I've been building in the agent payments space and I'm curious what this community thinks.
Right now there are two camps:
Crypto/stablecoin camp (x402, Skyfire, etc.) where agents pay with USDC via new protocols. Problem is virtually zero merchants accept it today. You're betting on adoption that hasn't happened.
Card rails camp where agents get virtual Visa/Mastercard numbers and pay at existing merchants. Problem is traditional card infrastructure wasn't designed for programmatic autonomous spending.
The crypto side has gotten most of the attention but I keep coming back to a simple fact: VISA has like half a decade of infrastructure... Trust, reconciliation, etc...
Are card rails a temporary bridge until crypto merchant adoption catches up? Or is the existing payments network the obvious path because merchants will never voluntarily re-platform?
Right now there are two camps:
Crypto/stablecoin camp (x402, Skyfire, etc.) where agents pay with USDC via new protocols. Problem is virtually zero merchants accept it today. You're betting on adoption that hasn't happened. Card rails camp where agents get virtual Visa/Mastercard numbers and pay at existing merchants. Problem is traditional card infrastructure wasn't designed for programmatic autonomous spending.
The crypto side has gotten most of the attention but I keep coming back to a simple fact: VISA has like half a decade of infrastructure... Trust, reconciliation, etc...
Are card rails a temporary bridge until crypto merchant adoption catches up? Or is the existing payments network the obvious path because merchants will never voluntarily re-platform?