Coinbase engineering head Erik Reppel offered a glimpse into how artificial intelligence could reshape the economics of the internet, arguing that AI agents may force a shift away from the web’s ad-driven business model.

Speaking onstage at Consensus Miami 2026, Reppel, the founder of the x402 payments protocol and head of engineering at Coinbase Developer Platform, said the internet was originally built around humans interacting with websites, not software interacting with software.

“The internet was designed for humans to use,” Reppel said. “We now live in a world where both humans and computers operate and computers operate computers.”

Today’s web economy depends heavily on advertising revenue generated when humans visit websites and view ads, according to Reppel. But AI agents, he said, bypass that system entirely.

“Agents don’t see those ads. They just ignore those ads completely,” he said.

That dynamic could push the internet toward new monetization models built around native digital payments, particularly stablecoin-powered micropayments.

“If a human visits a website, show them an ad. If an agent visits a website, charge them five cents,” Reppel said.

He framed x402, an open payments protocol built around the long-unused HTTP 402 “Payment Required” status code, as infrastructure for that future. The protocol is designed to let AI agents make automatic payments for APIs, content and digital services using crypto rails.

Reppel said the rise of autonomous AI systems, or what he called the “agentic economy,” could create a massive new market for internet-native payments. He cited estimates projecting the sector could grow to between $3 trillion and $5 trillion within four years.

The comments reflect a broader effort within the crypto industry to position stablecoins and blockchain-based payments as foundational infrastructure for AI-driven commerce.

“Agents really are the browser of the future,” he said.

Read more: AI agents are breaking web economics, but Cloudflare says x402 can help

MIAMI — The long-awaited legislation to establish U.S. regulations for the crypto markets won’t survive the Senate if it doesn’t include a contentious ethics provision that bans senior government officials from personal interests in the industry, said U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.

“There will be no one voting for this bill if we don’t have an ethics provision,” Gillibrand, a New York Democrat who has been engaged in bipartisan crypto legislation for years, said Wednesday at Consensus Miami 2026. The inclusion of that section — aimed largely at the business interests of President Donald Trump — remains one of the few major sticking points on the bill negotiation, which is coming to a head this month.

“We cannot allow members of Congress, senior administration officials, presidents or vice presidents to get rich off of these industries because of their insider status,” Gillibrand said. “It is the worst form of pay-for-play; it is the worst form of campaign finance violations; it’s a violation of the Constitution.”

The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act — the crypto industry’s top policy aim in Washington — is awaiting a necessary Senate Banking Committee hearing in order to advance to the Senate floor for a vote.

Gillibrand said the ethics negotiation needs to be resolved in the next week to get a bipartisan approval in the hearing, which is expected as soon as next week. She said the negotiators are also working on consumer protection and illicit finance elements. So far on the ethics provision, White House officials have denied that Trump’s business interests represent a conflict, and they’ve said they won’t tolerate a bill that targets him.

“We cannot let greed and corruption in Washington tear this industry down, and without that provision, that’s exactly what will happen,” Gillibrand argued.

The window for legislative action is narrowing considerably, and the needed Senate bandwidth to move the legislation will be at a premium, with about 10 weeks of Senate calendar time remaining before Congress pivots to the midterm elections.

Gillibrand predicted a final vote could happen in the first week of August, “if we’re lucky.” That would mark the last chance before Congress’ summer break.

However, in another Consensus panel, Summer Mersinger, the CEO of the Blockchain Association who served on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, suggested a legislative window may never permanently close.

“There’s a window of opportunity, and that’s always important that you, you act when you find that window of opportunity,” she said. “But I always say that that doesn’t mean the window’s not going to open again.”

Read More: Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse says Clarity better than chaos as Senate hits key moment

Strategy Bitcoin Dividend Sales Signal Treasury Strategy Shift

• Strategy Bitcoin dividend sales reshape how the company manages treasury obligations through 2026.
• Michael Saylor signaled flexibility as Strategy weighs bitcoin sales to support STRC dividends.
• Investors now track Strategy Bitcoin dividend sales as market expectations shift after earnings.

STRC Growth Changes Capital Management Options

Strategy launched STRC as part of its broader digital credit framework. The preferred stock has already raised $8.5 billion since launch. Company executives said this capital structure supports long-term bitcoin accumulation while creating new income obligations.

Michael Saylor noted that bitcoin would need to appreciate by 2.3% annually for current holdings to cover dividend obligations indefinitely without requiring sales of common stock. This benchmark now shapes how analysts assess Strategy Bitcoin dividend sales.

Saylor also said the company could choose to sell bitcoin directly if market conditions support that decision. He added that limited sales could help demonstrate operational flexibility. This statement moved Strategy Bitcoin dividend sales from theory to a practical possibility.

Shift From Never Sell to Strategic Flexibility

For years, Strategy maintained a clear message that it would not sell bitcoin. That position helped define investor expectations around the company’s treasury model. The latest comments suggest management now prioritizes balance sheet efficiency over fixed public commitments.

Chief Executive Officer Phong Le reinforced this approach. He stated that Strategy intends to remain a net bitcoin accumulator while using selective sales when they benefit the company. This clarification placed Strategy Bitcoin dividend sales within a broader financial strategy rather than a reversal of conviction.

The company currently holds 818,334 bitcoin, equal to about 3.9% of total supply. Its holdings remain among the largest corporate bitcoin reserves globally.

What Comes Next

Prediction markets reacted quickly after the earnings call. Expectations for Strategy Bitcoin dividend sales before the end of 2026 rose sharply within 24 hours of Saylor’s remarks.

Strategy also reported a $14.5 billion operating loss for the first quarter, largely due to bitcoin mark-to-market adjustments. Despite that result, the company increased bitcoin-per-share by 18% year over year.

Investors now watch upcoming shareholder decisions and future treasury updates closely. Any action involving Strategy Bitcoin dividend sales could influence broader sentiment around corporate bitcoin treasury models.

NOW: MSTR CEO Phong Le said at least five times during today’s earnings call that the company is open to selling Bitcoin if it benefits the business, such as for tax advantages or to increase Bitcoin per share. pic.twitter.com/ZsTeuFTkRK

— Bitcoin News (@BitcoinNewsCom) May 5, 2026

Nine months ago, Congress passed the GENIUS Act, establishing the first federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoins. The results have been demonstrative: the stablecoin market grew 49% in 2025, reaching $306 billion by year’s end. Circle, Ripple and other digital asset companies received provisional national banking charters from the OCC. Institutional capital that had been sitting on the sidelines moved into these markets. Recruiters, who a year earlier described an industry in which “every protocol foundation was bailing to the Caymans [tradingview.com],” now report that 90% of senior crypto leadership searches are U.S.-based. Clear rules produced exactly what their advocates said they would: investment, institutional engagement and onshoring of activity that had been migrating elsewhere.

That outcome sharpens the task before the Senate Banking Committee: applying a clear framework to the broader digital asset market. The crypto market is currently worth $3.2 trillion. Nearly 70 million Americans, one in five, own crypto. This is a significant and growing market.

The GENIUS Act addressed payment stablecoins. The CLARITY Act sets the rules for everything else: registration and oversight of trading venues and intermediaries, jurisdictional lines between the SEC and CFTC, disclosure and compliance across the token lifecycle, and the protection of non-custodial technologies under U.S. law.

These are the foundational rules that determine whether the next generation of financial infrastructure gets built here in America – or elsewhere. Within the last 10 years, the number of developers in the U.S. dropped by 51%. Nearly 90% of global CEX volume is offshore. America needs foundational rules because without them, the same dynamic that preceded GENIUS would apply to the rest of the market. Trading activity, protocol development and institutional engagement in digital asset markets will continue to flow toward jurisdictions that have already provided the regulatory clarity Congress has yet to deliver. Other jurisdictions, including the EU, Singapore, and the UAE, have already enacted market structure regimes and are providing the regulatory clarity yet to be delivered.

The Senate Banking Committee, alongside offices on both sides of the aisle, has spent the better part of two years building toward this moment. Senators Tillis and Alsobrooks deserve credit for resolving the stablecoin yield question in a bipartisan manner, the single most contested provision in months of negotiations. The compromise substantially expands the scope of the prohibition framework in GENIUS across digital asset market participants. The digital assets industry made significant concessions. The resulting approach is restrictive in several respects – ultimately, the broader and most critical objective remains advancing comprehensive market structure legislation, and this agreement moves that process forward.

Nothing is perfect in this process, and legislating is complex, but it’s a result reached through the kind of sustained bipartisan engagement that serious legislation requires. Chairman Scott has managed a difficult process across deep disagreements between the banking industry and the digital asset sector, and the Committee is closer to a durable outcome than it has been at any point in that process.

The window to act is narrow. The legislative calendar leaves limited time to move a bill of this scope through committee, floor consideration and final passage. A markup in the near term is necessary to keep this effort on track and ensure there is a viable path to the President’s desk before year-end.

The CLARITY Act passed the House with 294 votes. That breadth of bipartisan support reflects genuine congressional judgment that clear rules for digital asset markets serve the public interest. The Banking Committee should schedule a markup as soon as possible. The case for moving forward has never been stronger.

The United States should finally establish the clear, durable, fit-for-purpose framework this market – and this country – needs. America has long led the world because it has embraced innovation, markets and the rule of law. Now is the time to do so again.

Some of the world’s largest remittance providers are accelerating their digital asset strategies as they look for faster settlement alternatives to traditional banking rails.

Western Union’s new stablecoin USDPT is the latest example of the growing overlap between traditional payments firms and crypto infrastructure. The money transfer company launched its Solana-based stablecoin on Monday in the Philippines and Bolivia, with plans to expand into additional markets throughout 2026.

Western Union CEO Devin McGranahan said in the company’s Q1 earnings call that the stablecoin will be used as an alternative settlement layer to the decades-old SWIFT network.

Digital assets allow transfers “to begin moving and settling between us and our agents onchain in real time at much faster speeds and again over weekends and holidays where we have capital tied up because the traditional banking system only settles Monday through Friday,” he said.

Western Union’s stablecoin follows the launch of its Digital Asset Network. Source: Western Union

Western Union is not the only remittance provider trying to move cross-border settlement away from the incumbent banking system’s weekday-only rails.

Rival MoneyGram on Tuesday announced a partnership with Kraken that allows users to convert crypto into cash for pickup, adding to a broader push among remittance firms to integrate blockchain-based payment rails.

SWIFT isn’t disappearing anytime soon

From its early years, crypto was often framed as an alternative to centralized financial systems and intermediaries. 

Though Satoshi Nakamoto did not explicitly call for replacing banks in the original Bitcoin whitepaper, the network’s genesis block included the newspaper headline: “Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.”

As Bitcoin launched after the collapse of institutions like Lehman Brothers, the message has been interpreted as a political statement against centralized finance and bank bailouts.

Bitcoin’s first block was mined on Jan. 3, 2009, during the Global Financial Crisis. Source: Bitaps

Related: DeFi can freeze stolen funds, but not everyone agrees it should

But today, many of those same financial institutions are embracing blockchain-based settlement systems themselves.

“It is no longer a question of if Western Union will be active in digital assets, it is now how fast can we scale,” McGranahan said.

Western Union exploring alternatives to SWIFT does not mean crypto has replaced the finance messaging network founded in 1973. SWIFT is still deeply embedded in the cross-border settlement infrastructure used by banks in more than 200 countries and territories.

In fact, SWIFT itself has also been experimenting with blockchain-related infrastructure. Last September, the organization announced work on a shared ledger initiative involving more than 30 financial institutions.

“SWIFT isn’t going to be replaced by a single announcement or a single stablecoin,” Bernardo Bilotta, CEO of stablecoin infrastructure platform Stables, told Cointelegraph. 

“It’s deeply entrenched, and for many types of institutional transfers, it works well enough that the switching costs outweigh the benefits of moving to something new.”

Stablecoins unlock “dead” remittance capital

Faster remittance settlement has obvious benefits for end-users, who no longer have to be constrained to business days.

On the backend, it unlocks “dead capital” for the remittance provider and its local partners.

“A company like Western Union has capital parked across hundreds of correspondent banking relationships globally, pre-funding accounts so that when a transfer hits, the money is already sitting there waiting,” Bilotta said.

He added:

It earns nothing, it does nothing except guarantee that a payment can settle two or three days from now on a banking schedule designed in the 1970s.”

Moving settlement onto blockchain-based assets such as stablecoins compresses the payment timeline from days to minutes.

However, Bilotta argued that not all that liquidity will start flowing into useful earnings, as stablecoins also need locked reserves and partake in real-time treasury management. So in practice, not all the “dead capital” unlocked by stablecoins is expected to be immediately deployed elsewhere. 

Stablecoin issuers also keep large amounts of capital locked in reserves. Source: Circle

Related: Why yen stablecoins are key to Japan’s crypto ambitions

Sota Watanabe, CEO of Startale Group, is building the JPYSC stablecoin in Japan. He said that the extra time in traditional rails also creates safeguards and buffers. Institutions batch transactions, net exposure and manage liquidity around banking hours.

“Stablecoins remove that delay. Powerful, but it means treasury systems must now operate continuously, not only during business hours,” Watanabe told Cointelegraph.

Private stablecoins risk creating new silos

While stablecoins promise faster and more efficient settlement, not all blockchain-based payment systems are built equally.

Bilotta argued that private settlement networks such as Western Union’s USDPT offer institutions tighter control over issuance, treasury management and counterparties, but risk recreating the same fragmentation blockchain originally aimed to solve.

“Every company that launches its own stablecoin creates another walled garden that the rest of the ecosystem has to bridge to or ignore,” he said.

Unlike private stablecoins operating inside closed ecosystems, public stablecoins such as Tether’s USDt (USDT) benefit from shared liquidity pools and interoperability across exchanges, wallets and payment platforms.

“A dollar moved through USDT in Thailand is the same dollar that arrives in Australia,” Bilotta said. “No bridging, no translation, no bilateral agreements between private networks.”

Watanabe shared similar concerns, warning that if every major payment company launches its own isolated settlement network, the industry could simply recreate the siloed infrastructure of correspondent banking on blockchain rails.

“Private settlement networks are efficient inside a closed ecosystem,” Watanabe said. “Their weakness is interoperability.”

He argued that the long-term advantage of public blockchain rails is not just faster settlement, but shared infrastructure where liquidity can move more naturally between applications, exchanges and financial systems.

For all the promises of faster settlement and 24/7 payments, blockchain-based remittances still risk rebuilding the same fragmented infrastructure they were meant to replace.

Magazine: North Korea denies crypto hacks, Upbit’s bank tests Ripple: Asia Express

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