Crypto is the money of AI.

AI agents may still sound experimental, but they are rapidly transforming the digital economy. These autonomous pieces of software collect information, make decisions, and perform tasks without human intervention. Today, many are still digital assistants that retrieve data or prepare transactions, but tomorrow they will negotiate with suppliers, purchase services, or sell their own output.

As soon as agents need to exchange value, a challenge arises. The traditional financial system was built for people and companies, not for machines that want to perform cross-border transactions in milliseconds. A SEPA transfer or a credit card payment is useless for agents that need to decide and settle instantly.

Crypto is the natural solution. It is instant, programmable, and globally accessible. For an AI agent, it makes no difference whether the counterparty is in Amsterdam, Nairobi, or São Paulo. With crypto, a payment can be executed in a fraction of a second, without banks or paperwork in between.

This is no longer theory. Last week, Google announced the Agents Payment Protocol, enabling AI agents to use crypto for payments. One of the world’s largest tech companies confirms: crypto is the standard for autonomous software.

The scale of this intersection is enormous. The AI market is moving toward trillions, and every agent that acts autonomously needs digital money. Picture an online agent automatically buying the cheapest cloud capacity and paying for it directly. Or a trading agent consuming APIs and settling the bill instantly. Looking further ahead, robotaxis capture the imagination: vehicles that transport passengers autonomously and settle their fares directly in crypto, without needing a bank account or credit card.

The implications are similar to the early years of the internet. It only scaled once its own payment infrastructure emerged, with companies like PayPal and later Stripe. AI will only grow if it has a built-in money system that is as fast and digital as the technology itself. That money is crypto.

The intersection of AI and crypto is just beginning, but the direction is clear. Autonomous agents that make decisions also need a way to exchange value. And in an increasingly digital, borderless world, that will not be euros or dollars. It will be crypto.