Bank of AI and PKUBlockchain map Web4.0’s “agent economy,” pitching x402, ERC‑8004 and MCP while casting Tron and USDT as the default settlement rail for AI agents.
Summary
- Bank of AI and Peking University’s PKUBlockchain association have published a Web4.0 report arguing that AI agents will act as on‑chain “economic entities” and need dedicated payments, identity and tooling protocols.
- The paper highlights three missing layers — the x402 payment protocol, ERC‑8004 identity standard and MCP tool‑invocation rail — and pitches Bank of AI’s stack as a one‑stop “Agent financial OS” that connects them.
- It points to Tron’s more than $22 billion in average daily stablecoin volume and roughly $86 billion of circulating USDT as the settlement base for high‑frequency micro‑payments between agents.
Bank of AI and Peking University’s PKUBlockchain association have released what they call the first comprehensive research report on Web4.0’s “agent economy,” titled “Web4.0: When AI Agents Become Economic Entities — Infrastructure, Market Landscape, and Investment Outlook.” The report argues that as AI systems evolve from “assistive tools” into autonomous entities that can hold assets, generate income and transact, crypto rails need to adapt around them.
Web4.0 report puts AI agents on-chain
In their framework, AI agents are treated as on‑chain economic actors that must be able to send and receive payments, prove identity, call off‑chain tools and build verifiable track records much like human‑run wallets or companies. To close that gap, the authors identify three infrastructural layers they say are still missing or immature: the x402 payment protocol for stablecoin transfers, ERC‑8004 as an on‑chain “ID card” for agents, and an MCP (Model Context Protocol) standard for tool invocation.
Bank of AI uses the report to present its own stack as a reference implementation, claiming to integrate “five core components into a unified Agent financial operating system” that links those protocols from spec to live product. In parallel, outside research on agentic markets — including an “Agentic RWA Stack” proposed by FinChain — similarly forecasts AI agents managing “tens of trillions of US dollars” in assets and commercial flows by 2030, underscoring why payments and identity rails are attracting attention now.
The report leans heavily on Tron as the current settlement backbone for an agent‑driven Web4.0. It notes that Tron processes more than $22 billion in daily stablecoin volume and hosts around $86 billion of USDT, giving it the scale and fee profile needed for “high‑frequency micro‑settlements by AI agents.”
Independent analytics back that picture: Nansen and other researchers have found that TRON routinely clears over $21 billion in daily stablecoin transfers, with more than $80 billion of USDT supply and roughly 2 million to 2.2 million stablecoin transactions per day. Earlier crypto.news coverage has charted how Tron flipped Ethereum in USDT supply, with on‑chain data showing its USDT float rising past $73.8 billion in 2025 and then above $80 billion, making it Tether’s primary settlement layer for routine dollar transfers.
That dynamic has also been visible on the regulatory front, where USDT on Tron has been recognized as an accepted fiat‑referenced token in Abu Dhabi’s ADGM regime, even as U.S. lawmakers tighten scrutiny on Tether’s global footprint. In a recent crypto.news story, Tron’s role as a stablecoin rail was tied to a broader “agentic economy” push, including TRON DAO’s $1 billion AI fund targeting projects that blend AI agents with on‑chain payments — the same junction Bank of AI’s report now attempts to formalize.
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