A major shift in U.S. government sentiment toward cryptocurrencies combined with innovation from AI are making the stablecoin market an emerging force in the digital asset economy. Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc., X Corp., Airbnb Inc., Meta Platforms Inc., Google LLC and Uber Technologies Inc. are all reportedly exploring the integration of stablecoins on their platforms. Ten major banks, including Bank of America and Deutsche Bank, are also investigating whether to issue stablecoins as part of their offerings. Stablecoins are digital assets pegged to the value of fiat currency, often the U.S. dollar. The influence of AI in the crypto industry may push digital currency providers to build interoperable models for stablecoins. This is currently playing out as major players grapple with implementing a consistent payments standard, potentially using the x402 open protocol that has existed on the internet for decades. The x402 protocol is a “payment required” status code that sits on top of HTTP. Last month, Cloudflare Inc. and Coinbase Inc. launched the x402 Foundation to further the development of an open internet standard for payments. There is some urgency behind this initiative, as enterprises continue to adopt and implement AI agents. It’s expected that agents ultimately will shop, make buying decisions and execute payments on behalf of users. The x402 standard, along with the Agents Payment Protocol or AP2 under development by Google, provide early looks at how AI will automate consumer purchases.