AI+encryption payment: A new paradigm of digital transformation

With the deep integration of the Web3 ecosystem and artificial intelligence technology, the encryption payment field is undergoing a paradigm shift from tool attributes to ecological empowerment. This report focuses on the cutting-edge direction of "crypto payment + AI" and reveals how technology integration is reshaping payment processes, user incentives, and ecological interaction models through the analysis of three cases.

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 forecast data, the AI agent market size is expected to grow from $5.1 billion in 2024 to $47.1 billion in 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of 44.8%. As its value carrier, encryption payments are reshaping the Web3 user interaction paradigm - the digital transformation of traditional scenarios is accelerating with "cryptocurrency payments + AI economic brain" as the engine.

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

1. Why is encryption payment compatible with AI? - The mechanism foundation of integrated advantages

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

First of all, Crypto payments support native automatic invocation, where AI can directly generate and operate wallets to complete payments, authorizations, interactions, and other actions, truly realizing "machines as users". Secondly, on-chain transactions have the characteristics of being public, transparent, and traceable, with each payment serving as credible data, providing real anchors for the explainability of AI.

In addition, Crypto has multi-chain compatibility and micro-payment capabilities, adapting to AI's high-frequency, low-value payment needs 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 payment is not only a tool for AI execution but also an important component of its operational strategy and incentive mechanism. The combination of the two provides a broad 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 built an efficient and integrated payment toolchain for businesses 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 creation, on-chain contract calls, automated trading execution, and is compatible with mainstream networks such as Ethereum, Polygon, and Solana.

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

Crossmint has made remarkable achievements in promoting the integration of crypto payments and AI, as illustrated by the case study of its collaboration with Boba Guys.

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

Core Summary

Boba Guys is a well-known milk tea brand in the United States, facing the issue of fragmentation 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 experience, 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 payment 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.

Crossmint Corresponding Solutions

crypto 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, Polygon, etc.

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 tasting products based on historical purchasing preferences.
• Dynamic incentives: Adjust the points redemption ratio based on activity levels and provide retention rewards to churned users.

Application Effectiveness

• In less than 3 months, more than 15,000 members have joined the program.
• Loyal members' store visits increased 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 behavior into on-chain verifiable and transferable digital assets (such as NFT rewards), Boba Guys not only enhanced 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 not only achieves real-time on-chain payment data and intelligent analysis but also reduces operational costs through automated strategies. This provides a replicable transformation path for traditional industries such as retail and dining: using encryption payments as an entry point and 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 a 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 rather serves as an embeddable payment interface for various automated agents, smart contracts, and Web3 applications. The project has rapidly expanded since the end of 2024 and now covers multi-chain ecosystems including BNB Chain, Solana, TON, TRON, and Stellar.

2.2.1 AI-driven payment execution path

Unlike other cases where AI is used 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 exchange, and settlement, all without human intervention.

Its mechanism includes two key designs:

• Payment Intent Recognition Mechanism (KYA): The system uses a language model to determine whether the AI truly understands the task content and verifies whether it has payment authorization, thereby preventing erroneous operations and the execution of risky commands;
• Multi-chain smart routing: Dynamically selects the optimal payment path based on real-time fees and network congestion, enhancing transaction efficiency.

This architecture enables various AI agents to go beyond information processing and recommendations, and to truly execute commercial activities, expanding higher autonomy and collaborative efficiency for Web3 scenarios.

2.2.2 Application Implementation and Ecosystem Integration

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

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

2.2.3 AI and Payment Process Integration Logic

The following two images show the AI agent call paths of AEON Pay in actual use, as well as the technical interaction details.

Figure 1: Standard flowchart for AI Agent calling AEON Pay

After the user instructions are parsed by the AI agent, the payment operation is initiated through the AEON Pay SDK or API. After the system completes the on-chain execution, it provides feedback of the results to the user and the agent, achieving a closed loop.

Figure 2: AI Agent + AEON Pay Call Interaction Sequence Diagram

It shows the complete interaction chain of "User → AI → AEON → Merchant". The task starts from natural language initiation, goes through five stages: agent analysis, order creation, payment confirmation, on-chain deduction, and status feedback, to achieve the completion of the automatic payment task.

Industry Significance and Future Outlook

AEON demonstrates a standardized path for "AI agent-to-pay": abstracting payments as a service for agents to call and execute 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 an off-chain consumption system 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 partners with Moonpay: promoting encryption payment and AI integration

2.3.1 Cooperation Background

MoonPay is a global leader in encryption payment infrastructure services, supporting instant exchange between fiat currency and cryptocurrencies, with services covering over 180 countries and processing 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 an AI agent launch platform within the Ethereum ecosystem.

2.3.2 Synergy and Technology Integration After Cooperation

Deep collaboration between payment and AI agents

• Automated trading process: Users trigger the Gaia agent to call the MoonPay API with natural language commands (such as "buy ETH worth 100 dollars"), completing the exchange from fiat currency 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 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 and Polygon) helps Gaia agents expand application scenarios, such as executing high-frequency trading in the Solana ecosystem.

User experience upgrade

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

2.3.3