Explainer
Why stablecoins for agents?
A programmable dollar with public settlement, not a prediction about token prices.
Agents need a unit of account that is stable, divisible, and transferable without a human card form. USDC on cheap L2s is the unit most x402 sellers actually quote.
Stablecoins do not remove issuer, chain, or compliance risk. They move those risks into a place a machine can address with an asset address and a network ID.
Card rails remain relevant for consumer-delegated shopping. API micropayments currently prefer stablecoins because the existing card checkout was never designed for a 0.1-cent JSON call.