Google has announced a new open-source protocol designed to enable AI applications to send and receive payments, including transactions using stablecoins.
This initiative underscores the increasing significance of dollar-pegged cryptocurrencies within the evolving AI landscape.
The project is a collaborative effort with over 60 companies, including Salesforce and American Express. Coinbase helped develop the stablecoin functionality, and the Ethereum Foundation was also consulted on the project.
James Tromans, head of Web3 at Google Cloud, stated that the protocol is built to support both “existing payment rail capabilities as well as forthcoming capabilities such as stablecoins.”
According to Coinbase engineer Erik Reppel, the exchange collaborated with Google to ensure their payment systems are interoperable.
He noted that the goal is to “make AI transmit value to each other.”
This new payment system is an extension of Google’s Agent2Agent Protocol, which was introduced in April. That framework allows AI agents to exchange information and interact more efficiently. The Agent2Agent Protocol was developed with more than 50 technology partners, including PayPal, Salesforce, and SAP.
This announcement highlights the growing trend of connecting autonomous AI agents with decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols. This integration could lead to more streamlined trading, better user experiences, and new real-world payment applications.
Pump.fun’s Daily Volume Hits $1 Billion as Memecoins Rally
The Solana-based memecoin launchpad Pump.fun recently saw its daily trading volume cross the $1 billion mark as the broader memecoin market experienced a significant surge in September.
According to data from the decentralized exchange (DEX) Jupiter, Pump.fun processed $942 million in transaction volume on Sunday, followed by a jump to over $1.02 billion on Monday. This spike coincided with the overall memecoin market cap climbing to a 30-day high of $83 billion on Sunday before settling at around $76 billion on Monday.
Data from the DeFi aggregator DefiLlama highlights Pump.fun’s positive momentum. The platform’s total value locked (TVL) , the total value of assets deposited in its smart contracts, reached a new high of $334 million on Sunday.
Pump.fun also surpassed the perpetuals exchange Hyperliquid in revenue for two consecutive days, ranking third in 24-hour revenue among DeFi protocols, trailing only the stablecoin projects Circle and Tether.
The platform’s growth is also linked to its livestreaming product, which recently paid out $4 million in creator rewards, with most of the funds going to first-time creators. A co-founder of Pump.fun, Alon, claimed that the platform’s livestreaming feature has “flipped” Rumble in the average number of concurrent livestreams and is gaining on Twitch and Kick. While these claims could not be independently verified, they indicate the platform’s ambitious push into content creation.
Pump.fun’s surge happened amid renewed enthusiasm across the memecoin sector. Dogecoin (DOGE) saw its price rise even after a U.S.-based exchange-traded fund (ETF) tied to the memecoin was delayed. Other memecoin tokens like Memecore (M), Moo Deng (MOODENG), and DORA (DORA) also recorded significant gains over the past week.
Companies Are Stockpiling Solana, Driving Corporate Reserves to $4 Billion
Corporate holdings of Solana ($SOL) have surged, with companies now accumulating over 17 million tokens, bringing their total value to more than $4 billion. This marks a significant milestone, with these reserves now accounting for nearly 3% of Solana’s total circulating supply. Forward Industries announced its Solana reserve on September 8th, with support from major crypto-native firms like Galaxy Digital, Multicoin Capital, and Jump Crypto. Following the announcement, Galaxy Digital alone purchased $306 million in SOL in a single day.
This trend is tracked by Strategic Solana Reserve, which shows that a few major players are leading the accumulation.
Forward Industries holds the largest share, with over 6.8 million SOL tokens, valued at approximately $1.6 billion. Other notable firms, including Sharps Technology, DeFi Development Corp., and Upexi, each hold around 2 million tokens. Helius Medical Technologies also recently launched a $500 million Solana treasury reserve, backed by notable investors like Pantera Capital and Summer Capital.
In a recent interview, Pantera Capital CEO Dan Morehead praised Solana as the “fastest, cheapest, most-performing” blockchain network. He also disclosed that his company holds a significant position of $1.1 billion in Solana tokens, underscoring the growing institutional confidence in the network.
