Amazon Web Services (AWS) on Thursday launched a new payments infrastructure for AI agents built in partnership with Coinbase and Stripe.
AWS explained that autonomous software brokers will be able to purchase APIs, web content, MCP servers, and other online services in real time using stablecoins. However, he added that future versions would eventually support larger purchases, such as hotel reservations, travel reservations and merchant payments.
“Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Payments” is designed for AWS, which is described as the emerging “agent economy,” where AI agents independently perform transactions within a single execution cycle.
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 relies on Coinbase’s x402, the native HTTP payment protocol to power agent-to-agent transactions with stablecoins, while Stripe’s Privy wallet is used as a payment connection.
“There will soon be more AI agents transacting than humans, and they need money built for the Internet: programmable, always-on, and global,” said Brian Foster, head of infrastructure growth at Coinbase.
Foster’s words 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 carried out by AI agents.
Stripe said this launch is part of a broader push to build financial infrastructure for AI autonomous commerce. “For agents to become meaningful economic players, they need a way to hold and spend money,” said Henri Stern, CEO of Privy, a Stripe company.
AWS added that the platform is protocol agnostic, although x402 is the first standard supported at launch. The broader goal is to create infrastructure for autonomous software agents capable of completing business transactions on behalf of users.
Warner Bros. Discovery, which is already testing Amazon’s Bedrock AgentCore, said it sees potential for agent-driven transactions involving premium content, including live sports and major entertainment releases.
