[Financial Microscope] Card Network Order Shaken... How AI and Stablecoins Are Transforming the Payment Ecosystem

The Era of Single-Rail Card Payments Nears Its End

Payment Industry Moves to Build Future Payment Infrastructure

Stablecoins Emerge as Key Players in the Expansion of AI Commerce

Domestic payment companies, including Kakao Pay and NHN KCP, are entering the race to claim leadership in the AI agent-based payment market. As an agentic commerce environment—where AI performs tasks from product search to settlement on behalf of humans—becomes a reality, companies are moving to establish next-generation blockchain-based payment infrastructure. While traditional card-centric payment networks are optimized for human clicks and approval processes, there is a growing possibility that, in the future, AI will use stablecoins and similar technologies to carry out payment and settlement on behalf of users.

Big Tech and Payment Gateway Firms Prepare for the AI Agent Era

According to the financial sector on May 20, Kakao Pay became the only Korean company to join the 'x402 Foundation,' launched last month by the Linux Foundation, as a founding member. x402 is a next-generation web payment protocol led by Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States. In x402-based payments, when a web service signals that a payment is required, an AI agent immediately makes the payment using stablecoins or other means. With this participation, Kakao Pay plans to contribute to building the world’s largest agentic AI payment infrastructure. In addition, regarding stablecoins, Shin Won-keun, CEO of Kakao Pay, stated during the Q1 earnings announcement on May 6, "We will ensure that stablecoins become a core payment method in the AI ecosystem," and added, "We are preparing services to create the optimal stablecoin infrastructure and allow 40 million Kakao Pay wallet users to store stablecoins, enabling them to freely send, receive, pay, or invest in daily life."

Comprehensive payment company NHN KCP is also accelerating efforts to adapt to an AI agent-based payment environment, such as introducing the MCP (Model Context Protocol), which enables AI models to interface with external systems in a standardized way. Previously, developers had to check API documents and write payment code themselves, but going forward, AI will be able to perform payment integration simply through natural language commands.

NHN KCP is also collaborating with Ava Labs, the developer of the blockchain platform Avalanche, to build a payment-specialized mainnet. By combining ultra-fast payment approval with on-chain encryption technology, the company is expanding into stablecoin-based settlement and cross-border B2B payments.

The industry is paying close attention to the potential for AI agents to fundamentally change the structure of traditional e-commerce. Until now, payments have been actions performed directly by humans: consumers search for and compare products, select payment methods, and press the final approval button. In an AI agent environment, however, software automatically carries out these processes within the user’s instructions and authorization scope.

Stablecoins Emerge as Core Infrastructure for AI Payments

As AI-based payment environments become more widespread, stablecoins are expected to serve as core infrastructure. In the traditional card network, approval and actual fund transfer are separated, so even after a consumer completes payment, the actual settlement occurs later via the card company or bank. In contrast, with blockchain-based payments, token transfers directly represent the transfer of value, reducing the gap between approval and settlement.

Especially in AI agent payments, where ultra-small, cross-border transactions can take place around the clock, stablecoin infrastructure is seen as more suitable than conventional card networks. Kim Yumin, Senior Researcher at Shinhan Securities, remarked, "The payment industry is shifting from a 'single rail' card-centric structure to a system where multiple rails—such as stablecoins—coexist," adding, "While all transactions used to be processed via card networks, now various alternative payment routes are emerging." He further explained, "Stablecoins are attracting attention because they can reduce or integrate the separation between approval and settlement. They are much more suitable than existing methods for programmable and ultra-micro payments."

The global settlement market is expected to be the first area where stablecoin payments become widespread. Currently, international remittances require passing through the remitting bank, intermediary banks, and recipient banks, incurring significant time and costs. However, by using stablecoins, it becomes possible to transfer digital dollars first and then exchange them for local legal tender at the destination. In fact, Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, has been expanding real-time settlement systems between financial institutions by building the Circle Payments Network (CPN), a global settlement network.

However, some point out that stablecoins are unlikely to immediately replace offline card payments. In Korea, regulatory, taxation, and merchant acceptance issues remain, and card payment systems already offer a high degree of speed and convenience. Therefore, in the initial stages of stablecoin adoption, the prevailing industry view is that consumers will continue to use cards or simple payment methods as before, but the settlement structures of platforms and payment companies will gradually shift to a stablecoin-based system.

An industry official commented, "In the past, online payment involved people clicking buttons on web pages, but in the future, various services and software are likely to exchange signals and complete payments in real time. Stablecoins should be seen as new infrastructure for fund movement in the AI agent era, rather than just a simple payment method."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.