AI agents already settle millions a month - almost none of it atomically

Short summary

AI agents are already moving $73M monthly across 176M transactions, but nearly all settle on payment rails that assume pre-existing trust. Atomic settlement via HTLCs ensures both sides complete or neither, enabling trustless trades with unknown counterparties. As agent-to-agent trading scales with adversarial parties, settlement architecture becomes critical infrastructure.

• •$73M/month in agent transactions on payment rails designed for trusted parties
• •HTLC enables atomic settlement: both sides complete or neither—no stranded funds
• •Settlement architecture becomes critical infrastructure as agent economy scales

Generated with AI, which can make mistakes.