[Stripe Co-Founder: AI Agent-Driven Commerce Is About to Surge, Stablecoins Will Become Core Payment Methods] According to The Block, Stripe co-founder and president John Collison predicts that in the coming years, there will be a surge in commerce driven by AI agents, and he believes stablecoins and high-throughput blockchains will become the core payment mechanisms for this trend. Collison stated in a recent podcast that autonomous software agents are moving beyond the experimental phase and will increasingly handle payments, capital allocation, and other real-world economic activities. He believes that the crypto-native path is structurally better suited to support this 'agent economy.' Earlier this year, Stripe integrated the x402 standard, enabling AI agents to use USDC for transactions on the Base network. This allows software agents to autonomously send and receive stablecoin payments without requiring manual checkout processes.