Circle, a prominent issuer of stablecoins, is collaborating with OpenMind to introduce a novel protocol designed for machine-to-machine transactions. OpenMind will leverage USDC, Circle's regulated stablecoin, for micropayments between artificial intelligence agents.
This partnership aims to establish a payment standard for machines involved in automated or permissionless transactions.
We're excited to work with @circle on rolling out world's first standards for machine-to-machine payments.
More to come.
Robotics. https://t.co/3k4nGvRwfG
— OpenMind (@openmind_agi) December 2, 2025
OpenMind has previously entered into a tentative cooperation with Coinbase to integrate its x402 payment protocol. The company has also joined forces with Circle, AWS, Anthropic, and NEAR with the objective of fostering a machine economy and advancing the relationships and payment systems between AI agents.
The x402 standard has gained traction in recent months and is considered a strong candidate for agentic payments and other automation applications. OpenMind is among the initial companies to propose a specific use case for its robotics-centric approach to finance.
Circle's Role in Advancing Stablecoin Payments
Circle has minted over 77.2 billion USDC, establishing itself as the second most utilized stablecoin. In the past week alone, approximately 4 billion tokens were added across various networks, with a significant portion flowing into the Solana ecosystem. USDC is recognized as one of the most active tokens on Ethereum based on daily transaction fees and serves as a key asset on Solana for decentralized exchange (DEX) trading.
Circle Builds Chain-Agnostic Payment Protocol
Circle is actively developing its Gateway tool, which is intended to facilitate instant transfers for cross-chain USDC transactions.
The stablecoin issuer is also working on an x402 ecosystem specifically for micropayments, utilizing its Gateway technology. Circle plans to offer USDC support for both EVM and non-EVM chains, with a particular emphasis on Solana. The company will function as a facilitator of token transfers, enhancing reliability to enable true agent-to-agent payments.
"Circle expects that agentic payments using x402 will increase in popularity, and in particular that x402 may become an attractive protocol for high-throughput applications such as agents performing deep research tasks and paying for content as they go," the company announced.
Agentic payments remain an experimental domain, with ongoing efforts by competitors to develop a unified standard. Google Cloud is also contributing to this initiative, collaborating with multiple crypto-native companies to establish a common standard.
OpenMind's Vision for Autonomous Robots
OpenMind's development extends beyond AI generation; the company also aims to deploy its tools through autonomous robots. While still in its early stages, OpenMind has not yet demonstrated the practical application of USDC within its systems.
The company has secured an undisclosed seed funding round led by Amber Group and a subsequent $20 million round led by Pantera Capital in August 2025. Pi Network has also made an investment in the AI and robotics firm for an undisclosed sum.