Amazon Bedrock enables AI agents to pay with stablecoins through Coinbase and Stripe integration

Amazon Teams With Coinbase and Stripe to Let AI Agents Pay With Stablecoins - Decrypt

Amazon says future AI agents could autonomously buy services, data, flights, and hotel bookings. Amazon Web Services is bringing crypto payments into enterprise AI software as tech companies race to build autonomous AI agents capable of completing tasks and making transactions online. On Thursday, AWS announced Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Payments, a system developed with Coinbase and Stripe that allows AI agents to use stablecoins to automatically pay for APIs, data feeds, web content, and other online services during task execution. The launch brings stablecoin-based micropayments directly into AWS's AI agent platform, aiming to eliminate the need for developers to build custom billing systems for each service integration. According to Preethi CN, director of AgentCore, the platform uses Coinbase's x402 protocol, an open standard based on the HTTP 402 "Payment Required" response code, along with Coinbase wallet infrastructure and Stripe-owned Privy wallet technology. "AgentCore is designed to work with any framework and any protocol. We've carried that same flexibility into Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Payments. Developers don't have to track the evolving payment protocol landscape or lock into a single standard," CN said in a statement. Amazon plans to integrate additional protocols, and will further support emerging protocols "at the platform level so developers don't have to rebuild their agents," CN added. Once configured, agents can automatically pay for services during execution. AWS said the initial release focuses on micropayments for APIs, AI tools, MCP servers, and paywalled content. The company said future versions could support broader commercial activity, including booking flights, reserving hotels, and completing purchases across merchant platforms. In a separate announcement, Coinbase described the collaboration as one of the first times a major cloud provider has integrated crypto micropayments directly into enterprise AI infrastructure. According to Coinbase, the x402 protocol has already processed more than 169 million machine-native payments across 590,000 buyers and 100,000 sellers. The company said transactions settle in roughly 200 milliseconds using USDC on Ethereum layer-2 network Base and Solana. The announcement comes as tech and crypto companies increasingly push stablecoins as a payments infrastructure for AI agents. Stablecoins have gained traction because they settle quickly, operate around the clock, and support low-cost micropayments that traditional payment systems often handle poorly. Last week, MoonPay launched a debit card that lets AI agents spend stablecoins at online merchants. And earlier this week, Solana and Google Cloud introduced a service allowing AI agents to pay for APIs and cloud services on a per-request basis using stablecoins. However, not everyone agrees that stablecoins alone are the best option for AI-powered transactions. In March, a Bitcoin Policy Institute study found AI models often favored Bitcoin and stablecoins over fiat currencies in simulated economic scenarios. "Enterprises have been telling us the same thing: They want agents that can transact, but they can't get past legal and compliance review," Coinbase Head of Infrastructure Growth Brian Foster said in a statement. "AWS developers can now give their agents financial autonomy in a comprehensive managed solution. It just works."

AWS adds agentic payment features to Amazon Bedrock AgentCore - SiliconANGLE

AWS adds agentic payment features to Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Amazon Web Services Inc. today debuted a set of features that artificial intelligence agents can use to make purchases. The capabilities are available in preview through the cloud giant's Amazon Bedrock AgentCore service. It's a suite of tools that companies can use to build and maintain AI agents. Bedrock AgentCore also eases certain related tasks, such as sharing agent components between different development teams. AWS says that the new payment features support a wide range of use cases. A financial analysis agent could use them to purchase access to stock exchange datasets. A coding agent, meanwhile, might buy a subscription to a cloud-based development tool. In the future, AWS will enable agents to purchase items such as flight tickets on users' behalf. Bedrock AgentCore's payment toolkit uses a technology called x402 to complete transactions. The technology is based on the so-called status code feature of the HTTP protocol. The most well-known HTTP status code is the 404 error message that websites display if a page can't be found. When an AI agent connects to a paid service using x402, the service returns a 402 status code. The status code contains information on how the AI agent can buy access. After the agent follows the instructions and completes the transaction, it receives a proof of purchase. That proof of purchase enables it to access the paid content by refreshing the webpage. Bedrock AgentCore enables AI agents to finance purchases using funds held in digital wallets. AWS has partnered with two digital wallet providers so far: Coinbase Global Inc., which developed the x402 payment technology, and Stripe Inc.'s Privy subsidiary. Agents can make payments using stablecoin or fiat. Bedrock AgentCore allows developers to set spending limits for each individual AI agent session. Additionally, observability features built into the service makes it possible to track agents' financial activity. AWS plans to release more payment features over time, including support for additional protocols besides x402. "There will soon be more AI agents transacting than humans, and they need money that's built for the internet," said Brian Foster, the head of infrastructure growth and strategy at Coinbase. AWS announced Bedrock AgentCore's payment features today alongside a second financial sector milestone. The Amazon.com Inc. unit has inked a broad cloud deal with U.S. Bancorp that it describes as "one of the largest and most comprehensive banking modernization initiatives." The NYSE-listed financial institution plans to move hundreds of internal workloads to AWS. Those applications perform payment processing, wealth management platforms and commercial banking tasks. Additionally, U.S. Bancorp will use AWS' AI services to automate customer support workflows.

AWS, Coinbase Launch Crypto Payment Infrastructure for AI Agents

The integration allows AI agents built on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore to make USDC micropayments and access services autonomously using Coinbase's x402 protocol. Amazon Web Services has integrated Coinbase's x402 payments protocol and wallet infrastructure into Amazon Bedrock AgentCore, allowing agents to make USDC micropayments and access services autonomously through AWS-managed payment controls. According to Coinbase, the integration enables developers to deploy AI agents that can discover services, make micropayments and settle transactions in USDC (USDC) on Base and Solana (SOL) without direct access to private keys. The announcement comes after the crypto exchange announced earlier this week that it was cutting about 14% of its workforce as the company restructures around smaller AI-focused teams and increased use of automation tools. Source: Brian Armstrong The system uses x402, an open protocol based on the HTTP 402 "Payment Required" status code, to support machine-to-machine payments. Coinbase said the protocol has processed more than 169 million payments across over 590,000 buyers and 100,000 sellers. Coinbase said the platform is intended to address compliance, audit and payment authorization challenges that have limited the deployment of autonomous AI agents in enterprise environments. AgentCore Payments includes spending limits, transaction monitoring and compliance controls for sanctions and illicit finance screening, while enterprises can track payments through logs, metrics and dashboards integrated into the platform. AgentCore agents can also connect to x402-enabled services through Coinbase MCP integrations, allowing them to purchase data, search tools and backend services from providers including Exa, Messari and Browserbase. Related: Coinbase faces lawsuit over frozen funds from $55M crypto theft Crypto and payments companies are increasingly building infrastructure for AI agents capable of making autonomous transactions using stablecoins and blockchain-based payment rails. In recent months, companies including Visa, MoonPay and Stripe-backed Tempo have introduced tools aimed at programmatic payments, agent-driven commerce and high-throughput stablecoin settlement for AI systems. On Tuesday, crypto bank Anchorage Digital launched an "agentic banking" service designed to give AI agents access to both traditional financial and crypto payment rails, according to co-founder and CEO Nathan McCauley. He added that institutions are increasingly experimenting with automation across treasury, payments and procurement systems that were not originally designed for machines. Meanwhile, Aptos Labs and the Aptos Foundation said Thursday they would commit more than $50 million toward infrastructure, trading and AI partnerships, describing autonomous systems and machine-speed transactions as a major future source of blockchain activity.

Amazon Bedrock Launches AI Agent Payment Capabilities With Coinbase, Stripe | PYMNTS.com

By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications from PYMNTS and to the sharing of your information with our sponsor, if applicable, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions. The new feature, Amazon Bedrock AgentCore payments, enables AI agents to instantly access and pay for digital resources such as web content, APIs and specialized services, the post said. To power the underlying financial rails, AWS partnered with Coinbase and Stripe, which provide the wallet infrastructure and payment protocols. The initiative aims to solve a key friction point in AI development: the manual wiring of billing relationships for every service an agent might need. Instead, the new system allows agents to discover and pay for resources in a single execution loop, per the post. Initially, the service is focused on micropayments facilitated by the x402 protocol, an open standard for stablecoin-based machine-to-machine payments, according to the post. The system includes built-in governance and security controls, the post said. Developers can set spending limits per session, and agents require explicit user authorization before accessing funded wallets. Coinbase Head of Infrastructure Growth and Strategy Brian Foster said in the post that AI agents will soon transact more frequently than humans, requiring money that is "programmable, always on and global." Early adopters include Warner Bros. Discovery, which is exploring the technology to surface and transact on premium content like live sports, and Heurist AI, which uses it for financial research agents, according to the post. While currently limited to micropayments for data and APIs, AWS plans to expand into broader commerce, such as agents booking flights or hotel reservations on behalf of users, the post said. The preview is currently available in Northern Virginia, Oregon, Frankfurt and Sydney. This AI play is the latest in a larger push by Amazon to integrate the technology in its various verticals. On Tuesday (May 5), the company said it is considering integrating Rufus AI into its main search bar. Last month, Amazon released a report detailing how its in-house AI tools helped its sellers improve their revenue.