Circle CEO on USDC and AI Payments: Next Five Years Focused on Agent Payment Compliance

In a recent Q&A, Circle co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire said that over the next five years, the core growth driver for the stablecoin USDC will come from machine-to-machine payments powered by AI agents. He expects that as AI agents increasingly execute tasks autonomously, the demand for small-value, high-frequency payments they initiate will significantly boost stablecoin settlement volumes. Allaire noted that Circle is working with multiple payment service providers to explore embedding USDC into agent payment flows, emphasizing that pre-settlement compliance screening—such as sanctions list checks and authorization intent verification—will become an essential part of the infrastructure. He mentioned that Circle has already launched developer tools that allow agents to directly call USDC payments via APIs, with plans to expand to more jurisdictions by 2026. Allaire also pointed out that current regulatory frameworks do not fully cover agent payment scenarios, and Circle is engaging with regulators to promote the establishment of a KYA (Know Your Agent) standard tailored to AI agents. He predicted that within the next two years, agent payments will account for a significant share of USDC transaction volume, but only if challenges around identity verification and non-repudiation are resolved.