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Rankings/Agent payments stack

Category · agent payments stack

The Agent Payments Stack

The protocols, wallets, settlement chains, and governance frameworks that let AI agents hold money and pay for things — mapped across 6 layers, ranked by how much of the stack each project covers. Updated continuously; sourced from the Keyrock + Coinbase + Tempo + Virtuals "Who Pays The Agent?" report (May 2026), public disclosures, and AgentCrush evidence ranking.

v1.0-aps — LIVEmethodology version: v1.0-aps

Tracking 38 projects across 6 layers. 6 already acquired by incumbents ($8.1B disclosed in deals).

Methodologyv1.0-aps

Each project is mapped to the layers it covers, with a per-layer evidence label. The composite stack coverage score is a weighted sum of layers spanned:

L0 Settlement ×4L1 Wallets ×3L2 Routing ×2L3 Protocol ×4L4 Governance ×5L5 Application ×3

Governance is weighted heaviest — Keyrock's own framing is that "the companies that solve the trust layer will capture the governance layer of the stack". Settlement and Protocol tie next because both are sticky once deployed.

The 6-layer map

L0Settlement8

Where money actually moves.

weight 4

  • Coinbase

    Base (Coinbase L2)

  • Stripe

    Tempo L1 (Paradigm+Stripe)

  • Circle

    Arc (nanopayments chain)

  • Arc

    Arc nanopayment chain

  • Base

    OP-stack L2 by Coinbase

  • Solana

    Solana L1

  • Tempo

    Tempo mainnet (March 2026)

  • VisaNet

    VisaNet (card-rail settlement)

L1Wallets11

Agent key management + policy-gated signing.

weight 3

  • Coinbase

    Agentic Wallets / AgentKit

  • Stripe

    Privy (acquired June 2025, 75M wallets)

  • Circle

    USDC reserve mgmt

  • Brex

    Programmable corporate wallets

  • Coinbase AgentKit

    Agentic Wallets (Feb 2026 upgrade)

  • Dynamic

    50M accounts

  • MoonPay Open Wallet Standard

    OWS — 8 chain families

  • NEAR AI Wallets

    NEAR AI Wallets

  • Privy

    75M wallets (pre-acq)

  • Safe

    18.3M smart accounts

  • ZeroDev

    ERC-7579 smart-account SDK

L2Routing9

Cross-chain bridging + abstraction.

weight 2

  • Coinbase

    Internal routing infra

  • Stripe

    Bridge (acquired $1.1B)

  • Circle

    CCTP ($126B+ lifetime)

  • Bridge

    Stablecoin routing

  • BVNK

    Stablecoin payments infra

  • Circle CCTP

    CCTP — $126B+ lifetime volume

  • CoW Protocol

    Solver-network intent routing

  • deBridge

    Cross-chain liquidity routing

  • LayerZero

    Cross-chain messaging

L3Protocol8

How the payment flow is structured.

weight 4

  • Coinbase

    x402 (creator)

  • Stripe

    MPP (co-author with Tempo)

  • Circle

    Circle Nanopayments

  • Google AP2 (Agent Payments Protocol)

    AP2 mandates

  • Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP)

    ACP (OpenAI + Stripe)

  • Circle Nanopayments

    Nanopayments on Arc

  • Machine Payments Protocol (MPP)

    MPP — Challenge/Credential/Receipt flow

  • x402

    x402 protocol + facilitator

L4Governance9

Authorisation, compliance, identity.

weight 5

  • Coinbase

    AP2 partner

  • Stripe

    Compliance infra

  • Google AP2 (Agent Payments Protocol)

    Cart/Intent/Payment mandate framework

  • Brex

    Agent spend controls

  • AIS-1

    Agent identity standard (Base)

  • American Express ACE

    ACE + Agent Purchase Protection

  • ERC-8004

    Agent identity EIP draft

  • Mastercard Agentic Tokens

    Agentic Tokens

  • Visa Intelligent Commerce

    Visa Intelligent Commerce

L5Application6

Frameworks, marketplaces, autonomous services.

weight 3

  • ElizaOS

    Composable agent framework

  • Felix

    Agent framework

  • Fetch.ai Agent Launch

    Agent token launchpad (BNB)

  • Nansen (x402 surface)

    Pay-per-request analytics

  • Olas

    Autonomous service agents

  • Virtuals Protocol

    Tokenised agent marketplace

Stack coverage ranking

Ranked by weighted stack coverage. Coinbase + Stripe each span 5/6 layers — the vertical-integration race Keyrock flags as the most important dynamic of the next 12 months.

  1. 1
    Coinbase↗· Public (NASDAQ:COIN)

    Public crypto platform. Created x402, operates Base, runs CDP facilitator, ships Agentic Wallets, listed as AP2 partner — spans 5/6 layers.

    L0SettlementL1WalletsL2RoutingL3ProtocolL4Governancepublic API
    18
    5 layers
  2. 2
    Stripe↗· Private

    Payments incumbent. Co-incubated Tempo L1, acquired Privy + Bridge, co-authored MPP. Spans 5/6 layers.

    L0SettlementL1WalletsL2RoutingL3ProtocolL4Governancepublic webpage
    18
    5 layers
  3. 3
    Circle↗· Public (NYSE:CRCL)

    USDC issuer (98.6% of agent payment settlement). Spans 4/6 layers via Arc + CCTP + Nanopayments.

    L0SettlementL1WalletsL2RoutingL3Protocolpublic API
    13
    4 layers
  4. 4
    Google AP2 (Agent Payments Protocol)↗· Google

    Delegated authorisation framework via Verifiable Digital Credentials ("Mandates"). Announced Sept 2025 with 60+ partners.

    L3ProtocolL4Governancepublic webpage
    9
    2 layers
  5. 5
    Brex↗· Capital One (acquired)· acq. Capital One · $5.2B

    Programmable card infrastructure. Acquired by Capital One $5.15B (largest 2025 agent-payments-adjacent acq).

    L1WalletsL4Governancepublic webpage
    8
    2 layers
  6. 6
    AIS-1· Open / Base

    Open standard for AI agent identity, live on Base mainnet. Public comment period closes June 30 2026.

    L4Governanceself-reported
    5
    1 layer
  7. 7
    American Express ACE↗· American Express

    Agentic Commerce Experiences developer kit + Agent Purchase Protection (first card network to cover agent errors). Launched April 14 2026.

    L4Governancepublic webpage
    5
    1 layer
  8. 8
    ERC-8004↗· Ethereum Magicians (open)

    On-chain agent identity + reputation standard (proposed). Co-authored by Erik Reppel (x402 creator).

    L4Governancepublic webpage
    5
    1 layer
  9. 9
    Mastercard Agentic Tokens↗· Mastercard

    Mastercard's agent-credential framework. Also acquired BVNK $1.8B.

    L4Governancepublic webpage
    5
    1 layer
  10. 10
    Visa Intelligent Commerce↗· Visa

    Tokenised card credentials for agents with programmable spend controls. Pilots 2025.

    L4Governancepublic webpage
    5
    1 layer
  11. 11
    Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP)· OpenAI + Stripe

    OpenAI + Stripe protocol for agent commerce. Surfaced in Keyrock L3 column.

    L3Protocolmarketplace-reported
    4
    1 layer
  12. 12
    Arc↗· Circle

    Circle's settlement chain optimized for nanopayments.

    L0Settlementpublic webpage
    4
    1 layer
  13. 13
    Base↗· Coinbase

    Coinbase L2. Dominant settlement chain for agent payments (74% of x402 volume, 119M of 161M x402 txns).

    L0Settlementverified onchain
    4
    1 layer
  14. 14
    Circle Nanopayments↗· Circle

    Sub-cent payment primitive on Arc.

    L3Protocolpublic webpage
    4
    1 layer
  15. 15
    Machine Payments Protocol (MPP)↗· Stripe + Tempo

    Payment-method-agnostic agent payment protocol. Cards + crypto + Lightning + bank transfers via unified HTTP flow. Stripe + Tempo, March 18 2026.

    L3Protocolself-reported
    4
    1 layer
  16. 16
    Solana↗· Solana Foundation

    L1 carrying meaningful x402 + MPP volume. ~5.1% stablecoin supply, ~32.6% adjusted volume (~6x Ethereum velocity).

    L0Settlementverified onchain
    4
    1 layer
  17. 17
    Tempo↗· Paradigm + Stripe

    Payments-focused L1, sub-second finality, <$0.001 fees. Co-author of MPP. $500M Series A at $5B val, March 2026.

    L0Settlementpublic webpage
    4
    1 layer
  18. 18
    VisaNet↗· Visa

    Visa's card processing network. Underlies Intelligent Commerce tokenized credentials for agents.

    L0Settlementpublic webpage
    4
    1 layer
  19. 19
    x402↗· Coinbase / x402 Foundation (Linux Foundation)

    HTTP 402-native open protocol for stablecoin agent payments. Created by Coinbase May 2025. ~176M txns, ~$73M cumulative, 3,900 merchants.

    L3Protocolverified onchain
    4
    1 layer
  20. 20
    Coinbase AgentKit↗· Coinbase

    Coinbase's agent wallet SDK. Tens of thousands of agents deployed with session caps + per-tx limits + allowlists.

    L1Walletspublic webpage
    3
    1 layer
  21. 21
    Dynamic↗· Fireblocks (acquired)· acq. Fireblocks · $90M

    Onchain account SDK powering 50M wallets for Kraken / Magic Eden / etc. Acquired by Fireblocks ~$90M October 2025.

    L1Walletspublic webpage
    3
    1 layer
  22. 22
    ElizaOS↗· ai16z + open contributors

    Open-source agent framework, 63 repos. Originally incubated by ai16z.

    L5Applicationpublic webpage
    3
    1 layer
  23. 23
    Felix

    Agent framework — surfaced in Keyrock L5 panel.

    L5Applicationmarketplace-reported
    3
    1 layer
  24. 24
    Fetch.ai Agent Launch↗· Fetch.ai / ASI Alliance

    Bonding-curve launchpad for Agentverse-verified agent tokens on BNB Chain. Launched May 20 2026. 120 FET deploy, 30K FET → PancakeSwap graduation, LP burned at graduation.

    L5Applicationself-reported
    3
    1 layer
  25. 25
    MoonPay Open Wallet Standard↗· MoonPay

    Cross-chain wallet interop standard launched March 23 2026 with 15 contributors (PayPal, OKX, Solana Foundation, etc.).

    L1Walletspublic webpage
    3
    1 layer
  26. 26
    Nansen (x402 surface)↗· Nansen

    Onchain analytics. Headless merchant via x402: $0.01/query in USDC on Base.

    L5Applicationpublic API
    3
    1 layer
  27. 27
    NEAR AI Wallets↗· NEAR Foundation

    Agent wallet infra on NEAR.

    L1Walletspublic webpage
    3
    1 layer
  28. 28
    Olas↗· Valory / Olas

    Autonomous-agent network on Gnosis Chain. Drives 75% of Safe transactions on peak days, 37% all-time.

    L5Applicationverified onchain
    3
    1 layer
  29. 29
    Privy↗· Stripe (acquired)· acq. Stripe

    Embedded wallet provider, 75M crypto wallets. Acquired by Stripe June 2025.

    L1Walletspublic webpage
    3
    1 layer
  30. 30
    Safe↗· Independent

    Independent smart-account infra. 18.3M smart accounts, $100B+ secured, $600B in 2025 volume. 37% of Gnosis Safe txns by AI agents (Olas), peaks at 75%.

    L1Walletspublic API
    3
    1 layer
  31. 31
    Virtuals Protocol↗· Virtuals

    Tokenised AI agent platform on Base. ~18,000 agents, ~$470M "agentic GDP" in VIRTUAL tokens. Already indexed in AgentCrush tokenized v1.1.

    L5Applicationmarketplace-reported
    3
    1 layer
  32. 32
    ZeroDev↗· Offchain Labs (acquired)· acq. Offchain Labs

    ERC-7579 modular smart-account SDK. Acquired by Offchain Labs (Arbitrum).

    L1Walletspublic webpage
    3
    1 layer
  33. 33
    Bridge↗· Stripe (acquired)· acq. Stripe · $1.1B

    Stablecoin orchestration. Acquired by Stripe for $1.1B (largest crypto acq of 2025).

    L2Routingpublic webpage
    2
    1 layer
  34. 34
    BVNK↗· Mastercard (acquired)· acq. Mastercard · $1.8B

    Stablecoin payment infra. Acquired by Mastercard $1.8B.

    L2Routingpublic webpage
    2
    1 layer
  35. 35
    Circle CCTP↗· Circle

    Cross-chain USDC transfer protocol. $126B+ lifetime volume per Keyrock.

    L2Routingpublic API
    2
    1 layer
  36. 36
    CoW Protocol↗· CoW DAO

    Intent-based DEX aggregator with competing solver network. $33B+ lifetime volume, 30+ solver teams. Shields agent trades from MEV.

    L2Routingverified onchain
    2
    1 layer
  37. 37
    deBridge↗· Independent

    Cross-chain bridging — $1B+ TVL surfaced in Keyrock L2 map.

    L2Routingpublic webpage
    2
    1 layer
  38. 38
    LayerZero↗· Independent

    Omnichain messaging. Acquired Stargate $120M.

    L2Routingpublic webpage
    2
    1 layer

Why this exists. Keyrock published a static snapshot of this map in May 2026. AgentCrush runs the live version — protocol-neutral, methodology-disclosed, evidence-ranked. Same rules as our model family, tokenized, and service category indexes.

Spot a missing project or stale layer assignment? Open an issue on GitHub.