Over the past year, we discussed the AI agentic age a great deal. It is getting easier to see how this is taking shape, whereby the Internet is dominated by agents, performing an assortment of tasks on behalf of humans.
This is leading to the evolution of the Dead Internet Theory. While many view this as a negative, we can frame this within the context of agents as a positive. For the moment, they are in the embryotic state. The utility of agents is still limited.
That will not be the case in a few years. We will see a time when agents are operating on our behalf, 24/7.
Before we reach the state of widespread commercial activity, we are seeing that produced in the financial arena. This is no surprise since trading bots are decades old. Naturally, they became more prevalent over the last 10-15 years as technology advanced.
My view is that steblecoins will be the medium of exchange for Ai agents. These are going to be tied to digital wallets, programmed to utilize some of the largest stablecoins we see.
Automated trading bots are something many understand. It is monitored by industry watchdogs, hoping to conclude what the market impact is. Of course, for those who are worried about the viability of the system, they are constantly looking for red herrings.
Recent analysis is drawing some conclusions as to where things stand for the moment.
On Wednesday, CEX.io’s market research analyst Illya Otychenko dubbed the third quarter of 2025 the “most active period” for stablecoins. During the quarter, the value of stablecoin transfers reached $15.6 trillion, its strongest quarter yet.
This is an annualized rate of more than $60 trillion. If this were commercial activity, it would be a very impressive figure. Obviously, trading bots make up a large percentage of what is taking place.
Organic non-bot activity accounted for about 20%, while the remaining 9% is attributed to internal smart contract transactions and intra-exchange operations.
Simple math means that 71% of all stablecoin activity is related to trading bots. This is exclusively a financial phenomenon.
Will it change in the future?
One of the keys is the evolution of smart contracts. This will be centerpiece in the agentic age.
Smart contracts allow for the programing of the agents. It adds the monetary component to commercial activity.
For example, an agent can place an order for something, such as booking a hotel room. This is something that is nothing more than age old coding. The challenge enters when shifting this from a technical activity to a commercial one.
To achieve that, money must be involved.
Here is where a smart contract, tied to a network such as Ethereum, enters. With the digital wallet, the agent has the ability to pay for the hotel room. Hence, we have a commercial activity between two parties. The difference is neither are human.
Financial trading bots are the model. In the future, we will have commercial agents, operating on our behalf. Stablecoin usage will explode as the percentage of transactions of this nature explode.
Of course, one of the drivers will be the expansion of micropayments. Thus far, due to the costs of the existing banking system, these are not feasible. With crypto, it is possible.
A lot of innovation will occur over the next few years. It is important to see how the transition to automation is occurring.
The foundation is being laid before us.
