Article author, source: Evan Lu, Waterdrip Capital; Leo, AISA

Introduction

In the past century, the basic unit of economic activity has always been humans. Whether it is production, transaction, payment or financial services, it revolves around people's needs. However, the rise of AI technology is reshaping this pattern, allowing machines to gradually evolve from passive tools to "active economic entities" - AI Agent.

In addition, on the occasion of the 2025 New Year; Tether announced the integration of USDT into the BTC ecosystem, covering its base layer and the Lightning Network. Behind all kinds of trends, a change is quietly brewing: the payment infrastructure driven by AI Agent is pushing the crypto industry into a new wave of innovation with a breakthrough. From the consensus layer of BTC to the execution layer of smart contracts, and to the AI-driven application layer today, the encryption industry is likely to usher in paradigm innovation of AI + Pay Fi + BTC Infra, and force Web2 to innovate itself to Web3 - the future of large-scale adoption is becoming a reality step by step.

1. Stablecoins: The cornerstone of a new era of global payments - a decade-long evolution from the cross-border revolution to mainstream currencies

The programmability of stablecoins, cross-border practicality and increasingly clear regulatory framework are expected to become the standard settlement currency for global payments. As Trump is elected as the US president of this term, the United States will gradually provide regulatory clarity for cryptocurrencies, and the application scenarios of stablecoins will gradually expand. We can even estimate the beautiful vision of a stablecoin payment in the next 10 years:

Short-term (1–3 years): Stablecoins will dominate cross-border remittances, providing faster and cheaper alternatives than SWIFT. Cryptocurrency-related debit/credit cards (such as Visa/MasterCard) will simplify consumption and build a bridge between on-chain wealth and real-world transactions.

Medium term (3–7 years): Businesses will increasingly adopt stablecoin payments due to their low fees, instant settlement and programmability. The company will be able to seamlessly convert between cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies, providing customers with dual-track payment options.

Long-term (7 years and above): Stablecoins will become the mainstream legal currency and are widely accepted for payment and even tax payment, completely subverting traditional financial infrastructure.

In addition to the convenience of payment, stablecoins still have a pretty positive role in other areas: for example, it provides entrepreneurs with a more accessible platform to develop new payment products: no middlemen, minimum balances, or proprietary SDKs. In addition, according to rough estimates, if medium and large enterprises can use stablecoin solutions in transactions, their corporate profits can increase by 2%. In addition, Russia and other countries that are subject to the United States have tried to use stablecoins to trade between countries to bypassUS dollar settlement system. More and more cases show that stablecoins are gradually approaching the best position of their own market fit. This is not surprising – they are undoubtedly the most economical way to settle in US dollars and the fastest global payments.

2.Next Level: AI Agents will be the new user experience layer for future apps

Now, we no longer rely solely on AI to perform a single task, such as image recognition, voice synthesis or autonomous driving. Instead, we are entering an "age where AI Agents become independent market participants." This change is not limited to AI-driven financial transactions and intelligent supply chain management, but also involves generative AI (AIGC) serving content creators, developers and businesses. Further, AI agents can even "negotiate, trade, settle, and optimize their own resource utilization."

At the end of last year, we have seen AI Agents redefine the application scenario of DApps. The pioneer of this trend is @truth_terminal, an AI Agent that can promote its tokens $Goat on its own; followed by AI Agents such as Luna and AIxbt, which can use tokens to independently trade, generate content, and even manage their own crypto wallets and assets. The evolution of this ability has spawned innovations in narratives in the field of crypto, such as Virtual Protocol, a protocol similar to Pump.fun, but its "Pump" object is no longer a simple token, but a variety of AI Agents.

AI Agents' ever-evolving capabilities, coupled with an out-of-the-box distribution platform, have opened up a billion-level market opportunity for the concept of AI Agent + Crypto. AI is becoming an active participant in the on-chain ecosystem, promoting blockchain applications to move from instrumentalization to ecologicalization.

Top 10 AI Agent Market Cap Ranking on Virtual Protocol, as of February 11, 2025, data source: https://app.virtuals.io/sentients?sortBy=mcapInVirtual&sortOrder=desc&page=1

In the future, AI will become the user experience layer of blockchain technology, connecting the application layer and blockchain infrastructure, and play a role upward and downward role in the technology stack at the same time. To give an example that best understands by encrypted users, AI actively recommends and performs on-chain DeFi operations based on user intentions and preferences (such as security, rate of return, etc.) and combined with real-time information from the forecast market.do. Users do not need to understand the difference between L1 and L2, or even know how cross-chain bridges work. Broaden to daily life and imagine a scenario where an AI personal financial assistant can manage your tax, insurance and rental income and expenditure independently, dynamically optimize your portfolio, and even automatically execute transactions based on market changes. Of course, while giving AI economic autonomy, security issues cannot be ignored. To this end, a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) becomes its critical infrastructure—it ensures that the behavior of AI Agents fully follows preset logic and is not manipulated by external control by isolating the computing environment. For example, an AI Agent running in TEE can attract users and earn income by generating content, and can also guarantee absolute control of its asset keys through encryption technology. Going further, AI can operate Depin nodes or verify data to become the core executor of its distributed system.

The workflow and application scenarios of these AI Agents are outlining a new "machine economy" picture: gamers to Depin managers, from content creators to financial strategists, AI Agents will become the core driving force of the on-chain ecosystem.

3. Dilemma of the existing payment system: the invisible shackles of the AI ​​economy

In the future, the AI ​​Agent will partially replace humans, become an independent participant in the market, and form an important force. However, this revolution in the machine economy is not without its challenges. One of the most core issues is "payment". The implementation of the AI ​​revolution is inseparable from an efficient, secure and decentralized payment network built using blockchain technology, providing AI Agent with seamless economic interaction capabilities.

3.1 Economic Imbalance of Micropayment

Imagine a scenario where an AI agent is running a high-frequency trading strategy that requires 1,000 transactions per second, with a transaction amount of only US$0.0001. If you use traditional payment networks (such as Visa, PayPal), you will need to pay at least $0.30 for each transaction, which means that you will have to pay a 3,000-fold handling fee for every $0.0001 for the AI ​​agent. This ridiculous cost structure directly leads to the failure of the AI ​​economy to run on existing payment systems.

3.2 Fatal flaws in settlement speed

For AI agents, transactions are not accidental events, but continuous flow processes. However, the settlement method of traditional payment networks is extremely lagging:

· Credit card payment: It usually takes 1-3 days to complete the settlement.

· SWIFT International Transfer: It may take 2-5 days.

· Cryptocurrency payments (such as Bitcoin main chain transactions): On average, it takes 10 minutes or even longer.

AI economy requires millisecond settlement, but the existing payment system is obviouslyUnsatisfied.

3.3 Limitations of centralized architecture

AI agents are global in nature and they are not limited by geographical boundaries. However, the traditional payment system is deeply trapped in issues such as bank accounts, fiat currency compliance, and regional payment rules.

· Bank Account Reliance: Most payment systems (such as Visa, PayPal) require the transaction party to have a bank account, and AI agents cannot open a bank account like humans.

· Centralized control: The existing payment system relies on a few financial institutions for approval, and transactions by AI agents may be rejected at any time due to regulatory or compliance issues.

· International Payment Barriers: AI agents’ cross-border transactions will encounter cumbersome compliance requirements, which increase operating costs and complexity.

If the AI ​​economy must rely on existing payment systems, it will be bound by artificially set restrictions and cannot truly unleash its potential.

3.4 Five core requirements of the AI ​​economic payment system

Considering the possible operational characteristics and usage scenarios of the above AI Agent, the payment system that serves AI in the future must have the following five core capabilities:

· Micro-payment capability: Transactions of AI agents often involve extremely small amounts (such as the $0.0001 level), and the handling fee must be ensured to be extremely low, or even close to zero.

· Millisecond transaction settlement: AI transactions occur within a sub-second time scale, and the payment system must be able to settle in real time, rather than waiting for minutes or even days.

· Decentralization and anti-censorship: AI agents need independent transactions and cannot rely on centralized financial institutions.

· Global availability: AI agents are not bounded by boundaries, and the payment system must support cross-border transactions to avoid bank account dependence.

· Intelligent payment protocol: The payment system must be able to interact seamlessly with AI agents, and supports functions such as automatic settlement, intelligent transaction routing, and liquidity optimization.

4. Hopes and limitations of blockchain payment

In the past few years, the rise of blockchain technology has brought a glimmer of hope to the AI ​​economy. The decentralization of blockchain, smart contracts and license-free transactions make it an alternative to traditional payment systems. However, mainstream blockchains still face the following problems:

4.1 High cost of ETH network payment

ETH (Ethereum) is the most important infrastructure of DeFi (decentralized finance), but its high transaction costs make it difficult for the AI ​​economy to adopt. In the case of network congestion, a simple USDT transaction may require a Gas fee of $10-$50, with limited transaction throughput and slow processing speed, making it difficult to support the high-frequency trading needs of AI agents.

4.2 The speed and centralization of other high-performance public chains

At present, a large number of high-performance public chains have emerged in the crypto ecosystem, and these public chains do provide faster transaction processingbut it is often highly centralized and has safety hazards. In the past few years, some high-performance public chains have experienced multiple downtimes, affecting transaction stability. In addition, most public chains rely only on a few verification nodes, which is highly likely to affect the decentralized properties of the payment system.

4.3 Scalability bottleneck of BTC main network

BTC is the world's most secure and decentralized blockchain, and its security is unmatched, but its payment capacity is limited. The transaction throughput of the BTC main network is extremely low (only 7 transactions/second). When encountering large transaction volume requests, its gas fees soar, causing transaction fees to fluctuate greatly and are not suitable for small payments by AI agents.

So, although blockchain technology provides a possible solution, existing public chains alone cannot fully meet the payment needs of the AI ​​economy.

4.4 Lightning Network - a new stage for stablecoin payment

Lightning Network, as BTC's first layer two-layer expansion solution, not only relies on the security of the BTC network (with 57,000+ nodes and PoW mechanism), but also realizes instant, low-cost and unlimited expansion of transaction capabilities through two-way payment channels. This technical path is highly adaptable to small-value and high-frequency payment scenarios, but also conforms to the ideals of fundamentalist crypto enthusiasts—all transactions are conducted based on the BTC network. At present, Lightning Network has 15,000+ nodes and 50,000+ channels, showing strong ecological potential.

However, the Lightning Network is not perfect. Before the emergence of the Taproot Assets protocol, Lightning Network only supported BTC as a payment currency, and the application scenarios were extremely limited. Today, when BTC has become "digital gold", most people are not willing to spend their BTC easily. At this time, the importance of stablecoins is self-evident: Throughout history, only currencies with stable value can be widely accepted and used in daily payment scenarios. For the technical principles of Lightning Network and the TA protocol, please refer to this article: Taproot Assets: The next growth point of the stablecoin track surpasses the trillion-dollar market value.

The USDT issued by Tether is undoubtedly the dominant stablecoin in the crypto world. As of today's data, USDC's total issuance is US$56.3 billion, while USDT's total issuance is above US$140 billion, which is as much as twice the USDC, which has two major issuances. This time Tether integrates USDT into the Lightning Network, which is of great significance. This behavior marks a recognition in the eyes of users - after all, USDT is a real asset, and its minting means Tether's recognition of the security and ease of use of public chains. More importantly, the real on-chain users and handling fee income brought by USDT is also a resource that all public chains dream of. This also marks that after years of construction, the Lightning Network has really made itThe era of opportunities to display has arrived.

5. Everything is ready, just waiting for the east wind to come. The explosive growth of AI Agent is giving birth to a machine economy picture of a trillion-level market, but it is obvious that traditional payment networks (high cost, low speed) and existing blockchain solutions are difficult to support their needs. It seems that the incident of USDT being integrated into the Lightning Network seems to provide the industry with a key puzzle - a nearly zero-cost, censorship-resistant payment channel, superimposed on the liquidity of stablecoins, perfectly adapted to the micro-payment and real-time transaction scenarios of AI agents.

As a result, AISA was born according to the situation. It is not only a simple superposition of the technology stack, but also a "financial operating system" tailored for the AI ​​economy, allowing the AI ​​economy to truly break free from the shackles of payment and move towards the future of independent interaction. The AI ​​economy of the future does not need to wait - payment is efficiency, transaction is intelligence.

6.AISA: The ultimate fusion of Lightning Network, Stablecoins and AI Agent - Reconstructing AI Economic Payment Base 6.1 The four-layer technical architecture of AISA

The architecture of AIsa can be divided into four core levels, which work together to enable AI agents to make payments freely and efficiently.

a. Settlement Layer

The underlying network based on: BTC network (L1) + Lightning Network (L2). The core advantages of its settlement layer are:

Security: Relying on Bitcoin's PoW mechanism and decentralized network (57,000+ nodes around the world).

Efficiency: millisecond transaction confirmation, handling fees approach zero, completely solving the pain points of AI high-frequency micro payments

b. Payment Layer

Multi-chain support: compatible with public chains such as Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon. AI agents can freely choose the optimal chain.

Stablecoin integration: AISA's own aiUSD (native stablecoin) is circulated on the Lightning Network as payment currency through the Taproot Assets protocol.

c. Programmable Layer

AI Native Protocol (AIP): Gives AI agents independent decision-making capabilities.

Dynamic routing: analyze transaction fees and network congestion in real time, and automatically switch payment paths (such as Lightning Network → Solana).

Automated micropayment: On-demand settlement (such as paying $0.0001 per API call), without manual intervention.

Liquidity Management: AI agents can dynamically allocate funds to liquidity pools to optimize payment efficiency.

d. Governance Layer

DAO mechanism: jointly governed by token LPT holdersDecide on the agreement upgrade, distribution of handling fees, etc.

Incentive mechanism: Liquidity providers pledge LPT to obtain income (transaction fee sharing). Some of the handling fees are destroyed by tokens, driving the deflation model.

6.2 How does AISA redefine AI economic payments?

AISA is not a simple extension of traditional blockchain payments, but a revolutionary infrastructure designed specifically for the AI ​​economy. By integrating the decentralized efficiency of the Bitcoin Lightning Network, the liquidity guarantee of stablecoins and the intelligent decision-making capabilities of AI native protocols, AISA has built a nearly zero-cost, millisecond-level response payment network, completely breaking through the high-cost and inefficiency bottlenecks of traditional systems. Here, the AI ​​agent can independently complete micro-payments (for example, only $0.0001 is required for each API call), settle the contribution rewards of DePIN nodes in real time, and even dynamically optimize the cross-chain transaction path without human intervention.

From cross-border enterprise payments (replace SWIFT to save costs) to high-frequency transactions in automated financial strategies, AISA's adaptability is driving the rise of the machine economy - in the future, AI agents may independently manage taxes and investments to form an independent economic closed loop. Through multi-chain compatibility and DAO governance, AISA not only solves the fragmentation problem of the existing payment ecosystem, but also sets new standards for human-computer collaboration in the decentralized era with the attitude of a "financial operating system". When stablecoins become mainstream settlement tools and Lightning Network connects global value flow, AISA's vision is to allow the machine economy to grow freely in a frictionless intelligent network.

7. Conclusion

When AI agents independently complete transactions, investments and even pay taxes on the chain, payment is no longer a tool, but a blood circulation system of the machine economy. Lightning network provides blood vessels, stablecoins act as blood, and AI agents become the heart - this silent revolution illuminates the future payment ecosystem like lightning. Future payments do not belong to a certain institution or , but to each node that operates independently and participates in co-construction. Here, code is law, efficiency is justice, and real innovation has just begun.