain to be clarified.
QCP Capital: Houthi attack escalation intensifies supply tightness
CoinWorld data: QCP Capital's latest report points out that geopolitical events such as the Houthi attack on Riyadh airport have escalated, traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has fallen to 1 transit (average 26), and U.S. SPR has dropped 30.5% year-on-year to 283 million barrels, intensifying supply tightness. Regarding the U.S. congressional elections, the probability of a Democratic sweep is 62-63%, with the Senate as the key swing. France is under fiscal pressure, with the OAT-Bund spread at 152bp, debt at 119% of GDP, and growth at only 0.4%. Credit spreads are widening at an accelerating pace, with Oracle CDS reaching 251.9bps, nearly twice that of AVGO (132.6bps). BTC momentum is weakening, STRC buybacks ($192.4 million) exceed Strategy purchases, cash has fallen to $640.5 million, and ETF outflows reached $585.9 million. U.S. September CPI exceeded expectations (headline 3.7%, core 2.6%), energy rose 5.2% month-on-month, and inflation remains stubborn. QCP questions whether this will force further rate hikes, or whether credit pressure will lead to a policy recalibration.
UBS: Expects the Fed to implement a third rate hike in March 2027; previously forecast that the rate hike cycle would end in December.
UBS: Expects the Fed to make its third rate hike in March 2027; previously forecast the hiking cycle would end in December.
Jeff Yan: Hopes to have L1 public chains recognized as infrastructure rather than exchanges.
According to news from Bijie, Hyperliquid founder Jeff Yan said he hopes U.S. regulators will treat L1 blockchains as infrastructure rather than exchanges, thereby shifting compliance pressure to institutions operating trading markets on the chain. The proposal uses regulated intermediaries such as Bitnomial and Kraken to allow U.S. users to access perpetual contracts without completing a full exchange registration. The protocol's offshore structure faces opposition from Congress and the CFTC.
AI stocks sold off, triggering a flight to bonds, with US and European government bond yields falling across the board.
News from Bijie: Panic over a stock market sell-off drove funds into government bonds as a safe haven. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield fell 10 basis points to 5.089%. The German 10-year government bond yield fell 8.5 basis points to 3.3819%, the lowest since September 9. The French 10-year government bond yield fell 11.5 basis points to 4.7619%, the lowest since October 6. The Italian 10-year government bond yield fell 10 basis points to 4.4657%, the lowest since September 23. Prashant Newnaha, senior rates strategist at TD Securities, said: "U.S. CPI unexpectedly rose, and then bonds rallied. This move is very counterintuitive. The most reasonable explanation is that the sharp sell-off in the AI sector is lowering market expectations for economic growth, thereby making bonds a tool for hedging equity risk."
U.S. chip-related company stocks fell in pre-market trading.
CoinWorld news, U.S. chip-related company stocks fell in pre-market trading, with Nvidia (NVDA.O) down 1.9%, AMD (AMD.O) down 3.7%, Intel (INTC.O) down 3.6%, Marvell Technology (MRVL.O) down 3.7%, Applied Materials (AMAT.O) down 3%, and Broadcom (AVGO.O) down 1.7%.
TSMC fell 2% in pre-market trading in the U.S. after reporting third-quarter results, with the company taking a cautious stance on 2027.
Bitcoin World news: TSMC fell 2% in pre-market trading in the U.S. after reporting third-quarter results, with the company taking a cautious stance on 2027.