Kite is ushering in a new chapter in the evolution of artificial intelligence and decentralized systems by building what it calls the first blockchain purpose-built for agentic payments, an infrastructure where autonomous AI agents can act as independent economic actors—transacting, coordinating, and collaborating without human intermediaries but with strong cryptographic guarantees and programmable controls. Unlike traditional payment rails, which were designed for humans making occasional purchases, Kite’s architecture treats AI agents as first-class participants in an emerging machine-to-machine economy, enabling them to discover services, negotiate terms, execute transactions, and enforce rules in real time.
At the heart of Kite’s vision is the idea that AI agents shouldn’t just be capable of generating text or performing isolated tasks; they should be able to operate in economic environments with verifiable identity, secure governance, and efficient payment systems that match the speed and scale of automated decision-making. To achieve this, Kite is developing an EVM-compatible Layer-1 blockchain that combines familiar smart contract standards with innovations tailored to the unique requirements of autonomous systems, including ultra-low latency transactions, near-zero fees, and native support for stablecoin payments that agents can use to transact instantly and securely.
One of the defining features of the Kite protocol is its three-layer identity framework that separates the roles and privileges of users, agents, and sessions. In this model, human users retain root authority over assets and long-term credentials, while autonomous agents are allocated cryptographic identities derived from those roots and bound by programmed constraints. Each agent, and even each session the agent undertakes, can carry distinct identity credentials that define what it is allowed to do, how it can spend funds, and which data or services it may access. This layered identity system enhances both security and control, ensuring that even if a temporary session is compromised, broader access and reputation remain protected, while every interaction contributes to an auditable on-chain reputation trail.
Beyond identity, the Kite blockchain embeds programmable governance and constraint enforcement directly into its core operation. While smart contracts on other blockchains enable automated transactions and logic, agents on Kite can be constrained by policy rules that span multiple services and contexts—rules that are cryptographically enforced rather than simply assumed. For example, an agent might be given spending limits, conditional execution limits, or hierarchical permissions that guide how it operates autonomously, all without requiring continuous human intervention.
To support the economic activity of autonomous agents, Kite implements agent-native payment rails that go well beyond ordinary blockchain transfers. These include programmable state channels that allow an agent to open a channel with another service, stream transactions within that channel at sub-hundred-millisecond latencies, and settle only the opening and closing transactions on chain. This design enables thousands of micropayments or micro-negotiations to occur within a single channel without burdening the base layer with every update, significantly boosting throughput and reducing costs for machine-scale commerce.
In addition to its technical innovations, Kite is building a modular ecosystem where developers, service providers, and agents can interact and exchange value. The blockchain ecosystem includes modules—semi-independent communities focused on specialized services such as data feeds, specialized AI models, or computational tools—that connect to the core network for settlement and governance. These modules form an open marketplace where service creators can publish their offerings and agents can discover and use them, creating a rich environment for autonomous economic activity.
A critical part of the Kite ecosystem is the KITE token, the network’s native token that powers participation and incentives. At launch, KITE’s utility begins with ecosystem participation and incentive distribution: builders, service providers, and users must hold KITE to integrate with the ecosystem or to qualify for various rewards. This initial phase gives the token immediate utility as an access and alignment mechanism, rewarding participants who contribute value to the growing agentic economy.
As the platform matures and Mainnet launches, KITE’s utility expands to include staking, governance, and fee-related functions. Holders can stake KITE to secure the network through its Proof-of-Stake consensus and become eligible to operate services or validate transactions in exchange for rewards. Governance rights enable token holders to vote on protocol upgrades, incentive structures, and performance requirements, aligning the community around long-term network health and collective decision-making.
Kite has attracted significant interest and backing from prominent investors, underscoring the belief among venture and blockchain capital that this infrastructure could become foundational to next-generation AI economies. In 2025, it raised a substantial Series A funding round, co-led by PayPal Ventures and General Catalyst, bringing total funding to tens of millions of dollars and fueling further development of technologies like Kite AIR (Agent Identity Resolution) which provides agents with secure identity, programmable policy enforcement, and native stablecoin settlement capabilities.
Beyond core technology and investment, Kite is exploring integrations that bridge autonomous agents with real-world commerce and services. Partnerships and pilot integrations with platforms like Shopify and PayPal aim to make merchants discoverable to AI shopping agents and allow transactions to settle on-chain using stablecoins, demonstrating how agents could autonomously purchase goods or services from everyday vendors.
Taken together, Kite’s technology and ecosystem represent an effort to build not just another blockchain, but the infrastructure layer for an “agentic internet” where AI agents are first-class economic entities capable of performing complex tasks, autonomously negotiating terms, and interacting with global markets and services at machine speed. In this world, AI agents have verifiable identity, enforceable governance, and seamless economic interaction, enabling a future where autonomous systems can operate safely, efficiently, and productively across decentralized networks.
