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ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood said investors may increasingly need to “follow the agents” as AI software moves from answering questions to taking actions. The idea puts attention on which services agents use and how they pay, including whether transactions run on blockchains and stablecoins or traditional payment systems. The scale of agent activity and the networks it will favor remain unclear.
ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood said investors may need to “follow the agents” as artificial intelligence software begins carrying out tasks and spending money, a shift that could make agents’ choice of services and payment networks a signal of where technology demand is developing. Wood made the remark during a panel at Robinhood’s Summit in Houston on Wednesday; she did not identify a specific investment or predict which payment systems would prevail.
Wood’s comment came near the end of a broader discussion about AI, private markets and technology investing. She drew a parallel with her longstanding advice to “follow the developers”: engineers’ choices of tools can offer clues about which technologies are gaining traction. If AI agents begin selecting software, data and computing services on users’ behalf, their behavior could provide another view of demand. That remains a potential indicator, not an established measure of adoption.
The payment question is central because agents that purchase services need a way to transact. A September paper by BlackRock said AI agents could create demand for payment systems designed for machine-to-machine transactions, such as paying for an API call, data or computing time. The paper identified stablecoins and blockchains as possible means of making those payments; it did not establish that agents are already driving significant transaction volumes.
There are also early examples and proposals, but details are limited. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said on X that Grok was “the leading client for agentic traders on Coinbase currently,” without providing figures or further information about the activity. Coinbase’s x402 protocol is designed to let software pay for online services such as data or API access. Meanwhile, Stripe, Visa, Google and OpenAI are among the companies working on ways for agents to make purchases, and BlackRock said traditional payment systems will remain relevant.
Agent Payments Could Reveal Demand
Wood’s suggestion matters because it connects AI adoption to a practical question investors can observe: where agents transact. If software increasingly chooses and pays for digital services, those choices could help show which products and financial networks are being used, rather than relying only on company announcements or forecasts. For investors following crypto, the question is whether such activity could become a real use case for stablecoins and blockchain networks.
But the possibility should not be confused with proof of a new source of material demand. The source material provides no transaction totals, user counts or baseline for agent purchases. An agent’s ability to make a payment does not, by itself, show that agents are spending at scale or that a particular network is benefiting. Traditional providers are also developing products for this market, so agent activity would not automatically accrue to crypto.
The issue also reaches beyond investment signals to control and consumer safeguards. Joseph Chalom, co-CEO of SharpLink and a former head of digital assets at BlackRock, has argued that people should set limits on what agents can spend, revoke permissions and review transaction records. How those protections are implemented could influence which systems users and businesses trust.
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From Developer Choices to Spending
Wood’s “follow the agents” phrase extends an investing approach centered on watching what developers use. Her panel remark was brief and formed part of a wider conversation; it was not a detailed proposal for measuring agent adoption. The newer question is whether agents’ choices will become visible through purchases of software, data, computing capacity and other online services.
In a post the previous month, Joseph Chalom argued for open, portable agent finance. He said users should be able to limit an agent’s authority—for example, to a set amount for a hotel booking—cancel that permission and inspect what the agent did. He also argued that agents should be able to move between financial providers with their identity, information and permissions, rather than being tied to one company’s system.
Chalom sees open blockchains such as Ethereum as one possible shared financial network. That is a proposal, not a settled outcome. BlackRock’s September paper likewise described blockchains and stablecoins as possible infrastructure, while noting the continuing importance of conventional payment systems. Multiple technology and payments companies are competing to build tools for agent purchases.
““We’re probably going to be talking more and more about ‘follow the agents.’””
— Cathie Wood, ARK Invest CEO, speaking at Robinhood’s Summit
blockchain payment systems for AI agents
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Scale and Payment Choices Remain Unknown
It is not yet clear how many AI agents are making purchases, how much they spend or whether current activity is large enough to affect payment networks or company revenues. Armstrong’s comment about Grok did not include a measurement, time period or comparison baseline, so it cannot establish the scale or growth of agentic trading on Coinbase.
It is also unsettled which payment systems agents will use. BlackRock identified stablecoins and blockchain protocols as possibilities, but companies including Stripe, Visa, Google and OpenAI are developing competing approaches, and traditional payments are expected to remain part of the market. The available reporting does not establish which providers will gain adoption or how widely users will authorize agents to spend.
Questions about consumer protections, permission limits, reversibility and records of agent activity also remain open. Chalom has argued for safeguards and portability, but the report does not describe a common standard or a finalized system that provides them.
stablecoins for machine-to-machine transactions
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Watch for Usage and Safeguards
The next evidence to watch is whether companies disclose measurable agent transactions: how many purchases agents make, what services they buy, and which payment rails process them. Clear figures with a defined time period and comparison basis would help distinguish a working use case from an early demonstration. Wood’s comment itself did not set out a timetable or announce a new ARK investment strategy.
Investors and users will also be watching how the competing agent-payment products develop, including blockchain-based protocols and offerings from established payment and technology companies. Any assessment of the market will depend on adoption, operating reliability and protections around spending authority, not just the availability of a protocol. The source material does not identify a specific launch or regulatory milestone as the next decisive event.
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Key Questions
What did Cathie Wood mean by “follow the agents”?
Wood suggested that investors may increasingly watch which services and networks AI agents choose as they perform tasks. The phrase was a brief comment at Robinhood’s Summit, not a formal investment recommendation or a defined measurement method.
Why do AI agents need payment systems?
Agents that act for users may need to pay for services such as data, API access or computing power. BlackRock has said stablecoins and blockchain-based payments could serve some of these machine-to-machine transactions, while traditional payment systems are also expected to remain important.
Does the report show that AI agents are driving major crypto use?
No. It describes potential use cases and an unquantified statement from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong about Grok. It gives no agent transaction totals or baseline showing the scale of activity.
Which companies are developing ways for agents to pay?
The report names Stripe, Visa, Google and OpenAI as companies developing approaches for agent purchases. Coinbase’s x402 protocol is designed to let software pay for online services, while blockchain and stablecoin options are also under discussion.
What protections should users expect?
Chalom has argued that users should be able to limit an agent’s spending authority, revoke permission and review transaction records. The report does not identify a common standard or confirm how broadly those safeguards have been implemented.
Source: rss
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