Circle CEO Says AI Agents Use USDC for 99% of Payments

• USDC settled 99.3% of x402 AI agent payment volume during Q2 2026.
• Circle’s USDC circulation reached $73.3 billion by the end of Q2 2026.
• Circle is expanding USDC use across AI agents, retail, and global payments.

Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said USDC accounted for 99.3% of payment volume processed through the x402 protocol during the second quarter of 2026.

The figure highlights growing use of stablecoins in automated machine-to-machine commerce. However, the statistic specifically covers x402 activity and does not represent the entire AI payments market.

USDC Gains Ground in AI Agent Payments

Allaire discussed the opportunity during Circle’s Aug. 19 earnings AMA. He said AI agents require reliable settlement assets that support fast, inexpensive, and predictable transactions.

The x402 protocol enables autonomous software agents to pay for digital services without requiring continuous human approval. Consequently, agents can purchase data, computing resources, application access, and digital content automatically.

USDC’s dollar denomination makes it suitable for these transactions because agents can operate with a consistent unit of account. Moreover, its blockchain-based settlement allows payments to move without relying on traditional banking processes for every transaction.

Circle CEO: Where Is the Biggest Opportunity for USDC in Global Payments?

On August 19, 2026, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire @jerallaire stated during a earnings live AMA that over 99% of AI agent payments made through agent payment protocols are completed using USDC.

He… pic.twitter.com/jpuruXL5gT

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) August 25, 2026

Circle’s Agent Stack further supports this emerging market. The platform launched globally in May and had more than 900 paid services by the end of the second quarter.

Circle reported that USDC circulation reached $73.3 billion at quarter-end. That represented 19% annual growth. Meanwhile, quarterly USDC transaction volume increased 151% year over year to $14.8 trillion.

Those figures include broader blockchain activity, rather than AI payments alone. Therefore, they should not be interpreted as direct measures of machine-driven commerce.

Circle Targets Broader Payment Adoption

Beyond AI agents, Allaire identified cross-border settlement, capital markets, and retail payments as important growth opportunities for USDC.

Circle has continued developing payment infrastructure for financial institutions while testing applications involving merchants and international transactions. In addition, the company expects instant payment methods, including QR codes, to support further digital payment adoption.

Circle is also preparing for the public launch of Arc’s mainnet on Sept. 16. The network is expected to include programmable tools designed for agent-based financial activity.

The developments come as stablecoins gain a larger role in digital payments and tokenized financial markets. Still, adoption will depend on infrastructure, regulation, merchant acceptance, and developer activity.

For now, USDC’s strong share of x402 payments provides evidence that stablecoins could become an important settlement layer for autonomous software. However, broader AI payment adoption remains an emerging market.