AI + encryption payment: A new paradigm of digital transformation

Article Overview

The deep integration of Web3 ecology and artificial intelligence technology is driving the shift in the field of encryption payments from tool attributes to ecological empowerment. This article focuses on the frontier direction of "crypto payments + AI" by analyzing cases such as Crossmints, AEON, and Gaia Network, revealing how technological integration reconstructs payment processes, user incentives, and ecological interaction models.

The core of technological integration lies in: AI endowing payment systems with dynamic decision-making capabilities, while blockchain provides a trusted execution environment for AI agents, forming a "data on-chain - intelligent processing - value circulation" closed loop. According to forecasts, the market size for AI agents is expected to grow from $5.1 billion in 2024 to $47.1 billion by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of 44.8%. As a value carrier, encryption payments are reshaping the user interaction paradigm in Web3. The digital transformation of traditional scenarios is accelerating with "cryptocurrency payments + AI economic brain" as the engine.

This trend proves that technological collaboration is breaking the barriers between on-chain and off-chain, providing replicable transformation paths for fields such as DeFi and retail: user-centered, using encryption payments to link data value, leveraging AI to achieve intelligent collaboration between assets and behaviors, pushing the value internet from concept to the critical point of large-scale application.

1. Why is encryption payment compatible with AI? - The Mechanism Basis of Integrated Advantages

The fundamental reason why encryption payment has become the preferred execution path for AI systems lies in the natural synergy of the operating mechanism. Compared to traditional payment methods, Crypto can provide AI agents with greater calling freedom, stronger automation capabilities, and better response efficiency, making it an indispensable infrastructure for the implementation of "intelligent execution."

First, Crypto payments support native automatic invocation, allowing AI to directly generate and operate wallets to complete payments, authorizations, interactions, and other actions, truly realizing "machine as user." Secondly, on-chain transactions are characterized by being public, transparent, and traceable, with each payment serving as trustworthy data, providing a real anchor point for AI's interpretability.

In addition, Crypto has multi-chain compatibility and micro-payment capabilities, adapting to the high-frequency and low-value payment needs of AI in various scenarios; at the same time, on-chain behaviors can also be analyzed and utilized by AI, forming a closed-loop mechanism of payment-data-feedback, further enhancing the system's intelligent response.

Overall, encryption payments are not only the execution tools of AI, but also an important part of its operational strategies and incentive mechanisms. The combination of the two provides ample space for subsequent product innovation and the implementation of business models.

2. Project Case Analysis

2.1 Crossmints: Web3 infrastructure empowering AI payments

Crossmint, as a leader in the Web3 infrastructure field, has created an efficient integration of payment toolchains for enterprises and developers, empowering AI agents with real economic behavior capabilities, achieving a deep integration of encryption payments and intelligent execution. Its system supports one-click wallet generation, on-chain contract calls, and automated trade execution, and is compatible with mainstream networks such as Ethereum, Polygon, and Solana.

It is particularly worth mentioning that Crossmint provides the capability for dynamic cross-chain switching. When the Ethereum network experiences congestion leading to a spike in transaction fees and extended confirmation times, the system can monitor the operational status of each chain in real-time and intelligently switch to more optimal execution networks like Polygon based on multi-dimensional data such as fees and transaction speed, all without manual intervention, significantly enhancing transaction efficiency and stability.

2.1.1 Boba Guys+Crossmint Case: AI-driven On-chain encryption Payment Loyalty Program

Boba Guys is a well-known milk tea brand in the United States, facing the problem of a disconnection between traditional payments and user incentives. Boba Guys has built an AI-driven on-chain loyalty program based on Solana through Crossmint, deeply integrating crypto payments with user behavior data to achieve the digital transformation of traditional retail scenarios. The project integrates automatic wallet creation, seamless transaction experiences, and multi-chain support technology, using AI to analyze consumption data to generate personalized marketing strategies, significantly enhancing user engagement and payment efficiency.

Core Pain Points of Boba Guys

• Traditional payments and loyalty programs are disconnected, unable to leverage the advantages of crypto payments in user incentives.
• Lack of AI technology support makes it difficult to achieve intelligent analysis of payment data and user behavior.

The solution corresponding to Crossmint

encryption payment integration:

• Automatic wallet creation: Users generate an encryption wallet upon registration, supporting mainstream encryption currency payments.
• Seamless trading experience: No manual handling of Gas fees during the payment process, and transaction information is recorded on-chain in real time.
• Multi-chain support: compatible with multiple blockchain networks such as Ethereum and Polygon

AI Applications:

• Behavioral Analysis: Establish user profiles based on data such as consumption amount, frequency, category, and time.
• Personalized Recommendations: Push exclusive offers based on user profiles and recommend new products for tasting based on historical purchasing preferences.
• Dynamic Incentives: Adjust the point exchange ratio based on activity levels and offer retention rewards to churned users.

Application Effect

• In less than 3 months, more than 15,000 members have joined the program.
• Loyal members have increased store visits by over 244% compared to non-members.
• The spending of loyal members is 3.5 times higher than that of non-members.

Model Innovation and Industry Insights

This case has pioneered a new retail paradigm of "encryption payment as user incentive": by transforming consumption behaviors into on-chain verifiable and transferable digital assets ( such as NFT rewards ), Boba Guys not only improved user repurchase rates but also built a decentralized membership ecosystem.

Crossmint's AI technology plays the role of a "data hub" in this process: it realizes real-time on-chain payment data and intelligent analysis, while also reducing operational costs through automated strategies. This provides a replicable transformation path for traditional industries such as retail and catering: using encryption payments as the entry point, with AI algorithms as the engine, reconstructing the "payment-data-incentive" closed loop, and promoting the upgrade of offline scenarios to digital and intelligent.

2.2 AEON: AI-driven encryption payment protocol, reconstructing the agent execution path

Project Positioning

AEON is an encryption payment protocol designed for AI agents, dedicated to providing a cross-chain, highly available payment execution layer. Unlike traditional payment systems, AEON is not a single application but serves as an embeddable payment interface for various automated agents, smart contracts, and Web3 applications. Since the end of 2024, the project has rapidly expanded and currently covers multi-chain ecosystems such as BNB Chain, Solana, TON, TRON, and Stellar.

2.2.1 AI-driven payment execution path

Unlike other cases that use AI for analysis and recommendations, AEON focuses more on building payment capabilities that can be directly invoked by AI. In other words, its goal is to enable AI agents to autonomously and securely complete real payment tasks, thereby promoting the implementation of automated systems in real transaction scenarios. When users issue natural language commands such as "book a flight" or "buy coffee" through AI, the AI can directly call the AEON API to generate payment requests, complete amount recognition, asset selection, cross-chain exchanges, and settlements, all without human intervention.

Its mechanism includes two key designs:

• Payment Intent Recognition Mechanism ( KYA ): The system determines whether the AI truly understands the task content through a language model and verifies whether it has payment authorization, thereby preventing misoperations and the execution of risky commands.
• Multi-chain intelligent routing: Dynamically select the optimal payment path based on real-time fees and network congestion, improving transaction efficiency.

This architecture allows various AI agents to go beyond information processing and recommendations, enabling them to truly execute business actions, expanding greater autonomy and collaborative efficiency for Web3 scenarios.

2.2.2 Application Implementation and Ecological Integration

Since 2024, AEON has launched the "AI Payment as IT Foundation" roadmap, expanding applications to multiple countries and ecological scenarios:

• Offline scene expansion: AEON has implemented a QR code payment system in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, where the AI agent can automatically complete the processes of scanning, exchanging, and payment.
• Token ecosystem integration: AEON supports multiple types of native encryption assets for payments, having connected with over 10,000 merchants, covering electronic consumption, life services, digital content, and other daily applications.
• Agent-to-Agent Collaboration: AEON also supports multi-agent module collaboration, such as the intelligent execution model of "information agent generating orders - payment agent completing payments."

Industry Significance and Future Outlook

AEON has demonstrated a standardized path for "AI agent-to-pay": abstracting payments as a service for agents to call and execute automatically on demand. This architecture not only enhances the composability and intelligence of payment systems but also brings new execution logic to the Web3 ecosystem.

In the future, AEON plans to expand to off-chain consumption systems supported by Visa and Mastercard, building a seamless bridge between Web3 native users and the real payment world, further promoting the payment paradigm of "AI initiated - Crypto settlement - completed in real time."

2.3 Gaia Network collaborates with Moonpay: promoting encryption payments and AI integration.

2.3.1 Cooperation Background

MoonPay is a global leader in encryption payment infrastructure services, supporting instant exchange between fiat and encryption currencies, with services covering over 180 countries and an annual transaction volume exceeding $15 billion. Gaia, on the other hand, is a decentralized AI agent network that allows developers to create, deploy, and monetize AI agents, with its core product, Mother DAO, being the AI agent launch platform within the Ethereum ecosystem.

2.3.2 Synergy and Technological Integration after Cooperation

Deep collaboration between payment and AI agents

• Automated trading process: Users trigger the Gaia agent to call the MoonPay API through natural language instructions ( such as "Buy ETH worth 100 dollars" ), completing the exchange from fiat to encryption and on-chain transfer without manual wallet operation.
• Smart Pricing and Settlement: Gaia agents can dynamically adjust service pricing based on market fluctuations, while MoonPay completes cryptocurrency settlements in real time, supporting stablecoins such as USDC, ETH, and other mainstream assets.

Developer ecosystem empowerment

• Low-code integration: MoonPay provides pre-built payment modules ( such as embedded payment windows ), allowing developers to quickly integrate payment functionality into the Gaia agent via API.
• Cross-chain interoperability: MoonPay's multi-chain support ( such as Solana, Polygon ) helps Gaia agents expand application scenarios, for example, executing high-frequency trading in the Solana ecosystem.

User experience upgrade

• Simplified fiat entry: Non-encryption users can directly use MoonPay to purchase AI agent services with fiat currency, lowering the Web3 threshold.
• Transaction Transparency: On-chain transaction records can be checked through blockchain explorers, allowing users to track payment status and agent execution results in real time.

2.3.3 Market Impact and Data

• User Growth: Gaia completed its first fully autonomous hackathon in 2024, attracting over 2,000 developers. After the launch of the Mother DAO platform, the monthly active users exceeded 50,000.
• Transaction Scale: Helio processed over $1.5 billion in transactions before being acquired, and after collaborating with Gaia, its on-chain payment functionality is expected to enhance transaction efficiency by 30%.
• Industry Recognition: MoonPay became one of the first in Europe to obtain Mi in December 2024.