Ripple said Wednesday it has launched a toolkit for developers who want to build agentic payment applications on the XRP Ledger (XRPL).
"AI agents are no longer a future state," said Ripple. "They're already paying for compute, settling invoices, navigating policy constraints, and completing transactions without a human in the loop."
As the use of AI agents increases, a growing number of companies aim to create payment infrastructure that would allow them to execute financial transactions with limited human involvement. Crypto firms are developing wallets and stablecoin-based payment rails designed to make it easier for AI agents to pay for services or trade assets.
Popular trading app Robinhood recently launched an initiative that will let users experiment with letting AI agents trade equities, with plans to expand to crypto eventually. MetaMask has launched a non-custodial wallet designed for AI agents.
"Most payment rails were designed for people to initiate, approve, and reconcile transactions. Autonomous systems operate differently," Ripple said. "They need infrastructure that can settle transactions quickly, provide predictable outcomes, and operate without manual approval loops."
While many firms have highlighted the potential benefits of agentic payments, they often use words like "autonomous" when describing how AI-powered agents will operate.
This week, IC3, a group of researchers from top universities, pushed back on the idea that artificial intelligence combined with blockchain technology can combine to unleash fully anonymous agents.
"Having access to a wallet enables automation: AI agents can programmatically trade, transact, and access on-chain infrastructure without human approval loops," they said, adding that agents will remain dependent on humans and the infrastructure behind them.
Ripple said the launch of its AI starter kit also includes support for x402-powered payments using XRP and Ripple USD (RLUSD). The x402 protocol is an open, internet-native payment standard built around HTTP.
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