Key Points
- Agentic AI could require blockchain-based payment systems that allow autonomous software agents to transact securely and efficiently.
- Coinbase, Circle, and PayPal are developing digital payment infrastructure that could benefit from the growth of AI-driven commerce.
- Stablecoins and programmable payment networks may become essential building blocks for the next generation of AI applications.
- Special Report: Goldman Sachs: 300 million jobs will disappear
The SpaceX (NASDAQ: SPCX) IPO and the space sector itself are a useful reminder about the power of a story in the growth of stocks. Whether an investor can visualize the space economy of 2040 or not, every investor has to understand that the story of space is still in its early stages. The same is true of quantum computing.
Yet, in both cases, the underlying technology has been around for years. The same can be said about artificial intelligence and blockchain. The two ideas are mature ideas by themselves, but it’s the convergence of the two that could be a defining technological shift.
Defining the Roadmap
Someday, humanoid robots may handle a variety of daily tasks for a large swath of the population. For now, enterprise customers and even some small- and mid-size businesses have agentic AI (i.e., AI agents). These agents allow users to outsource and automate tasks.
But for many “retail users” of AI, the experience is still in a generative state. A large language model (LLM) can answer questions, write code, or generate images. But in the future, consumers will be able to have AI serve as both a personal shopper and a concierge. It will find the best flight and hotel and book the reservations for you.
That will require a level of trust and infrastructure that’s still being built. But like much that has to do with technology, change is coming fast. The good news for investors is that there’s still time to get in on stocks that are key to this buildout.
The Purest Play on AI Agent Payments
Coinbase Global (NASDAQ: COIN) is one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges. That makes it a proxy for Bitcoin and other digital assets. Not surprisingly, COIN is down over 50% in the last 12 months as the crypto winter waits for a thaw.
But this is where the opportunity lies for patient investors. That’s because Coinbase holds a unique position in the digital asset ecosystem.
Coinbase has been pushing into "agentic commerce" territory directly, including work on payment protocols designed to let AI agents transact autonomously using stablecoins.
Coinbase is the most direct publicly traded proxy for AI agents that need blockchain rails—payments, wallets, and digital assets—to transact, and it's likely to be at the forefront of that space.
The Coinbase analyst forecasts on MarketBeat give COIN a consensus price target of around $250, which would be an upside of more than 60% from the stock’s closing price on June 24.
Built From the Ground Up for the Agentic Economy
If Coinbase is the exchange layer, Circle Internet Group (NYSE: CRCL) may be the rails themselves. Circle is the issuer of USDC, the world's second-largest stablecoin with approximately $77 billion in circulation as of Q1 2026—a 28% year-over-year increase.
In May 2026, Circle launched its Agent Stack. This is a full suite of developer tools designed specifically for the agentic economy. The product lineup includes a Nanopayments protocol capable of facilitating high-frequency, sub-cent, machine-to-machine payments, which is simply not possible on traditional banking rails. It’s one way Circle is rebuilding a financial infrastructure that was built for people, with manual onboarding and approval flows that software acting autonomously cannot navigate.
The business fundamentals back the thesis. In Q1 2026, Circle reported $694 million in revenue, up 20% year-over-year. USDC on-chain transaction volume surged 263% YOY to $21.5 trillion in the quarter. That’s an indication of the stablecoin economy at scale.
CRCL went public in 2025 at $31 per share and briefly traded above $260 before pulling back. Shares were trading near $80 as of mid-June 2026. The Circle analyst forecasts on MarketBeat have a consensus price target near $134, implying roughly 85% upside from current levels.
The stock doesn’t come without risks. Circle's reserve income is tied to the Fed's rate policy. Plus, the company does face competition from Tether as well as regulatory uncertainty around stablecoin legislation.
A Sleeping Giant Wakes Up to Agentic Commerce
PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ: PYPL) operates a two-sided network connecting more than 430 million active consumer and merchant accounts worldwide. It also issues its own stablecoin, PayPal USD (PYUSD), now available in 70 countries and deployed across 13 blockchain networks.
In October 2025, PayPal launched its Agentic Commerce Services suite, including "Agent Ready,” a payment solution designed to let AI shopping agents transact on behalf of consumers and "Store Sync," which makes merchant catalogs discoverable by AI agents.
PayPal also acquired Cymbio, a multi-channel orchestration platform, to deepen that capability. The company has since partnered with Hey Savi to launch the first agentic commerce app in the U.K.
PayPal's PYUSD stablecoin is also being extended into AI infrastructure finance.
Through a partnership with USD.AI, PYUSD is being used to fund GPU purchases and data center development—denominated in stablecoin, disbursed directly into PayPal accounts.
The PayPal analyst forecasts on MarketBeat show a consensus Hold, with a consensus price target around $56. That suggests healthy upside from current levels, but it may underweight PayPal's optionality in the agentic commerce buildout. The risk here is execution: PayPal is a large company attempting a significant pivot in a competitive market. Patient investors may find the risk/reward compelling.
The Risk Investors Need to Understand
In fairness, many people would consider AI’s current limitations (vis-à-vis making payments) as a good sign. There will be resistance to the idea and likely regulation.
However, many consumers swore they would never do online banking. Meanwhile, at least one generation is likely to go through life without writing a single check or knowing how to do so. That's the way technological shifts work.
Along the way, there were many stocks that made investors significant profits, even the investors who didn’t “trust” the technology. This is why investors with a long time horizon should look at stocks leading the way in building the financial infrastructure for agentic AI. The future will be here before we know it, whether we can see it or not.
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