Circle's chief strategy officer says creating USD's digital counterfeits not possible (5:18)
Key Points
Bernstein analysts have released a new note on the growing role of stablecoin payments.
As per the analysts, AI agents are beginning to rely on stablecoins for payments.
Circle and Coinbase are most direct proxies for stablecoin exposure, the analysts said.
Circle Internet Group (NYSE: CRCL) and Coinbase (Nasdaq: COIN) are the primary vehicles for stablecoin exposure, the analysts led by Gautam Chhugani at the research and brokerage firm Bernstein said.
Both the crypto companies have a strategic, long-term partnership centering on the USDC stablecoin, a cryptocurrency that tries to keep its value stable by being pegged 1:1 to the U.S. dollar.
Related: Explained: What is a stablecoin?
Bernstein analysts said the growing role of stablecoins by artificial intelligence (AI) agents will drive a potential upside for both Circle and Coinbase.
While the former is a crypto company that issues the second-largest stablecoin, the latter is the largest crypto trading exchange in the United States.
“We view agentic machine payments as an upside optionality for stablecoins,” the analysts said.
“This is not a ‘here and now’ material impact on stablecoin demand, but some potential role of stablecoins in the agentic machine economy.”
In contrast to automated or recurring subscriptions, these agentic machine payments are entirely programmatic and take decisions on price negotiations and settlements in real-time without human intervention.
As per the Bernstein analysts, stablecoins play a useful role here as they are entirely programmable, instant, micropayment-friendly, and accessible globally.
Various monetary functions like escrow or revenue sharing can also become parts of stablecoins so that AI agents can make payments without waiting for bank confirmations, SWIFT, and forex conversations.
More Coinbase:
Coinbase CEO fires back after Bessent blames 'recalcitrant actors'
Coinbase CEO offers bold fix after billionaire Ray Dalio’s dollar warning
Coinbase suffers trading disruption on earnings day
Circle, Coinbase prepare for agentic payments
Circle is testing nano-payments to enable gas-free USDC transfers as small as $0.000001 by AI agents.
Notably, Coinbase is developing a new open payment protocol, x402, that enables instant, automatic stablecoin payments directly over HTTP. x402 lets services monetize APIs and digital content onchain that allow users to programmatically pay for access without accounts, sessions, or complex authentication.
The protocol has processed around $25 million in volume over the last 30 days.
More Circle:
Circle’s chief strategy officer Dante Disparte says financial institutions using USDC, not all stablecoins
Analyst revamps price target for Circle again
Analyst raises price target on Circle stock after Iran war
Direct proxies for stablecoin exposure
Even though such payments are still in their nascent stage, the Bernstein analysts said agents aren't the sole reason for their optimistic outlook for stablecoin growth.
They highlighted exponential growth in general use cases, such as cross-border settlements, consumer remittances, etc.
Investors can view Circle and Coinbase as the most direct proxies for stablecoin exposure, Chhugani and other analysts at Bernstein said.
While agentic adoption is an upside, they are broadly optimistic about the broader adoption and liquidity of USDC.
While the CRCL stock was trading 0.20% higher at $126.29, the COIN stock was trading 2.3% higher at $202.17.
Related: Stablecoins make dollar transfers as easy as sending email, says Circle president