AI Agent-Driven Payment Infrastructure: The Next Wave of Innovation in the Encryption Industry

Introduction

For the past century, the basic unit of economic activity has been humans. However, the rise of AI technology is reshaping this landscape, transforming machines from passive tools into "active economic entities" – AI Agents.

During the Spring Festival of 2025, Tether announced the integration of USDT into the BTC ecosystem, covering its base layer and the Lightning Network. Behind this trend, a transformation is brewing: AI Agent-driven payment infrastructure is pushing the crypto industry into a new wave of innovation with a breakthrough momentum. From the consensus layer of BTC to the execution layer of smart contracts, and now to the AI-driven application layer, the crypto industry is likely to witness a paradigm innovation of AI + Pay Fi + BTC Infra, which will force Web2 to self-reform towards Web3 – the future of large-scale adoption is gradually becoming a reality.

1. Stablecoin: The Cornerstone of a New Era in Global Payments

The programmability, cross-border practicality, and increasingly clear regulatory framework of stablecoins are expected to make them the standard settlement currency for global payments. As a cryptocurrency-friendly policy environment gradually takes shape, the application scenarios for stablecoins will continue to expand. In the next 10 years, stablecoin payments may present the following development vision:

Short term (1-3 years): Stablecoins will dominate cross-border remittances, providing a faster and cheaper alternative than traditional methods. Encryption-related payment cards will simplify consumption and build a bridge between on-chain wealth and real-world transactions.

Medium term (3-7 years): Enterprises will increasingly adopt stablecoin payments due to the low fees, instant settlement, and programmability of stablecoins. Companies will be able to seamlessly convert between cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies, providing a dual-track payment option.

Long-term (7 years and above): Stablecoins will become mainstream fiat currencies, widely accepted for payments and even tax payments, fundamentally disrupting traditional financial infrastructure.

Stablecoins also provide entrepreneurs with a more accessible platform to develop new payment products, without the need for intermediaries, minimum balances, or proprietary SDKs. It is estimated that medium to large enterprises could see a 2% increase in profits if they use stablecoin solutions in transactions. Additionally, some countries have attempted to use stablecoins for international trade. An increasing number of cases show that stablecoins are gradually approaching their optimal market positioning – they are the most economical and fastest global payment method settled in USD.

2. Next Level: AI Agents will become a new user experience layer for future Apps.

We are entering the "era of AI agents becoming independent market participants". This is not limited to AI-driven financial transactions and smart supply chain management, but also involves generative AI providing services for content creators, developers, and businesses. AI agents can even autonomously negotiate, trade, settle, and optimize their resource utilization.

At the end of last year, we saw AI Agents redefine the application scenarios of DApps. Some AI Agents are capable of autonomously using tokens for transactions, generating content, and even managing their own encryption wallets and assets. This evolution of capability has spawned innovative concepts in the encryption field, such as Virtual Protocol— a protocol similar to Pump.fun, but its "Pump" targets are various AI Agents.

The continuously evolving capabilities of AI Agents, combined with the ready-to-use issuance platform, have created a huge market opportunity for the concept of AI Agent + Crypto. AI is becoming an active participant in the on-chain ecosystem, driving the transition of blockchain applications from being tool-based to being ecosystem-based.

In the future, AI will become the user experience layer of blockchain technology, connecting the application layer and blockchain infrastructure. For example, AI can proactively recommend and execute on-chain DeFi operations based on users' intentions and preferences, combined with real-time market information. Users can enjoy intelligent financial services without needing to understand the technical details. In daily life, AI personal finance assistants may autonomously manage taxes, insurance, and rent income and expenses, dynamically optimize portfolios, and even automatically execute trades based on market changes.

To ensure security, Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) has become a key infrastructure, ensuring that the behavior of AI Agents fully adheres to preset logic through isolated computing environments, free from external manipulation. AI Agents running in TEE can attract users and generate income by creating content, while also ensuring absolute control over their asset keys through encryption technology. Furthermore, AI can operate Depin nodes or verify data, becoming the core executor of distributed systems.

The workflows and application scenarios of these AI Agents are outlining a brand new picture of the "machine economy": from gamers to Depin managers, from content creators to financial strategists, AI Agents will become the core driving force of the on-chain ecosystem.

3. The Dilemma of the Existing Payment System: The Intangible Shackles of the AI Economy

As AI Agents gradually become independent participants in the market, payment issues have become one of the key challenges to the realization of the AI revolution. The development of the AI economy requires an efficient, secure, and decentralized payment network based on blockchain technology, providing seamless economic interaction capabilities for AI Agents.

3.1 Economic Imbalance of Micropayments

The high fees of traditional payment networks make high-frequency microtransactions by AI agents unfeasible. For example, an AI agent that needs to complete 1,000 transactions per second, with each transaction amounting to only $0.0001, would incur a fee of at least $0.30 per transaction if using traditional payment networks. This cost structure makes it impossible for the AI economy to operate on existing payment systems.

3.2 The Fatal Flaw of Settlement Speed

AI agents require a continuous flow of trading, but the settlement methods of traditional payment networks are extremely lagging:

• Credit card payment: Usually takes 1-3 days to complete settlement.
• International transfers: It may take 2-5 days.
• Cryptocurrency payments (such as Bitcoin main chain transactions): typically take an average of 10 minutes or even longer.

The AI economy requires millisecond-level settlement, which the existing payment systems clearly cannot meet.

3.3 Limitations of Centralized Architecture

AI agents are essentially global and not restricted by geographical boundaries. However, traditional payment systems are deeply mired in issues such as bank accounts, fiat currency compliance, and regional payment regulations:

• Dependency on Bank Accounts: Most payment systems require parties to have a bank account, and AI agents cannot open bank accounts like humans.
• Centralized control: Existing payment systems rely on a few financial institutions for approval, and transactions by AI agents can be rejected at any time due to regulatory or compliance issues.
• International payment barriers: AI agents in cross-border transactions face cumbersome compliance requirements, increasing operational costs and complexity.

If the AI economy must rely on the existing payment system, it will be bound by artificially imposed restrictions and will not be able to truly unleash its potential.

Five Core Requirements of the AI Economic Payment System 3.4

The payment system serving AI in the future must possess the following five core capabilities:

1. Micro-payment capability: Supports transactions of very small amounts (such as $0.0001 level), with transaction fees extremely low or close to zero.
2. Millisecond-level transaction settlement: Supports real-time settlement instead of waiting for minutes or even days.
3. Decentralization and Anti-Censorship: Supports AI agents in autonomous trading, without relying on centralized financial institutions.
4. Global Availability: Supports cross-border transactions, avoiding reliance on bank accounts.
5. Intelligent Payment Protocol: Seamless interaction with AI agents, supporting features such as automatic settlement, smart trading routing, and liquidity optimization.

4. The Hope and Limitations of Blockchain Payment

The rise of blockchain technology has brought hope to the AI economy, but mainstream blockchain still faces some issues:

High cost of 4.1 ETH network payment

ETH is the main infrastructure for DeFi, but high transaction costs make it difficult for the AI economy to adopt. During network congestion, a simple USDT transaction may require $10-$50 in Gas fees, with limited transaction throughput and slow processing speeds, making it challenging to support the high-frequency trading demands of AI agents.

4.2 The speed and centralization issues of other high-performance public chains

High-performance public chains offer faster transaction processing capabilities, but they often have a higher degree of centralization, which poses security risks. Some public chains have experienced multiple outages, affecting transaction stability. In addition, most public chains rely on only a few validating nodes, which may impact the decentralized nature of the payment system.

The scalability bottleneck of the 4.3 BTC mainnet

BTC, as the world's most secure and decentralized blockchain, has unparalleled security, but its payment capacity is limited. The transaction throughput of the BTC mainnet is extremely low (only 7 transactions per second), and when faced with a larger transaction volume, gas fees soar, causing significant fluctuations in transaction costs, making it unsuitable for small payments by AI agents.

4.4 Lightning Network: A New Stage for Stablecoin Payments

The Lightning Network, as the first layer two scaling solution for BTC, leverages the security of the BTC network to achieve instant, low-cost, and infinitely scalable transaction capabilities through bi-directional payment channels. This technological approach is highly compatible with small, high-frequency payment scenarios, while adhering to the fundamental principles of encryption. Currently, the Lightning Network has over 15,000 nodes and over 50,000 channels, demonstrating its strong ecological potential.

However, before the emergence of the Taproot Assets protocol, the Lightning Network only supported BTC as a payment currency, and its application scenarios were limited. The importance of stablecoins is self-evident: only currencies with stable value can be widely accepted and used in everyday payment scenarios.

As the dominant stablecoin in the encryption world, USDT's integration into the Lightning Network is of great significance. This not only signifies recognition of the security and usability of the Lightning Network but also brings real on-chain users and fee revenue to the Lightning Network. This marks a true development opportunity for the Lightning Network after years of construction.

5. Everything is ready, just waiting for the favorable wind.

The explosive growth of AI Agents is giving rise to a trillion-level market for the machine economy, but traditional payment networks and existing blockchain solutions struggle to meet its demands. The integration of USDT into the Lightning Network provides a key piece of the puzzle for the industry—near-zero-cost, censorship-resistant payment channels, combined with the liquidity of stablecoins, perfectly suited for the micropayments and real-time transaction scenarios of AI agents.

AISA has emerged as a "financial operating system" tailored specifically for the AI economy. It is not just a simple stacking of technology stacks but allows the AI economy to truly break free from the shackles of payment and move towards a future of autonomous interaction. In the future AI economy, payment equals efficiency, and trading equals intelligence.

6. AISA: The ultimate integration of Lightning Network, stablecoins, and AI Agent

6.1 The Four-Layer Technical Architecture of AISA

The architecture of AISA is divided into four core levels:

a. Settlement Layer

• Based on the BTC network (L1) + Lightning Network (L2)
• Advantages: high security, high efficiency (millisecond transaction confirmation, nearly zero fees)

b. Payment Layer

• Multi-chain support: compatible with public chains such as Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, etc.
• Stablecoin Integration: AISA's native stablecoin aiUSD circulates on the Lightning Network with USDT and USDC through the Taproot Assets protocol.

c. Programmable Layer

• AI Native Protocol (AIP): Empowering AI agents with autonomous decision-making capabilities
• Dynamic Routing: Real-time analysis of transaction fees and network congestion, automatically switching payment paths.
• Automated micropayments: on-demand settlement without manual intervention
• Liquidity Management: AI agents can dynamically allocate funds to liquidity pools to optimize payment efficiency.

d. Governance Layer

• DAO mechanism: jointly governed by LPT token holders, deciding on protocol upgrades, fee distribution, etc.
• Incentive mechanism: Liquidity providers stake LPT to earn rewards, with a portion of the transaction fees used for token burning.

6.2 How does AISA redefine AI economic payments?

AISA is designed specifically for the AI economy, integrating the decentralized efficiency of the Bitcoin Lightning Network, the liquidity guarantee of stablecoins, and the intelligent decision-making capabilities of AI-native protocols. It builds a payment network with nearly zero cost and millisecond-level response, breaking through the high costs and low efficiency bottlenecks of traditional systems. On AISA, AI agents can autonomously complete micropayments, settle rewards for DePIN node contributions in real time, and even dynamically optimize cross-chain transactions.