tl;dr
Kite, a pioneer in agentic payments infrastructure, secures investment from Coinbase Ventures to advance AI-driven commerce. The partnership integrates Kite's blockchain-native solutions with Coinbase's x402 standard, enabling autonomous AI agents to conduct secure, self-sufficient transactions. The...
**Kite Secures Investment from Coinbase Ventures to Power the Future of AI-Driven Commerce**
*Press Release*
In a significant move that underscores the growing momentum of the agentic economy, Kite, the company pioneering foundational infrastructure for agentic payments, has announced a strategic investment from Coinbase Ventures. This follows Kite’s recent $33 million Series A funding led by PayPal Ventures and General Catalyst, reflecting heightened confidence in the potential of autonomous AI agents to reshape commerce.
**Addressing a Critical Bottleneck in the AI Revolution**
While AI agents have advanced to manage complex tasks—from booking travel to executing financial trades—they still rely on human oversight for critical operations. Kite’s blockchain-native infrastructure aims to eliminate this dependency by enabling true autonomy. The platform provides secure digital identities, programmable spending limits, and instant, low-cost settlements via stablecoins, creating a robust framework for AI-to-AI commerce.
**Integration with Coinbase’s x402 Standard**
To scale its agent-to-agent blockchain network, Kite has natively integrated with Coinbase’s x402 Agent Payment Standard. This partnership positions Kite as a key execution and settlement layer for the protocol, allowing AI agents to seamlessly send, receive, and reconcile payments through standardized intent mandates. As one of the first Layer 1 blockchains to adopt x402-compatible payment primitives, Kite is accelerating the adoption of this standard, unlocking new possibilities for the agentic economy.
**Three Market Shifts Shaping the Autonomous Economy**
Coinbase Ventures’ investment will fuel Kite’s development across three critical trends:
1. **Programmable Trust Layer**: Kite’s *Agent Passport* offers AI agents verifiable identities and governance controls, ensuring secure, compliant, and transparent transactions on-chain.
2. **Scalable Blockchain for AI Commerce**: Kite’s infrastructure is optimized for high-volume, microtransactions, leveraging stablecoins and a high-throughput blockchain to deliver sub-second settlements at minimal costs.
3. **Agentic Commerce as a Growth Engine**: With trillions of AI agents anticipated to emerge, Kite is integrating with platforms like PayPal and Shopify, embedding its technology to make services accessible to autonomous agents.
**CEO Insights: Building the Economic Backbone for AI**
Chi Zhang, CEO and Co-Founder of Kite, emphasized the transformative potential of the investment: “Today’s financial infrastructure breaks when AI tries to use it. Our mission is to build the economic backbone for the trillions of autonomous agents coming online. This support from Coinbase Ventures, alongside our existing investors, validates that the future of AI is not just intelligent—it’s agentic, and it requires an AI-native system to thrive.”
**About Kite**
Kite is developing the first blockchain tailored for agentic payments, enabling autonomous AI agents to operate with verifiable identities and programmable governance. Backed by $33 million from investors including PayPal, General Catalyst, and Coinbase Ventures, the company is led by AI and data infrastructure veterans from Databricks, Uber, and UC Berkeley.
**About Coinbase Ventures**
Coinbase Ventures invests in startups advancing the crypto ecosystem, supporting Coinbase’s mission to drive global economic freedom. The firm partners with early-stage teams across blockchain, DeFi, NFTs, and Web3 infrastructure, fostering innovation in the onchain economy.
As Kite continues to redefine the future of AI-driven commerce, its collaboration with Coinbase Ventures signals a pivotal step toward a world where autonomous agents operate seamlessly within a secure, decentralized economic framework.
*For more information, visit [Kite’s official website](https://www.kite.com) or follow Kite on [X](https://x.com/kite).*
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This article condenses the press release into a news format, highlighting key milestones, innovations, and strategic partnerships while maintaining a clear, engaging narrative for readers.