Tether-backed Oobit rolls out virtual Visa cards for AI agent USDT spending

Crypto wallet startup Oobit has launched a Visa-supported virtual card for AI agents to make online purchases in $USDT on behalf of businesses without human intervention.

The “Agent Cards” are funded directly from stablecoin issuer Tethers treasury, meaning no fiat on-ramp or conversions are needed for AI agents to top up USDt ($USDT) balances and make online purchases, Oobit said on Thursday.

The Tether-backed startup said the AI agents could use the cards to do anything from renewing a software-as-a-service subscription to topping up an advertising budget or even “spinning up cloud infrastructure at 3am because a workflow told it to.”

They will also be able to trade crypto and stocks, Oobit advisor Alex Obchakevich added in a post on X.

Source: Oobit

Many crypto executives have shared the view that AI agents could become the dominant users of blockchain-based payments in the coming years.

In April, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong predicted that “There will be more AI agents transacting online than humans very soon,” echoing comments from Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire in January that “literally billions of AI agents” will be transacting onchain in three to five years.

Oobit took the prediction one step further, stating that the “next trillion users on the internet” would be AI agents.

Agent Cards havent launched to the broader public yet

Oobit said Agent Cards launched to a founding group of businesses on Thursday and that onboarding would expand to a limited number of additional companies through June 30.

Businesses must pass a know-your-business compliance check to set up the Agent Cards.

Agent Cards work with AI agent frameworks offered by OpenAI, Claude, AutoGen and LangChain, Oobit added.

Only one card is issued to each AI agent to ensure a clean identity and audit trail.

The crypto wallet startup said spend limits and merchant restrictions are enforced at the transaction layer to ensure that AI agents operate only within their authorized scope.