At present, we are rapidly transitioning from a purely conceptual discussion of AI to the actual infrastructure development phase. Autonomous intelligent agents (AI Agents) are no longer just buzzwords in venture capital presentations but have become a new operational layer in the internet. By the end of 2025, Kite has quietly risen to become the key underlying architecture driving this new economic model. For those focused on long-term trends, the true value indicator is not the token price, but the degree of integration within the ecosystem—specifically, how many projects are building the future on its dedicated track.
Kite's growth logic is completely different from traditional blockchain. It does not chase the total locked value (TVL) of DeFi but focuses on 'agent interaction'. Its testnet has processed over 1.7 billion AI inference calls and 400 million transactions, revealing a huge unmet demand: the market urgently needs a blockchain tailored for high-frequency, low-value interactions between machines. When an AI agent needs to pay one-hundredth of a cent for a data packet to another agent, it cannot tolerate a 12-second block confirmation time or a $2 transaction fee. Kite's sub-second finality and near-zero fees have become the 'oxygen' on which these agents rely.
Its development momentum has been strongly boosted by top partners. This is not only a collaboration of crypto-native projects but also a deep integration with Web2 and Web3 giants. In the second half of 2025, its ecosystem has expanded to heavyweight names like PayPal, Shopify, Google Cloud, as well as Coinbase and Avalanche. Taking the integration of PayPal and Shopify as an example: it opens a path for AI agents to autonomously procure goods on global e-commerce platforms and settle using stablecoins like PYUSD or USDC. This substantially bridges the gap between the on-chain world and real-world business.
In the broader Web3 landscape, Kite plays the role of a specialized 'service layer'. If Ethereum is the global settlement layer and Solana is the high-speed execution engine, then Kite is positioning itself as the hub for identity and payments in the autonomous economy. The 'SPACE framework' launched in November 2025 is a prime example. It provides standardized solutions for agents to handle stablecoin payments and programmable rules. Whether developers build trading bots on Base or create arbitrage agents on Avalanche, they can use Kite's 'agent passport' to grant them verifiable identities and a secure wallet that complies with strict rules. This is akin to equipping every robot on the internet with a passport and bank account.
Looking ahead to the roadmap for 2026, the growth potential is clearer. The full launch of 'AI subnets' dedicated to specific industries and the mainnet will provide exclusive channels for fields such as medical data and gaming assets. For investors, this means diverse value capture opportunities. The launch of each new subnet or new integrations with exchanges like Bitso and OKX will continue to build network effects. The previous cross-chain bridging with Avalanche has already demonstrated the potential for seamless flow of identity and payments between ecosystems.
Of course, risks also need to be calmly assessed. Currently, only about 18% of its total 10 billion tokens are in circulation. The tokens of early investors and the team will begin to unlock around March 2026, which means there is significant potential supply pressure. Therefore, the project has a clear time window and must drive sufficient developer and agent ecosystem demand to absorb this potential selling pressure. The 'seed labels' from exchanges like Binance also appropriately remind us that we are still in a phase of high volatility and high potential returns. However, if the daily active users can maintain the growth momentum of over 3.7 million at the end of 2025, the foundation of the token's value will become more solid.
Ultimately, Kite's vision is to become the 'SWIFT network' of the AI era—the underlying settlement and communication standard for the agent economy. If the future where millions of autonomous agents handle trillions of dollars in transactions becomes a reality, then the core value will not only exist in the AI models themselves but also in the infrastructure that enables them to pay securely, communicate, and self-verify their identity. Kite is fully betting on this. For those who have witnessed how middleware projects like Chainlink have become indispensable components of DeFi, the current similarities are hard to ignore. We are witnessing the birth of a new domain, and Kite currently occupies one of the most influential positions within it.
