Skyfire launches a blockchain payment network that allows AI to withdraw your money
Blockchain development firm Skyfire recently launched a payment platform that allows artificial intelligence agents to spend money autonomously.
Backed by former Ripple VP of Products and Services Amir Sarhangi, the company's platform enables a business to hand over a pre-loaded wallet to an AI agent. The company's protocol converts the currency into USD Coin (USDC). The platform handles conversions when the agent's role involves payment, thereby enabling autonomous payment agents.
AI agents
An AI agent is, for lack of a better term, a “bot” designed to perform a task. Examples include AI agents that monitor products on multiple sites to generate autonomous orders, or a bot that monitors sales prices on multiple online marketplaces.
But without the ability to process payments, these “agents” are taken to the middle level. Although they have basic autonomy, they lack end-to-end functionality.
As Craig DeWitt, founder and chief product officer of Skyfire, said in a recent interview with TechCrunch:
“If AI agents can't make payments, they can't do anything; it's just noble pursuit. “We choose a way where agents either do things right or they don't do anything, and therefore they're not agents.”
AI with wallet
Since the system relies on a platform that uses stablecoin as an intermediary, it can directly communicate with the service that the user's AI agent can access. The user is responsible for building the agent and also controls the amount of money in the wallet.
Cointelegraph recently reported that veterans across the crypto and fintech industry, including Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, are beginning to support the integration of AI agents with cryptocurrency wallets.
In Armstrong's view, issuing cryptocurrency wallets will allow AI agents to “work on your behalf” and potentially generate revenue autonomously. Whether that means trading or providing other services will ultimately be up to developers and users.
Skyfire's product currently aims to support B2B transactions between AI agents, but the company is exploring additional services and use cases.
Related: Early research exposes the dark side of brain-computer interfaces
