It is time for people to start discussing the benefits of combining AI with crypto. Specifically, we can look at micropayments and the new models that could potentially be opened.

There are a number of possibilities which open up regarding payments. Existing systems simply do not cut it. Here is where crypto steps in to facilitate economic activity while reducing friction. Our present financial rails are too slow as well as being inefficient.

It is also something that can spur incredible economic growth.

As newer technologies roll out, we can see how micropayments that are low cost and fast will be required.

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Micropayments, AI and Crypto

Imagine you are at a park and want to enter the "Metaverse". Since you are on a mobile device, the ability to engage in a fully immersive manner is limited due to compute.

What if, however, you can alleviate that by using other devices that are located at the edge. Instead of cloud computing we are dealing with something more distributed.

This would necessitate pulling compute from neighboring devices, such as a phone. The person on the next bench might have your solution in his or her pocket. While feeding the ducks that person could earn a bit of money.

Under this scenario, you might rent some compute for a few minutes from the other phone. This would require a micropayment being made, in the form of crypto. Of course, this would be run by AI agents, who would facilitate the entire process.

It is something that is impossible to do complete using Visa. We are also looking at just one example.

Micropayment Ideas

Even with todays large models, we can see some instances where this would apply.

For example, with reasoning, perhaps someone doesn't require that capability very often. Instead, a small fee could be charged on a per query basis. Thus, advanced features would always be available in an ala carte style.

Crypto is ideal for the compensation of data. Perhaps a medical expert could submit a paper to a model for training. The individual would be compensated for the actual use in the training, not just on the paper existing.

Many have discussed the idea of licensing and royalties. When someone wants to use an image or a part of a song (jingle), perhaps a per use agreement can be set up. The user might only pay each time the song is played, i.e. when the ad is watched.

We could also see a change in how subscription services operate. Tied to the LLM idea, perhaps upper end features can be offered on a per use basis. The individual is able to use the platform without restriction up to a point under the basic agreement then add an additional feature as needed.

A final idea is that APIs could be set up for developer micropayments. Developers would pay micropayments for API calls to integrate LLMs into their applications, enabling flexible, usage-based pricing.

The Financialization of the World

Financial institutions have been dealing with micropayments for a long time. Usually, this is done in more of a rounding fashion, where half cents are distributed. In a single transaction, it makes no difference. However, when spread over billions of transactions per year, the numbers can get rather large.

We are seeing the dawn of another push into financialization. Tokenization is the entryway, with real world assets on the horizon. When we look at things such as investing in a tokenized robotaxi, we can see how a small amount of money could generate a return. The payments could be in fractions of a cent, distributed throughout the day.

Again, it is a system that is impossible with the present infrastructure. Intermediaries simply charge too much money on a per transaction basis.

A digital wallet solves this. When we look at the future with AI agents, we can see how this all fits together.

AI and crypto is about a lot more than AI tokens "mooning".

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