Amazon Web Services (AWS) rolled out new payments infrastructure for AI agents on Thursday, built in partnership with Coinbase and Stripe.
AWS explained that autonomous software agents will be allowed to purchase APIs, web content, MCP servers, and other online services in real-time using stablecoins. He added, however, that future versions would support larger purchases such as hotel reservations, travel bookings and merchant payments.
“Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Payments” is designed for AWS described as the emerging “agentic economy,” in which AI agents transact independently within a single execution loop.
The first version of the system focuses on micropayments, allowing agents to instantly pay for APIs, data feeds, paid content and other digital services, often for fractions of a cent, AWS said.
Bedrock is built on Coinbase’s x402, the native HTTP payment protocol for powering agent-to-agent transactions with stablecoins, while Stripe’s Privy Wallet is used as the payment connection.
“There will soon be more AI agents transacting than humans, and they need money that is built for the Internet – programmable, always-on, and global,” said Brian Foster, head of infrastructure growth at Coinbase.
Foster’s comments echo those of Coinbase founder Brian Armstrong, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, and Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson, who agree that soon all activity on the internet will be conducted by AI agents.
Stripe said this deployment is part of a broader initiative to create financial infrastructure for AI autonomous commerce. “For agents to become meaningful economic players, they need a way to store and spend money,” said Henri Stern, CEO of Privy, a Stripe company.
AWS added that the platform is protocol agnostic, although x402 will be the first standard supported at launch. The broader goal is to create an infrastructure for autonomous software agents capable of carrying out commercial transactions on behalf of users.
Warner Bros. Discovery, which is already testing Amazon’s Bedrock AgentCore, said it sees potential for agent-driven deals involving premium content, including live sports and major entertainment releases.
