Swift Payment Settlements Are Just Where Stablecoins Will Start

By Jurica Dujmovic

In crypto circles, stablecoins are usually discussed like a payment app upgrade:

• Faster settlement than banks.

• Cheaper cross-border transfers than SWIFT.

• A handy on-ramp to DeFi.

All that is true. But these points are the warm-up act, not the headliner.

The real story is this: The first mass adoption of stablecoins might come from economic actors who aren't human at all.

And we’re already starting to see it.

Your AI Just Booked a GPU Cluster

Let's start with a scenario that feels futuristic … but is happening right now.

You've got an AI agent running. And it could be anything — a custom trading bot, a generative design model or even an analytics system for your portfolio.

Related story: AI’s Plateau Is Just a Launching Pad for Next-Gen AI Agents 

Then, one day, it needs to run a heavy simulation that your local hardware can't handle.

So, it does what any smart algorithm would do: It logs into a decentralized compute marketplace, finds the cheapest GPU cluster that meets its specs, rents it for 12 minutes.

Here’s the key: It pays for that GPU cluster rental in stablecoins the moment the task is done.

No invoices. No net-30 payment terms. No wire transfers to a bank on another continent.

Just algorithmic money for algorithmic work, settled in seconds.

This isn't hypothetical. Decentralized GPU markets like Render (RENDER, “B-”) and Akash (AKT, “D”) already let humans rent compute on demand.

The logical next step?

Let AI agents handle the entire process autonomously. That includes payment.

Why Stablecoins Are Built for This

Crypto investors already understand stablecoins as "digital dollars on a blockchain."

But in the AI-to-AI economy, they aren't just a convenience: They're a fundamental necessity thanks to several key benefits.

Always On

A GPU cluster in Singapore finishes a job at what is 3:17 a.m. local time in New York. The AI agent can pay instantly, no banking hours required.

While traditional payment rails are dreaming of processing times measured in business days, stablecoins are already living in the 24/7 economy that machines naturally inhabit.

Programmable by Default

Smart contracts allow conditional logic that would make a traditional bank's compliance team break into a cold sweat: "Pay the provider if 100% of frames render without error; otherwise, release only 70% of the payment."

This goes beyond automation. It's programmable trust.

Micro- and Nano-Payments

A compute task might cost $0.0043 per second of GPU time. Traditional payment systems would laugh you out of the building at that rate.

Stablecoins can handle these fractional amounts without breaking a sweat, no credit card minimums or wire fees in sight.

Global Interoperability

A single USD Coin (USDC, Stablecoin) contract works identically whether the provider is in Seoul, São Paulo or San Francisco. No currency conversion headaches, no correspondent banking relationships to navigate.

For AI agents operating across borders, this isn't just convenient — it's liberating.

The Broader AI-to-AI Use Cases

The GPU rental example is just one data point on a rapidly expanding map. Once you have autonomous economic agents equipped with wallets, the surface area for stablecoin transactions grows exponentially to potentially include …

• IoT Device Payments: An AI-controlled drone pays a local air-traffic API for clearance data before crossing restricted airspace — all while maintaining flight path efficiency.

• Streaming Data Marketplaces: AI trading systems stream live market data, paying per millisecond of information only when markets are open, automatically scaling costs with volatility.

• Peer-to-Peer Energy Trading: Industrial AI systems purchase surplus electricity from neighboring solar arrays, settling in real-time stablecoin payments that adjust to grid demand patterns.

• Dynamic API Access: AI agents bid for priority access to premium APIs during peak demand, with smart contracts automatically adjusting payment based on response times and data quality.

The common denominator across all these scenarios is the need for instant, programmable, fractional and borderless value transfer.

And that’s exactly what stablecoins are already delivering today.

Why This Matters for Investors

Here's the surprise for a crypto-savvy audience: The first stablecoin supercycle might not be driven by retail users replacing Visa (V) as a payment processor …

But by non-human demand that dwarfs traditional payment volumes.

Think about it: Machines don't argue about gas fees on Twitter. They don't panic-sell during bear markets or FOMO into meme coins. They simply calculate the most efficient payment rail available and execute — repeatedly, reliably and at scale.

If USDC on the Solana (SOL, “B”) network offers the best speed-to-cost ratio for their specific use case, they'll use it every single time.

No emotions, no brand loyalty. Just cold algorithmic efficiency.

This opens two distinct investment angles:

Stablecoin Infrastructure Plays: This is your picks-and-shovels approach. It includes stablecoin issuers — like Circle, Tether and Paxos — custody solutions, compliance frameworks and cross-chain settlement protocols.

These companies will benefit from increased transaction volume regardless of which specific stablecoin wins.

AI-Crypto Convergence Bets: This strategy targets direct exposure through decentralized compute networks like Render, Akash, AI data marketplaces such as Ocean Protocol (OCEAN, “D”) and autonomous agent frameworks, like Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET, “C-”).

These platforms are building the infrastructure that enables AI-to-AI commerce.

And the smart money? It’s not just betting on stablecoins or AI separately. It’s positioning itself at what is promising to be their explosive intersection.

Best,

Jurica Dujmovic

P.S. On-chain, AI is doing amazing things. But what about off-chain?

Well, our founder, Dr. Martin Weiss, just revealed one earlier this week.

It’s an AI-powered stock system that Martin calls “the crowning achievement” of his 54-year career.

That’s because after a decade of back testing and live testing, we’ve found that it beats the S&P 500 by 94-to-1 in ANY market.

You can watch Martin’s full presentation and learn more about this off-chain AI opportunity here.