Dollar-denominated stablecoins now settle 99% of all payments made by autonomous AI agents, according to a strategy report from Hashed Open Research published August 12. The finding puts a hard number on what the agent payment stack has implied for months: USDC and USDT dominate the settlement layer for machine-to-machine commerce because the infrastructure was built around them. The report, which focuses on South Korea’s competitive position, argues that a Korean won stablecoin cannot meaningfully participate in the agent economy without purpose-built settlement rails and a digital identity system — and that the window to build them is narrowing as dollar-based agent payment standards consolidate.
The 99% Number and What It Measures
The Hashed Open Research report frames the 99% dollar stablecoin share as a structural outcome rather than a coincidence. Existing agent payment infrastructure — Coinbase’s AgentKit with its x402 implementation, Skyfire’s autonomous payment network, and various MCP-based payment integrations — was designed and deployed using dollar stablecoins as the default settlement asset. USDC on Base and USDT on TRON and Ethereum dominate because the developers building agent payment systems chose those assets first. The report does not break down the remaining 1% by currency or stablecoin, but the implication is clear: non-dollar stablecoins are statistically irrelevant in agent commerce today. This matters because agent payment volume is expected to grow materially as autonomous systems proliferate, and payment currency selection at the protocol layer tends to lock in early.
Korea’s Competitive Gap in the Agent Economy
Hashed’s report, oriented toward Korean policymakers and industry participants, identifies two specific infrastructure deficits that would prevent a won stablecoin from competing. First, there are no dedicated settlement rails optimized for the high-frequency, low-value transactions that characterize agent commerce. Traditional banking rails in Korea are designed for human-paced activity and carry latency and cost profiles incompatible with autonomous machine spending. Second, the report calls for a digital identity verification system that can authenticate agents — not just human users — in a way that satisfies both regulatory requirements and the operational needs of autonomous payment flows. Without these two components, a won stablecoin would exist as a token without a functional payment network, unable to capture agent-driven volume that the report sees accelerating.
Why Dollar Dominance in Agent Payments Is Self-Reinforcing
The 99% figure reflects more than issuer market share. Agent payment stacks are built on specific technical standards — x402 for HTTP-based payment negotiation, MCP for agent context and tool access, and stablecoin settlement on chains like Base — and those standards were designed around dollar-denominated assets. When an AI agent encounters an HTTP 402 payment required response, the pricing metadata and settlement expectations are denominated in USDC. Merchant acceptance, liquidity depth, and developer tooling all compound around the dollar stablecoin default. The Hashed report implicitly acknowledges this: calling for dedicated won settlement rails is an admission that bolting a won stablecoin onto dollar-native agent infrastructure would not work. The network effects are technical, not just psychological, and they operate at the protocol level where agents are hardcoded to expect specific settlement assets.
What to Watch
The Hashed report is positioned as a call to action for Korea, but its data point about dollar dominance has broader implications. If 99% of agent payments already settle in dollar stablecoins, the competitive question for any non-dollar stablecoin — whether won, euro, or otherwise — is whether agent payment infrastructure can support multi-currency settlement at all, or whether the protocol layer has already chosen. Projects building agent payment standards should be pressed on their currency flexibility. Meanwhile, Korean regulators are advancing stablecoin legislation, and the Hashed report is likely to inform how that framework treats agent-specific payment infrastructure. The risk for Korea is clear: building a won stablecoin without agent-ready settlement rails and identity systems means arriving at a market that has already standardized on dollars.
Sources
- https://en.sedaily.com/finance/2026/08/12/dollar-stablecoins-dominate-99-percent-of-ai-payments
- https://en.bloomingbit.io/feed/news/118167
- https://www.digitaltoday.co.kr/en/view/92079/korean-won-stablecoin-must-secure-settlement-network-digital-identity-in-ai-payments-era-hashed-report-says
- https://itbrief.co.uk/story/the-new-architecture-of-money-stablecoins-ai-and-europe-s-payments-future