Tech
NEAR Protocol Outlines AI Money Thesis and Sovereign Agent Infrastructure
NEAR Protocol has detailed a comprehensive framework for the role of digital assets in an economy dominated by autonomous agents, introducing what it describes as an “AI money” thesis. The protocol is positioning its native infrastructure as the coordination layer for “sovereign AI,” a stack designed to allow AI agents to operate with independent identity, private execution, and native settlement capabilities.
According to official communications from NEAR Protocol, the new economic model for AI agents shifts the function of money into four primary roles. It serves as a store of value to ensure network sustainability, a settlement asset for high-frequency micro-transactions between agents, a bonding standard for security, and a metering unit used to price inference and compute tasks.
Money has to work differently in an agent economy:
✦ Store of value → network sustainability: an asset tied to the security and economic coordination of the network it supports ⁰✦ Medium of exchange → settlement asset: value clearing with finality, cheap enough for…
— NEAR Protocol (@NEARProtocol) July 26, 2026
Infrastructure for Autonomous Agents
The push toward sovereign AI infrastructure focuses on moving beyond open-source models to create a decentralized environment where agents can function without central intermediaries. NEAR has identified several “sovereign agent” requirements that it intends to support through its protocol, including:
- Identity and Verifiability: Procedures to ensure agent authenticity and the ability to verify actions on-chain.
- Private Inference and Confidential Execution: Technologies that allow AI models to process data without exposing sensitive information.
- Open Settlement Rails: Financial infrastructure that allows agents to trade and move value autonomously.
- Liquidity and Coordination: Mechanisms to facilitate interactions between millions of independent digital entities.
The protocol describes itself as a holistic stack that integrates the base blockchain layer with “Intents” and “NEAR AI” to act as a coordinator for this open AI ecosystem. This positioning is detailed in a Q2 2026 report, which frames NEAR’s evolution not as a pivot, but as a return to its founders’ original focus on distributed training and compute systems.
Economic Sustainability and Token Burn
A central component of this infrastructure is the “Intents” layer, which is already impacting the protocol’s tokenomics. Current estimates suggest that the burn mechanism associated with Intents volume is a primary driver of network sustainability. According to some projections, net buyback pressure could exceed total token issuance if daily volume on the Intents layer reaches approximately $175 million, a figure the team views as a milestone for the agent-to-agent economy.
Despite the growth in this sector, the protocol acknowledges significant competition. While NEAR is scaling its infrastructure through milestones such as Multi-Party Computation (MPC) node expansion, its agent framework faces competition from other industry standards. Practical adoption for enterprise AI remains in the proof-of-concept stage, with long-term validation depending on repeatable commercial contracts and the velocity of “post-human” or agent-driven transaction volume.
The success of the “AI money” thesis will likely depend on the protocol’s ability to differentiate its settlement integration as autonomous workloads increase.
The post NEAR Protocol Outlines AI Money Thesis and Sovereign Agent Infrastructure appeared first on The Cryptocurrency Post.
Tech
Noos sets September 5 mainnet launch as it moves AI agent infrastructure on-chain
Noos said its mainnet will go live at 00:00 UTC on September 5, 2026, marking the project’s shift from testnet operation to an on-chain environment for AI agent execution, collaboration, verification and value settlement.
The announcement was published on Noos’ official blog, which described the launch as a step toward the AI agent economy rather than a simple network transition. The post said the project has spent 159 days building on testnet ahead of mainnet.
Noos Mainnet Launches on September 5 at 00:00 UTC
Over the past 159 days, Noos has steadily built out its computing network, node infrastructure, AID, AI Agent, and AI Skill ecosystem.
Now, Noos is officially moving into the Mainnet phase, bringing AI Agent execution,… pic.twitter.com/QOLcRiufFy
— Noos (@NoosProtocol) August 26, 2026
In a separate post on Noos’ official X account, the team said the move will bring those functions fully on-chain once mainnet opens. The same materials say Noos has been working across ecosystem partners, nodes, users and communities ahead of launch.
Testnet phase set the backdrop for launch
Noos said its testnet began on March 20, 2026 and continued for 159 days. During that period, the project said it completed phased testing of core infrastructure that includes AI Agents, AI Skills, Genesis AIDs and the IVN validation network.
The project also said its testnet phase involved more than 50 ecosystem partners, 700+ global KOLs, 3,500+ globally distributed computing nodes and 5,000 on-chain Genesis AIDs. Those figures were presented by Noos as part of the foundation for the mainnet rollout.
According to the announcement, mainnet is expected to move the network beyond infrastructure validation and into “real usage, execution, collaboration, and value.”
Noos frames the launch around the AI agent economy, a concept it says requires computing power, agent skills, verification, payments, data, smart hardware and vertical applications to work together. The company’s message indicates the mainnet is intended to connect those pieces in a live on-chain environment, though the announcement does not add further operational details beyond the launch timing and broader network goals.
The post Noos sets September 5 mainnet launch as it moves AI agent infrastructure on-chain appeared first on The Cryptocurrency Post.
Tech
Algorand launches AC2 to let AI agents request user approvals without exposing private keys
Algorand Foundation has launched AC2, an open protocol designed to make AI agent approvals more secure by keeping private keys under the user’s control. In the foundation’s public announcement, AC2 is described as a standard for direct, encrypted communication between users and AI agents that lets agents request signing actions without handing over wallet access.
The launch centers on a familiar problem in AI-driven workflows: agents may need to sign payments, code commits or other digital actions on a user’s behalf, but the surrounding messaging tools do not provide cryptographic verification or scoped approval. Algorand says AC2 is meant to close that gap by allowing the user to review and approve each requested action through their own wallet interface.
How AC2 is described to work
According to the foundation, AC2 establishes an end-to-end encrypted WebRTC connection between a user’s wallet or app and an AI agent. When the agent needs authorization for an action such as a payment, git commit or API request, it sends a signing request through AC2. The user then approves the action directly, while the private key remains with the user.
The announcement also says the protocol is blockchain-agnostic and open source, with both the specification and a reference implementation now available. Algorand framed AC2 as a way to support broader “agentic” workflows without requiring users to surrender full control of their accounts.
The foundation said the protocol can be extended for different message types and signing formats, which it says would make it usable in settings where agents need limited, user-approved authority rather than unrestricted access.
For now, the launch is best understood as a security and communications layer for AI agents rather than evidence that AI payments or agent-driven commerce are already widespread. The key change is narrower but concrete: users are meant to approve exactly what an agent can sign, instead of relying on chat-based instructions that can be easier to spoof or misread.
The post Algorand launches AC2 to let AI agents request user approvals without exposing private keys appeared first on The Cryptocurrency Post.
Tech
Token Terminal data shows AI agents driving 73 million stablecoin transfers in 180 days
Token Terminal’s agentic payments explorer shows AI agents initiating 73.0 million stablecoin transfers over the past 180 days, with USDC accounting for virtually all of the activity.
The explorer data also points to a concentration of transfers on a small number of networks. Base led with 38.7 million transfers, while Polygon followed with 26.1 million, according to Token Terminal.
The figures describe transfer activity initiated by AI agents, not a broader measure of stablecoin adoption across the market. The available data also does not by itself explain who the agents were, what applications they were using or whether the transfers reflect sustained operational usage beyond the measured period.
Still, the numbers offer a concrete snapshot of how agent-driven payments are appearing in onchain data. In this case, the activity is largely tied to USDC and concentrated on Base and Polygon, which makes the breakdown more specific than a generic claim about AI and crypto payments.
The post Token Terminal data shows AI agents driving 73 million stablecoin transfers in 180 days appeared first on The Cryptocurrency Post.
-
Crypto4 years agoCardalonia Aiming To Become The Biggest Metaverse Project On Cardano
-
Press Release6 years agoP2P2C BREAKTHROUGH CREATES A CONNECTION BETWEEN ETM TOKEN AND THE SUPER PROFITABLE MARKET
-
Blockchain6 years agoWOM Protocol partners with CoinPayments, the world’s largest cryptocurrency payments processor
-
Press Release6 years agoETHERSMART DEVELOPER’S VISION MADE FINTECH COMPANY BECOME DUBAI’S TOP DIGITAL BANK
-
Press Release5 years agoProject Quantum – Decentralised AAA Gaming
-
Blockchain6 years agoWOM Protocol Recommended by Premier Crypto Analyst as only full featured project for August
-
Press Release6 years agoETHERSMART DEVELOPER’S VISION MADE FINTECH COMPANY BECOME DUBAI’S TOP DIGITAL BANK
-
Blockchain6 years ago1.5 Times More Bitcoin is purchased by Grayscale Than Daily Mined Coins
