"AI+Lightning Network+Stablecoin" trio: Opening a new era of full implementation of BTC ecological payment

Reprinted from panewslab

03/19/2025·3M

Author: Evan Lu, Waterdrip Capital; Leo , AISA

introduction

For the past century, the basic unit of economic activity has always been humanity. Whether it is production, transaction, payment or financial services, it revolves around people's needs. However, the rise of AI technology is reshaping this pattern, allowing machines to gradually evolve from passive tools to "active economic entities" - AI Agent.

In addition, on the occasion of the 2025 New Year ; Tether announced the integration of USDT into the BTC ecosystem, covering its basic layer and Lightning Network. Behind all kinds of trends, a change is quietly brewing: the payment infrastructure driven by AI Agent is pushing the crypto industry into a new wave of innovation with a breakthrough. From the consensus layer of BTC to the execution layer of smart contracts, and to the current AI-driven application layer, the encryption industry is likely to usher in paradigm innovation in AI + Pay Fi + BTC Infra, and force Web2 to innovate itself to Web3 - the future of large-scale adoption is becoming a reality step by step.

1. Stablecoins: The cornerstone of a new era of global payments – a

decade-long evolution from cross-border revolution to mainstream currencies

The programmability , cross-border practicality and increasingly clear regulatory framework of stablecoins are expected to become the standard settlement currency for global payments. As Trump is elected as the president of the United States with cryptocurrency friendly, the US government will gradually provide clarity in the regulation of cryptocurrencies , and the application scenarios of stablecoins will gradually expand . We can even estimate the beautiful vision of a stablecoin payment in the next 10 years:

Short-term (1–3 years): Stablecoins will dominate cross-border remittances, offering faster and cheaper alternatives than SWIFT. Cryptocurrency-related debit/credit cards (such as Visa/MasterCard) will simplify consumption and build a bridge between on-chain wealth and real-world transactions.

Medium term (3–7 years): Businesses will increasingly adopt stablecoin payments due to their low fees, instant settlement and programmability. The company will be able to seamlessly convert between cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies, providing customers with dual-track payment options.

Long-term (7 years and above): Stablecoins will become the mainstream fiat currency and are widely accepted for payment and even tax payment, completely subverting traditional financial infrastructure.

In addition to the convenience of payment, stablecoins still have a pretty positive role in other areas: for example, it provides entrepreneurs with a more accessible platform to develop new payment products: no middlemen, minimum balances or proprietary SDKs. In addition, according to rough estimates, if medium and large enterprises can use stablecoin solutions in transactions, their corporate profits can increase by 2%. In addition, countries such as Russia that are subject to the U.S. sanctions have tried to use stablecoins to trade between countries to bypass the US dollar settlement system. More and more cases show that stablecoins are gradually approaching the best position of their own market fit . This is not surprising – they are undoubtedly the most economical way to settle in US dollars and the fastest global payments.

2. Next Level: AI Agents will be the new user experience layer for

future apps

Today, we no longer rely solely on AI to perform a single task, such as image recognition, speech synthesis or autonomous driving. Instead, we are entering an "age where AI Agents become independent market participants." This change is not limited to AI-driven financial transactions and intelligent supply chain management, but also involves Generative AI (AIGC) serving content creators, developers and businesses. Further, AI agents can even "negotiate, trade, settle, and optimize their own resource utilization."

Just at the end of last year, we have seen AI Agents redefine the application scenario of DApps . The pioneer of this trend is @truth_terminal, an AI Agent that can promote its tokens $Goat on its own; followed by AI Agents such as Luna and AIxbt, which can use tokens to independently trade, generate content, and even manage their own crypto wallets and assets. The evolution of this ability has spawned innovations in narratives in the field of encryption, such as Virtual Protocol, a protocol similar to Pump.fun, but its "Pump" object is no longer a simple token, but a variety of AI Agents.

AI Agents' ever-evolving capabilities, coupled with its out-of-the-box distribution platform, have opened up a billion-level market opportunity for the concept of AI Agent + Crypto. AI is becoming an active participant in the on-chain ecosystem, promoting blockchain applications to move from instrumentalization to ecologicalization.

"AI+Lightning Network+Stablecoin" trio: Opening a new era of full
implementation of BTC ecological payment

 Top 10 AI Agent Market Cap Ranking on Virtual Protocol, as of February 11, 2025, data source: [_https://app.virtuals.io/sentients?sortBy=mcapInVirtual &sortOrder=desc&page=1_](https://app.virtuals.io/sentients?sortBy=mcapInVirtual&sortOrder=desc&page=1)

In the future, AI will become the user experience layer of blockchain technology, connecting the application layer and blockchain infrastructure, and plays a role upward and downward simultaneously in the technology stack. To give an example that best understands by encrypted users, AI actively recommends and performs on-chain DeFi operations based on user intentions and preferences (such as security, rate of return, etc.), combined with real-time information from the prediction market. Users do not need to understand the difference between L1 and L2, or even know the working principle of cross-chain bridges. Broaden to daily life and imagine a scenario where an AI personal financial assistant can manage your tax, insurance and rental income and expenditure independently, dynamically optimize your portfolio, and even automatically execute transactions based on market changes. Of course, while giving AI economic autonomy, security issues cannot be ignored. To this end, the Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) becomes its critical infrastructure—it ensures that the behavior of the AI Agent fully follows preset logic and is not manipulated by external control by isolating the computing environment. For example, an AI Agent running in TEE can attract users and earn income by generating content, and can also guarantee absolute control of its asset keys through encryption technology. Further, AI can operate Depin nodes or verify data and become the core executor of its distributed system.

The workflow and application scenarios of these AI Agents are outlining a new "machine economy" picture: gamers to Depin managers, from content creators to financial strategists, AI Agents will become the core driving force of the on-chain ecosystem.

3. Dilemma of the existing payment system: the invisible shackles of the

AI economy

In the future, AI Agent will partially replace humans, become an independent player in the market, and form an important force. . However, this revolution in the machine economy is not without its challenges. One of the most core issues is "payment". The implementation of the AI revolution is inseparable from an efficient, secure and decentralized payment network built using blockchain technology , providing AI Agent with seamless economic interaction capabilities .

3.1 Economic imbalance of micropayments

Imagine a scenario where an AI agent is running a high-frequency trading strategy that requires 1,000 transactions per second, with a transaction amount of only US$0.0001. If you use traditional payment networks (such as Visa, PayPal), you will need to pay at least $0.30 for each transaction, which means that the AI agent will pay a 3,000-fold handling fee for every $0.0001 transaction. This ridiculous cost structure directly causes the AI economy to fail to operate on existing payment systems.

3.2 Fatal flaws in settlement speed

For AI agents, transactions are not accidental events, but continuous flow processes. However, the settlement methods of traditional payment networks are extremely lagging:

Credit card payment: It usually takes 1-3 days to complete the settlement.
SWIFT International Transfer: May take 2-5 days.
Cryptocurrency payments (such as Bitcoin main chain transactions): On average , 10 minutes or even longer.
What the AI economy requires is millisecond settlement, but the existing payment system is obviously unable to meet it.

3.3 Limitations of centralized architecture

AI agents are global in nature and they are not limited by geographical boundaries. However, the traditional payment system is deeply trapped in issues such as bank accounts, fiat currency compliance, and regional payment rules.

Bank Account Reliance: Most payment systems (such as Visa, PayPal) require the transaction party to have a bank account, and AI agents cannot open bank accounts like humans.
Centralized control: The existing payment system relies on a few financial institutions for approval, and transactions by AI agents may be rejected at any time due to regulatory or compliance issues.
International Payment Barriers: AI agents’ cross-border transactions will encounter cumbersome compliance requirements, increasing operating costs and complexity.

If the AI economy must rely on existing payment systems, it will be bound by artificially set restrictions and cannot truly unleash its potential.

3.4 Five core requirements of AI economic payment system

Taking into account the possible operational characteristics and usage scenarios of AI Agent above , the payment system that serves AI in the future must have the following five core capabilities:

Micropayment capability: Transactions by AI agents often involve very small amounts (such as the $0.0001 level), and the handling fee must be guaranteed to be extremely low, or even close to zero.
Millisecond transaction settlement: AI transactions occur within a sub-second time scale, and the payment system must be able to settle in real time, rather than waiting for minutes or even days.
Decentralization and anti-censorship: AI agents need independent transactions and cannot rely on centralized financial institutions.
Global availability: AI agents are not restricted by national boundaries, and the payment system must support cross-border transactions to avoid bank account dependence.
Intelligent payment protocol: The payment system must be able to interact seamlessly with AI agents, and supports functions such as automatic settlement, intelligent transaction routing, and liquidity optimization.

4. Hopes and limitations of blockchain payment

Over the past few years, the rise of blockchain technology has brought a glimmer of hope to the AI economy. The decentralization of blockchain, smart contracts and license-free transactions make it an alternative to traditional payment systems. However, mainstream blockchains still face the following problems:

4.1 High cost of ETH network payment

ETH (Ethereum) is the main infrastructure of DeFi (decentralized finance), but its high transaction costs make it difficult for the AI economy to adopt. In the event of network congestion, a simple USDT transaction may require a Gas fee of $10-$50, with limited transaction throughput and slow processing speed, making it difficult to support the high-frequency trading needs of AI agents.

4.2 Other high-performance public chain speed and centralization issues

At present, a large number of high-performance public chains have emerged in the crypto ecosystem . These public chains do provide faster transaction processing capabilities, but they are often highly centralized and have security risks. In the past few years , some high-performance public chains have experienced multiple downtimes , affecting transaction stability. In addition, most public chains rely only on a few verification nodes, which is highly likely to affect the decentralized properties of the payment system.

4.3 The expansion bottleneck of BTC main network

As the world's most secure and decentralized blockchain, BTC 's security is unrivalled, but its payment capacity is limited. The transaction throughput of the BTC main network is extremely low (only 7 transactions/second). When encountering large transaction volume requests, its gas fees soar, causing transaction fees to fluctuate greatly and are not suitable for small payments by AI agents.

Therefore, although blockchain technology provides a possible solution, existing public chains alone cannot fully meet the payment needs of the AI economy.

4.4 Lightning Network—a new stage for stablecoin payment

As BTC's first layer two expansion solution, Lightning Network not only relies on the security of the BTC network (with 57,000+ nodes and PoW mechanisms), but also realizes instant, low-cost and unlimited expansion of transaction capabilities through two-way payment channels. This technical path is highly adaptable to small-density high-frequency payment scenarios, and it also conforms to the ideals of fundamentalist crypto enthusiasts - all transactions are conducted based on BTC networks. At present, Lightning Network has 15,000+ nodes and 50,000+ channels, showing strong ecological potential.

However, the Lightning Network is not perfect. Before the emergence of the Taproot Assets protocol, Lightning Network only supported BTC as payment currency, and the application scenarios were extremely limited. Today, when BTC has become "digital gold", most people are not willing to spend their BTC easily. At this time, the importance of stablecoins is self-evident: Throughout history, only currencies with stable value can be widely accepted and used in daily payment scenarios. For the technical principles of Lightning Network and TA protocol, please refer to this article: Taproot Assets: The stablecoin track surpasses the next growth point of trillion-dollar market value .

There is no doubt that the USDT issued by Tether is now the overlord of the stablecoin in the crypto world . As of today's data, the total issuance of USDC is USD 56.3 billion, while the total issuance of USDT is above USD 140 billion, which is twice the number of USDCs with the two largest issuances. This time, Tether integrates USDT into the Lightning Network, which is of great significance. This behavior marks a recognition in the eyes of users -after all, USDT is a real asset, and its minting means Tether's recognition of the security and ease of use of public chains. More importantly, the real on-chain users and handling fee income brought by USDT is also a resource that all public chains dream of . This also marks the arrival of the era of the Lightning Network after years of construction.

5. Everything is ready, just waiting for the east wind to come

The explosive growth of AI Agent is giving birth to a trillion-level machine economy picture, but it is clear that traditional payment networks (high cost, low speed) and existing blockchain solutions are difficult to support their needs. It seems that the incident of USDT being integrated into the Lightning Network seems to provide the industry with a key puzzle - a nearly zero-cost, censorship-resistant payment channel, superimposed on the liquidity of stablecoins, perfectly adapted to the micro-payment and real-time transaction scenarios of AI agents.

Therefore, AISA was born in response to the situation . It is not only a simple superposition of the technology stack, but also a "financial operating system" tailored for the AI economy, allowing the AI economy to truly break free from the shackles of payment and move towards the future of independent interaction . The future AI economy does not need to wait -payment is efficiency, transaction is intelligence.

6. AISA: The ultimate fusion of Lightning Network, Stablecoins and AI

Agent - Reconstructing the AI Economic Payment Dock

6.1 AISA's four-layer technical architecture

AIsa's architecture can be divided into four core levels, which work together to enable AI agents to make payments freely and efficiently.

a. Settlement layer (Settlement Layer)

The underlying network based : BTC network (L1) + Lightning network (L2) . The core advantages of its settlement layer are :

Security: Relying on Bitcoin’s PoW mechanism and decentralized network (57,000+ nodes around the world).

Efficiency: millisecond transaction confirmation, handling fees approach zero, completely solving the pain points of high-frequency micro payment in AI

b. Payment layer (Payment layer)

Multi-chain support: compatible with public chains such as Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon. AI agents can freely choose the optimal chain.

Stablecoin integration: AISA 's own aiUSD (native stablecoin) is circulated on the Lightning Network as payment currency through the Taproot Assets protocol.

c. Programmable layer (Programmable layer)

AI Native Protocol (AIP): Empowers AI agents to make independent decisions .

Dynamic routing: analyze transaction fees and network congestion in real time, and automatically switch payment paths (such as Lightning Network → Solana).

Automated micropayment: On-demand settlement (such as paying $0.0001 per API call), without manual intervention.

Liquidity Management: AI agents can dynamically allocate funds to liquidity pools to optimize payment efficiency.

d.Governance Layer

DAO mechanism: jointly governed by token LPT holders, decide on agreement upgrades, handling fee allocation, etc.

Incentive mechanism: Liquidity providers pledge LPT to obtain income (transaction fee sharing). Some of the handling fees are token destruction, driving the deflation model.

6.2 How does AISA redefine AI economic payments?

AISA is not a simple extension of traditional blockchain payments, but a revolutionary infrastructure designed specifically for the AI economy. By integrating the decentralized efficiency of the Bitcoin Lightning Network, the liquidity guarantee of stablecoins and the intelligent decision-making capabilities of AI native protocols, AISA has built a nearly zero-cost, millisecond-level response payment network, completely breaking through the high-cost and inefficiency bottlenecks of traditional systems. Here, AI agents can independently complete micro-payments (for example, only $0.0001 is required for each API call), settle DePIN node contribution rewards in real time, and even dynamically optimize cross-chain transaction paths without human intervention.

From cross-border enterprise payments (substitute SWIFT to save costs) to high-frequency transactions of automated financial strategies, AISA's adaptability is driving the rise of the machine economy - in the future, AI agents may independently manage taxes and investments to form an independent economic closed loop. Through multi-chain compatibility and DAO governance, AISA not only solves the fragmentation problem of the existing payment ecosystem, but also sets new standards for human-computer collaboration in the decentralized era with the attitude of a "financial operating system". When stablecoins become mainstream settlement tools and the Lightning Network connects global value flow, AISA's vision is to allow the machine economy to grow freely in a frictionless intelligent network.

7. Conclusion

When AI agents independently complete transactions, investments and even pay taxes on the chain, payment is no longer a tool, but a blood circulation system of the machine economy. The Lightning Network provides blood vessels, stablecoins act as blood, and AI agents become the heart - this silent revolution illuminates the future payment ecosystem like lightning. Future payments do not belong to a certain institution or country, but to each node that operates independently and participates in co-construction. Here, code is law, efficiency is justice, and real innovation has just begun.