Stripe says AI agent purchases are adding up, but it won't share the numbers

AI agents are increasingly using Stripe's payment service Link to shop for their users, Upstarts Media reports. In September, the number of transactions grew 38-fold and payment volume grew 20-fold. Stripe hasn't disclosed how many purchases or how much money are behind those figures. According to the report, the growth started from a small base, so it says little about the actual scale. Stripe executive Dan Hill says the volume is now becoming significant, though.

About 70 agents were using the service when Stripe ran the analysis. Hill says that number has since grown to around 200, including Meta's Muse and Grok Bot. Most agents spend about $100 per transaction, according to Hill, but some users have them book flights or buy furniture worth thousands of dollars. Retail made up 36 percent of transactions and 32 percent of volume. Travel came next with 28 percent of volume.

Link doesn't give agents the user's real credit card number. Instead, it issues a separate 16-digit number, and users can set spending limits. Anthropic and OpenAI also use Link, but not yet for agent purchases. Hill admits Stripe won't stay the only option and names PayPal and Shopify's Shop Pay as competitors. He says the market is still in its very early days.

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