- Kite AI secures funding to expand x402 protocol.
- Investment targets agentic payment systems.
- Accelerates adoption of intelligent payment technology.
Kite AIโs strategic investment from Coinbase Ventures aims to accelerate x402 protocol adoption for intelligent payments. This funding supports AI-powered infrastructure, enhancing agent-native protocols and digital identity security.
The investment highlights the growing intersection of AI and blockchain in economic infrastructure, with potential implications for the wider programmable payments industry.
Kite AIโs Ambitious Investment and Plans
Kite AI, a pioneering AI payment blockchain, announced a strategic investment from Coinbase Ventures. This collaboration aims to bolster the x402 intelligent payment protocol, marking a significant milestone for both AI and blockchain sectors. Notably, funds will facilitate building AI payment infrastructure and integrating agent-native protocols. PayPal Ventures and General Catalyst previously led a $33 million funding round, now complemented by Coinbaseโs involvement.
โTodayโs financial infrastructure breaks when AI tries to use it. Our mission is to build the economic backbone for the trillions of autonomous agents coming online. This vote of confidence from Coinbase Ventures, alongside our existing investors, validates that the future of AI is not just intelligentโitโs agentic, and it requires an AI native system to thrive. We are putting that infrastructure in place today.โ โ Chi Zhang, CEO & Co-Founder, Kite
Immediate Impact and Future Implications
The collaboration has immediate impacts, with Kite engaging in native execution and settlement layer development for the x402 protocol. This enables substantial growth in on-chain transactions, suggesting increased liquidity and capability for direct agent-to-agent payments. Furthermore, the involvement of significant institutional investors highlights a potential shift in market dynamics with implications for incumbent networks ill-suited for microtransactional AI payments.
Transformative Potential of Agentic Payment Systems
Insights suggest profound financial and technological changes as agentic payment systems gain traction. Historical trends show that investments from significant industry players often catalyze price momentum and speculation, potentially affecting stablecoins and Layer 1 blockchains. As a result, this partnership is poised to advance the programmable payments sector, driving innovation in AI-led financial transactions.
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