Kite AI becomes the first AI payment project of AAIF, jointly building Agentic AI infrastructure with tech giants

AI payment field welcomes significant recognition. According to the latest news, Kite AI has officially joined the Linux Foundation’s Agentic AI Foundation (AAIF), becoming the organization’s first AI payment project member. This move signifies that AI payment has been formally incorporated into the core infrastructure development of Agentic AI, alongside industry giants like OpenAI, Anthropic, Block, and others, to promote industry standards.

The Strategic Position of Kite AI

The Significance of Being the First AI Payment Project

As the first AI payment project accepted by AAIF, this “first” status carries considerable weight. The AAIF member lineup includes industry heavyweights such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Block, Google, Microsoft, AWS, Cloudflare, Bloomberg, and others, all top-tier companies in their respective fields. In such an ecosystem, recognition of Kite AI as an AI payment project indicates that AI payment infrastructure is regarded as a necessary foundational layer in the Agentic AI era.

Core Capabilities of Kite AI

According to official statements, Kite AI will focus on contributing in three areas:

• Verifiable Identity: Addressing identity authentication and trust issues for AI agents
• Programmable Governance: Providing flexible governance mechanisms to meet various scenario needs
• Native Settlement with Stablecoins: Achieving payment settlement via stablecoins to reduce transaction risks

While these capabilities seem technical, they actually target the core pain points of Agentic AI applications. When AI agents need to perform tasks or conduct transactions in the real world, identity verification, governance rules, and fund settlement are indispensable.

Why AI Payment Becomes Infrastructure

From the Perspective of Agentic AI Needs

The fundamental difference between Agentic AI (intelligent agents) and traditional AI lies in autonomy. Intelligent agents can understand, generate, plan, execute, and iterate independently. When AI agents need to take actions in the real world, payment capabilities become essential.

For example, a procurement agent needs to place orders autonomously; an investment agent needs to execute trades independently; a service agent needs to settle fees on its own. All these scenarios require trustworthy, auditable, and scalable payment infrastructure.

The Role of AAIF

AAIF’s mission is to promote open standards and interoperable infrastructure, jointly building the foundational layer for the production-oriented Agentic AI era. This means AAIF is not developing a single product but establishing standards and norms for the entire ecosystem.

Kite AI’s inclusion indicates that AI payment has evolved from an optional feature to a necessary component, requiring standardization and regulation alongside other infrastructure elements.

Industry Insights

The deeper significance of this collaboration lies in the shift of integration between cryptocurrency and AI from a technical level to an infrastructural level. Previously, we saw projects using AI for specific tasks; now, the entire AI ecosystem is considering how to incorporate payment and value transfer.

Kite AI being recognized by AAIF at this juncture affirms its technical capabilities and reflects the industry’s consensus on the importance of AI payment. In the future, as Agentic AI is widely adopted, these standards and infrastructure being developed now will become critical foundational layers.

Summary

Kite AI joining AAIF is not just a project achievement but a confirmation of the status of AI payment infrastructure. In the Agentic AI era, payment capabilities are becoming as fundamental as computing, storage, and communication. Collaborating with giants like OpenAI and Anthropic to promote standards means Kite AI is actively shaping the future rules of the AI economy. Moving forward, it will be important to watch what specific solutions AAIF will introduce regarding AI payment standards and how these standards will be implemented in practical applications.