The $100M Architecture Split: Why AI Agent Payment Infrastructure Is Forking
Dev.to AI
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Generative AI
$100M+ flooded into AI agent payments this week. Catena raised $30M. Sapiom raised $15M. Crossmint launched their Agentic Cards API with Visa. Coinbase shipped agent wallets. Visa invested in Replit's agent payment infrastructure. The headlines read like validation. AI agents need to pay for things. The market agrees. Capital is pouring in. But if you look past the funding announcements, you'll notice something: the money is splitting into two incompatible directions. The Fork Camp 1: Retrofit card infrastructure. Visa partnerships. Bank charters.