I have recently been pondering AI agents, the kind that not only can chat but also think for themselves, plan tasks, and get to work. It sounds wonderful, but if I really let them book tickets, handle refunds, or even manage warehouses, I find it hard to sleep at night. What if they act up in the middle of the night? Who’s going to cover for them?
This is why Kite AI emerged. It has developed a Layer 1 blockchain tailored specifically for AI agents, not to issue another coin or to undermine existing chains, but because the internet dominated by AI agents is completely different from that dominated by humans. Humans can settle payments slowly with credit cards and tolerate some delays; but machine agents cannot, they require real-time identity verification, precise authorization, and instant payments; otherwise, any mistake can trigger a chain reaction and amplify losses.
Just look at this past year; AI agents are no longer toys. Shopping assistants, customer service robots, trading systems, and enterprise automation tools are all rapidly being deployed. At the same time, stablecoins have transitioned from niche toys to mainstream settlement tools, with large companies beginning to test around-the-clock instant transfers. When AI agents meet stablecoins, a key question arises: if software is to operate independently, should it also pay for the resources it requires?
Kite's solution is quite clever, starting with identity. It designs a three-layer model: users as root authority, agents as delegated authority, and temporary session keys limited to specific tasks. This division of labor is clear—if a session key is stolen, it only affects a single task; if an agent goes rogue, it can be revoked separately without impacting the entire account. It's like giving agents limited authorization cards, which are both convenient and secure.
Just having layered authorization is not enough; the process must also be transparent. In human-computer interactions, we have confirmation pop-ups and transaction records, but the decision-making process of AI agents is a black box, making it impossible to clarify afterward. Kite turns all of this into a readable chain: users authorize agents, agents then authorize sessions, and sessions execute actions. The entire process is recorded on the chain, facilitating audits and providing greater peace of mind.
Why build a Layer 1 from scratch? Existing public chains are not unfeasible, but congestion, fluctuating fees, and uncertain settlement times are too difficult for machines. Imagine two AI agents negotiating a price, or one agent needing to pay in real-time to call another service; what they need is a settlement environment with nearly zero latency, almost zero costs, and instant result confirmation. Kite's chain is specifically optimized for this.
What makes me feel more secure is the control over spending. Everyone likes AI to help save money and automatically manage trivial tasks, but everyone also fears it will issue blank checks. Kite has set up guardrails at the protocol level: daily spending limits, itemized budgets, whitelists, and emergency stop switches... These are not optional accessories, but core designs at the foundational level. Authorization can be granted, but the reins must be firmly held in hand.
Payment is the key focus. Most transactions between AI agents are small, high-frequency trades: spending a penny to call an API, or spending a few dimes to buy data. Traditional credit card fees are high and do not support small batch transactions; many blockchains also prefer large, occasional transfers. Kite uses stablecoins to achieve low-latency, low-fee instant payments, while automatically tracking contribution attribution, ensuring that those who provide value are compensated in real-time, avoiding post-factum entanglements in logs.
Of course, building a Layer 1 from scratch is difficult, and there are no guarantees of success. But this precisely indicates that the entire industry has been pushed to this point: AI is transitioning from being able to talk to being able to act, and action requires a reliable track. Verifiable identity, limited authorization, and instant payment settlement. What Kite is doing is laying this track, allowing AI agents to integrate into our future economy safely and autonomously.
