NEWS · COMPANIES · #2202
Stripe: AI agents are using Link for purchases but Stripe declines to share totals
Stripe says AI agents are increasingly using its payment product Link to make purchases: in September transactions grew 38-fold and payment volume grew 20-fold, though Stripe has not disclosed absolute counts or dollar amounts. The company told Upstarts Media the analysis covered roughly 70 agents at the time and that the user count has since risen to about 200 (including Meta's Muse and Grok Bot); most agent transactions average about $100 but some bookings run into the thousands. Link issues separate 16-digit numbers rather than users' real card numbers; Anthropic and OpenAI use Link but reportedly not yet for agent purchases, and Stripe named PayPal and Shopify's Shop Pay as likely competitors.
KEY POINTS
- Stripe says AI agents are increasingly using its payment product Link to make purchases: in September transactions grew 38-fold and payment volume grew 20-fold, though Stripe has not disclosed absolute counts or dollar amounts.
- The company told Upstarts Media the analysis covered roughly 70 agents at the time and that the user count has since risen to about 200 (including Meta's Muse and Grok Bot); most agent transactions average about $100 but some bookings run into the thousands.
- Link issues separate 16-digit numbers rather than users' real card numbers; Anthropic and OpenAI use Link but reportedly not yet for agent purchases, and Stripe named PayPal and Shopify's Shop Pay as likely competitors.
WHY IT MATTERS
This signals early but accelerating real-world use of autonomous AI agents for commerce and shows payment platforms adapting to agent-driven transactions.