Goldman Sachs: USDC Dominates AI Agent Payments With 99% Share in x402 Protocol

According to Goldman Sachs' Circle management meeting notes on July 5, stablecoin growth has decoupled from crypto market cycles, with use cases rapidly expanding into cross-border payments, consumer commerce, capital market settlement, and AI agent payments. USDC captures approximately 99% of transaction volume in the x402 agent payment protocol.

Circle noted accelerating "digital dollar" adoption in emerging markets, positioning USDC as an alternative to local currencies and unreliable banking systems. The company views the CLARITY Act as a catalyst rather than a barrier, as the proposed legislation would allow stablecoin issuers to maintain revenue-sharing incentive mechanisms for distribution and usage-based rewards.