A significant shift is underway in the world of commerce, driven by the convergence of artificial intelligence and blockchain payments. AI agents, capable of autonomous decision-making and action, are starting to engage in transactions, posing new challenges for traditional payment systems. The existing infrastructure, designed for human interaction, is ill-equipped to handle the unique needs of AI agents, which require seamless, frictionless transactions.
Consensus 2026 will bring together over 15,000 industry leaders, developers, and investors to explore the future of agentic commerce and the emergence of new payment rails, regulatory frameworks, and business models. According to Christian Catalini, MIT professor and founder of the Cryptoeconomics Lab, true agentic payments will only be achieved when AI is the counterparty, enabling atomic settlement, per-second payment streaming, and transactions with non-KYC counterparties. This is not a distant future scenario, but a near-term engineering problem that will be tackled by the experts gathered at Consensus.
The event will feature key players, including Google Cloud, which is actively investing in blockchain payment rails, and protocols like x402 and MPP, which are vying to become the standard for agentic commerce. CoinDesk University will offer a comprehensive curriculum for attendees to learn about building and deploying agentic payments, from theory to implementation. The window for shaping the future of agentic commerce is open, and Consensus 2026 is the platform where industry leaders will come together to define the course of this emerging field.