Large companies looking to modernize payments and AI agents making autonomous transactions are emerging as the two biggest growth drivers for stablecoins, executives from Bridge and Deus X Capital said Thursday at Consensus 2026 in Miami.
Lindsey Einhaus — who heads strategy and operations at stablecoin infrastructure firm Bridge, which was acquired by Stripe for $1.1 billion — said the next two years are likely to bring a wave of institutional stablecoin adoption, especially for cross-border payments and internal treasury operations.
“Large institutions are looking to use stablecoins to manage cross-border flows and really collapse a lot of their account management to stablecoins,” Einhaus said.
She pointed to payments-focused blockchains like Tempo, backed by Stripe and Paradigm, as key opportunities for wider adoption. Existing blockchains historically lacked features common in traditional payment systems, such as refunds, chargebacks and private transactions, she argued.
The next area of growth may come from AI-powered micropayments.
According to Einhaus, blockchain-based stablecoin rails could finally make small internet payments economically viable by removing expensive middlemen and reducing transaction fees. Historically, micropayments failed because transaction costs often exceeded the value being transferred, while cryptopayments introduced price volatility that discouraged consumption.
“With stablecoin-native blockchains, you will dramatically reduce transaction costs,” she said.
Tim Grant, CEO of Deus X Capital, said agent payments — autonomous AI systems that trade with each other — could become one of the strongest crypto use cases yet, in part because consumers intuitively understand the need for machines to move money online.
“We’re underestimating the agency fee boom that’s happening,” Grant said.
At the same time, he warned that the infrastructure remains fragmented across multiple blockchains and wallets, while regulation around autonomous financial activity is still evolving.
Grant generally struck a more cautious tone regarding the pace of stablecoin adoption. While optimistic about the long term, he argued that the industry still faces hurdles around regulation, consumer onboarding and institutional coordination.
Still, he acknowledged that the institutional mood has changed meaningfully as regulators become more supportive.
“Before, you had to push institutions to pay attention,” Grant said. “Now they’re pulling.”
