a16z: AI-assisted payments are far lower than reported in the media, but adoption is growing.

CoinFeed reported on March 12th, citing Cointelegraph, that a16z partner Noah Levine stated on the X platform that the transaction volume of AI-powered payment agents is far lower than reported in the media. He pointed out that while reports claimed AI agent payments reached $24 million in the past 30 days, the actual figure, after excluding wash trades, was only about $1.6 million. Levine stated that this gap reflects the fact that even the measurement infrastructure is still in its early stages. Levine noted that most AI payment activity is currently concentrated in the developer tools space, such as website-to-AI data platforms, AI browsers, and AI image platforms. While these companies accept credit card payments, the x402 protocol allows developers or agents to try out the tools without a subscription.