To get an idea of how big a deal AI-based commerce could be for crypto, ask entrepreneurs and developers involved in digital assets, particularly stablecoins. They’ll happily tell you blockchain-based money is the natural fit, an essential element in the mix and so forth.

Their logic is simple. Over the past few years, stablecoins — mostly digital versions of the dollar on public blockchains like Ethereum — have begun eating into the global payments industry. And while they’ve proven to be faster and cheaper than traditional bank transfers, it’s in the new world of autonomous, micro-transacting AI agents that they will shine.

That, at least, is the view of companies like Circle Internet (CRCL), the creator of the second-largest…