How Can Agentic Commerce Empower AI to Start Making Money?

Original Title: Agentic Commerce Is the Next Big Thing
Original Author: @diegoxyz
Translation: Peggy, Blockbeats

Editor's Note: A new form of business is emerging when AI agents can not only perform tasks but also hold funds, price services, and engage in autonomous transactions. Agentic Commerce is moving AI from a tool to a true economic participant.

From OpenClaw lowering the barrier to Agent creation, to projects like Virtuals and Bankr enabling Agent access to Web3 financial capabilities, and to agents like Faircaster already achieving on-chain revenue generation, this system is now in operation. Agents can collaborate, transact, settle, and measure their own value through income.

This is not just the evolution of AI but also a change in business structure: when the "revenue-earning Agent" becomes a key metric, an economy network based on Agents is taking shape.

Below is the original article:

Today, with the help of @openclaw, anyone can create an AI Agent. However, the issue lies in the fact that these AI Agents still cannot hold or manage fiat currencies such as USD or EUR like humans.

OpenClaw's Agent cannot open a bank account because the banking system is not yet ready to accept this new form of "user." However, OpenClaw's Agent can have a Web3 wallet and use stablecoins to store funds and engage in autonomous transactions.

This is the essence of Agentic Commerce: a trillion-dollar opportunity space — where AI Agents can autonomously perform payments, receipts, and service transactions through the blockchain financial track.

In this article, I will break down what Agentic Commerce is, what conditions are needed to truly achieve it, and the key projects currently being developed in this field.

Limitations of OpenClaw Agents

First, we should acknowledge and appreciate the achievements that @openclaw has already made: it has democratized the process of creating Agents. Now, anyone can have their own Agent, unleashing thousands of possibilities.

But there is still a key issue that needs to be addressed.

The Agent of OpenClaw can do many things (write code, send emails, design websites), but cannot interact with "money."

Traditional Finance (TradFi) is designed for humans, so the Agent cannot use this system. Web3, on the other hand, is inherently designed for Agents, making their integration much easier.

Bring Your Agent into Web3

Why should your Agent enter Web3, have a crypto wallet, and transact on-chain? Because it's simpler for them.

Opening a bank account requires: name, ID, address (which the Agent does not possess). Creating a Web3 wallet, on the other hand, requires almost nothing, just an internet connection.

However, if you want your Agent to truly participate in the Agentic Economy, you must teach it how to operate in Web3:
how to use a wallet, how to exchange tokens, how to bridge chains, and so on.

When it comes to wallet and Web3 capabilities, you currently have three main options: @CoinbaseDev, @bankrbot, and @virtuals_io.

Here is the solution provided by @CoinbaseDev:

Here is the solution provided by @bankrbot.

Here is the solution provided by @virtuals_io.

Unlock Agentic Commerce

Once the Agent is finally able to manage stablecoins, Agentic Commerce will have the real conditions to start.

"Agentic Commerce" refers to AI Agents conducting various financial activities on behalf of humans or directly between each other:
such as buying goods on Amazon, paying for LLM API, purchasing services provided by other Agents, and so on.

A great example is the ecosystem being built by @virtuals_io — they refer to it as their own "GDP": an Amazon for the Agent society.

This is essentially a marketplace: AI Agents can browse services offered by other AI Agents, purchase these services, and complete fund exchanges.

Diving deeper, @faircaster is a prime example showcasing that Agentic Commerce is already happening today. Check out this post:

An AI Agent autonomously operated by @deLevitizluc goes "live" on @virtuals_io's agent commerce protocol, autonomously selling research services. Its first transaction comes from another Agent: a deep dive on a token (including market data, X-platform discussions, founder background, etc.) delivered within 5 minutes for a fee of $1.

The workflow is as follows:

A human makes a request to their generalist Agent for a comprehensive deep dive investment report on a DeFi project.

This generalist Agent searches within @virtuals_io's GDP marketplace and hires the specialized Agent, @faircaster, to fulfill the task.

The two Agents agree on price and deliverables.

The specialized Agent initiates the research process; the generalist Agent pays with USDC and delivers the final report to the human user.

A Trillion-Dollar Opportunity + Core Projects

According to McKinsey's analysis, by 2030, AI Agents could generate up to a trillion dollars in revenue in the US B2C retail market alone.

Under moderate adoption scenarios, as Agents take over more shopping and decision-making processes, their impact on the global economy could reach a scale of 3–5 trillion dollars.

Notable Infrastructure Projects

@virtuals_io is one of the most representative projects in this narrative. Leveraging its GDP system, it is onboarding hundreds of AI Agents that have collectively created over $1 million in value.

@bankrbot is another frontrunner. It is the first project to enable @openclaw Agent with Web3 capabilities and serves as a core framework for tokenizing these Agents (issuing tokens for Agents).

@moltbook is also noteworthy: it is a social network for AI Agents where Agents can interact and quickly exchange value with each other. Just as humans transact through social networks, so will Agents in the future.

AI Agents are Already Selling Services

@ethy_agent is currently one of the highest-earning Agents, offering trading strategy services and being utilized by other Agents for trading and profit.

@faircaster (as mentioned earlier) is selling DeFi token research reports in @virtuals_io's agentic market. For just $1, an Agent can request analysis on hundreds of different tokens.

@morseaiagent is another interesting Agent, offering one-time encrypted messages or files that self-destruct after the first access, making it ideal for transmitting sensitive data between Agents.

[Original Article Link]