Stripe confirmed that AI agents are using its Link payment service for transactions, with transaction counts rising 38-fold and payment volume increasing 20-fold since September. The company declined to disclose the specific figures or total monetary value behind these statistics, noting that the growth began from a small base. Approximately 200 AI agents currently utilise the service, a rise from 70 earlier in the year, including Meta’s Muse and Grok Bot. While the average transaction value sits around $100, some agents facilitate purchases of flights or furniture worth thousands. Retail accounted for 36 percent of transactions and 32 percent of volume, with travel following at 28 percent. Stripe executive Dan Hill describes the current volume as significant but admits competitors like PayPal and Shopify’s Shop Pay exist. He states the market is still in its very early days, suggesting other providers may soon adopt similar agent payment solutions.
- Link issues a separate 16-digit number instead of sharing real credit card details.
- Users can set spending limits on these virtual payment instruments.
- Anthropic and OpenAI use Link but have not yet enabled agent purchases.
