In the fast-evolving world of blockchain and artificial intelligence, Kite AI is carving out a new frontier—one where autonomous agents don’t just exist, they transact, negotiate, and operate with near-human sophistication. Built as an EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain, Kite is designed from the ground up for machine-native payments, enabling real-time transactions while maintaining verifiable identity and programmable governance for AI agents. Its architecture separates identities into users, agents, and sessions, a seemingly small design choice that dramatically increases security, transparency, and control in agent-to-agent economic activity.
Kite’s native token, KITE, has been gradually unveiling its utility, moving through a carefully staged rollout. Initially, it provides ecosystem access and incentives, but once the full mainnet comes online, it will support staking, governance, and fee settlement, cementing its role as the lifeblood of the network. November 2025 marked a milestone with the token’s official launch, producing more than $260 million in trading volume within just hours across top exchanges like Binance, Upbit, and Bithumb. The token’s early fully diluted valuation approached $883 million, and with a hard cap of 10 billion tokens, its allocation balances community participants, investors, the development team, and long-term ecosystem growth.
Financial backing has played a crucial role in Kite’s acceleration. After rebranding from Zettablock, the project secured $18 million in Series A funding in September 2025, led by PayPal Ventures and General Catalyst. This brought total funding to roughly $33 million, with notable support from Coinbase Ventures, Samsung Next, and other major players. The round explicitly aimed to build the infrastructure necessary for autonomous agents to transact at scale with stablecoins and on-chain settlement.
The project has not only raised capital but has also set a high standard for transparency and vision. In early November 2025, Kite released an updated whitepaper titled “From Human-Centric to Agent-Native,” which details how its blockchain enables programmable spending rules, near-zero fees, and secure identity management for AI-driven payments. From a technical standpoint, Kite is already integrating cutting-edge protocols like Coinbase’s x402, allowing AI agents to send, receive, retry, and settle payments without intermediaries. By leveraging stablecoins such as USDC and USDT, Kite eliminates the volatility that could cripple microtransactions in an AI economy, achieving sub-second transaction finality essential for real-time agent operations.
Kite’s testnet activity has already shown tangible results. Early public testnets have processed hundreds of millions of agent calls and millions of transactions, connecting millions of agent users and demonstrating strong engagement in autonomous commerce. On the ecosystem front, Kite’s recognition has been equally impressive. It earned a spot on the RootData List 2025 “Top 100 Projects,” validating its work on decentralized, agent-focused networks with interoperable verification and payment flows. Meanwhile, developer tooling, including SDKs and the MCP Server, has lowered the barrier for AI applications to integrate Kite’s identity and settlement capabilities, enabling a growing community of creators and innovators.
The token’s presence in the market continues to expand, with trading available on multiple venues including Binance, Coinbase-access platforms, KuCoin, Bitget, and Ju.com, making it accessible to both retail and institutional participants. Reports from the community suggest that an alpha mainnet is already live, and a full public release is anticipated around the first quarter of 2026. The network promises sub-second block times and gas fees so low that they are nearly negligible—around $0.000001 per transaction—paving the way for true machine-native commerce.
Kite’s ambition doesn’t stop there. On-chain tools such as multisignature wallets optimized for DAOs and agents, cross-chain bridges through LayerZero, and agent-aware modules for secure wallets continue to expand, reflecting a blockchain ecosystem designed for complexity, scale, and real-world utility.
As 2025 comes to a close, Kite AI stands as a compelling testament to the convergence of blockchain and autonomous intelligence. With its alpha mainnet live, a well-funded roadmap, and an ecosystem rapidly taking shape, Kite is not just building a blockchain—it’s shaping the infrastructure for a world where AI agents can operate independently, economically, and securely, rewriting the rules of digital interaction along the way.
