AI agents and large corporates will lead the next stablecoin boom, executives say

Stablecoins are entering a caller signifier of adoption, with ample corporations utilizing them for cross-border treasury flows portion AI agents statesman utilizing blockchain rails for autonomous payments, Bridge and Deus X Capital executives said astatine Consensus 2026.

May 7, 2026, 9:10 p.m. 2 min read

Large corporations looking to modernize payments and AI agents making autonomous transactions are emerging arsenic the 2 biggest maturation drivers for stablecoins, executives of Bridge and Deus X Capital said Thursday astatine Consensus 2026 successful Miami.

Lindsey Einhaus — who leads strategy and operations astatine stablecoin infrastructure steadfast Bridge, which was acquired by Stripe for $1.1 cardinal — said the adjacent 2 years volition apt bring a question of organization stablecoin adoption, particularly for cross-border payments and interior treasury operations.

"Large institutions are looking to utilize stablecoins to negociate cross-border flows and truly illness a batch of their relationship absorption into stablecoins," Einhaus said.

She pointed to payment-focused blockchains similar Tempo, backed by Stripe and Paradigm, arsenic cardinal enablers for broader adoption. Existing blockchains historically lacked features communal successful accepted payments systems, specified arsenic refunds, chargebacks and backstage transactions, she argued.

The adjacent maturation country whitethorn travel from AI-powered micropayments.

According to Einhaus, blockchain-based stablecoin rails could yet marque tiny net payments economically viable by removing costly intermediaries and reducing transaction fees. Historically, micropayments failed due to the fact that transaction costs often exceeded the worth being transferred, portion crypto payments introduced terms volatility that discouraged spending.

"With stablecoin-native blockchains, you’re going to dramatically trim transaction costs," she said.

Tim Grant, CEO of Deus X Capital, said agentic payments — autonomous AI systems transacting with each different — whitethorn go 1 of the strongest crypto usage cases yet, partially due to the fact that consumers intuitively recognize the request for machines to determination wealth online.

"We’re underestimating the agentic outgo roar that’s astir to happen," Grant said.

At the aforesaid time, helium cautioned that the infrastructure remains fragmented crossed aggregate blockchains and wallets, portion regularisation astir autonomous fiscal enactment is inactive evolving.

Grant struck a much cautious code wide connected the gait of stablecoin adoption. While helium was optimistic successful the agelong term, helium argued that the manufacture inactive faces hurdles astir regulation, user onboarding and organization coordination.

Still, helium acknowledged that organization sentiment has shifted meaningfully arsenic regulators go much supportive.

"Before, you had to propulsion institutions to wage attention," Grant said. "Now they’re pulling."