BlackRock predicts agentic AI could become an underappreciated source of demand for digital assets, arguing in a September report titled The Machine-Native Economy that AI agents transacting independently will need machine-native payment rails built on stablecoins, native cryptocurrencies and other onchain assets. The asset manager said existing systems such as card networks and ACH can be less suited to always-on, low-value and programmable transactions, and cited Bitcoin Policy Institute simulations in which AI models generally favored stablecoins for everyday payments and Bitcoin for long-term value preservation, while cautioning the findings reflect simulated rather than actual agent behavior. The thesis is meeting real-world experimentation: Meta and PayPal announced on Sept. 22 that users will be able to shop and check out with Meta's Muse AI agent across PayPal's merchant network worldwide. Muse, launched Sept. 8, can book travel, fill out forms and make purchases after user approval, and quickly rose to the top of Apple's App Store rankings among free apps. PayPal also operates PayPal USD, its dollar-backed stablecoin, which became available across 70 markets in March, though neither company has said PYUSD will be used for Muse purchases. The news comes as Bitcoin climbed above $86,000 this week, its highest level in eight months, up about 8.8% in September after gaining roughly 25% in August, with Ether, XRP and other major altcoins also strengthening.
Meta Builds First Integrated Agent-Commerce Stack With Stripe, Shopify, PayPal
Meta assembled the first integrated agent-commerce stack, letting its Muse agent move from product discovery to completed payment without a human touching checkout. On September 8, 2026, Meta launched Muse with Stripe's Link wallet for agents built in, enabling checkout at more than a million businesses that accept Link, with Link generating a single-use virtual card for other merchants; Muse is the first AI agent covered by Link's purchase protections. Shop Pay arrived on September 21, when Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke and Meta's Alexandr Wang announced a deep partnership enabling Shop Pay checkout across all Shopify stores and adding Meta as an AI channel inside Shopify's Agentic Storefronts. A day later, PayPal confirmed global payments across its worldwide merchant network, with Mastercard's Agent Pay platform providing the secure payment rails, and PayPal's stock rose nearly 5 percent on the news. By Mark Zuckerberg's September 23 Meta Connect keynote, the pipeline was live with Stripe, Shop Pay, PayPal, Expedia for travel and Instacart for groceries; Keybanc analysts raised Meta's price target to $900, calling it Muse's moment, and Muse hit number one in Apple's US App Store. Each Muse user gets a dedicated Muse Secure VM, an isolated Linux virtual machine with its own browser, where a separate Sentinel agent approves internet access and sensitive actions, credentials stay in vaults the agent cannot read, and every action generates an audit trail, with a Muse Confidential VM planned later in 2026. Amazon has blocked Muse from shopping on its site, while Muse remains US-only at launch with no global expansion timeline specified and full Shop Pay rollout details undisclosed.
Zuckerberg Says Meta's Muse AI Agent Will Take Small Transaction Fee
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company plans to monetize its Muse AI agent by taking a small fee from transactions, speaking Wednesday at the Meta Connect conference. Zuckerberg said Muse will be free for a huge number of tokens, with the expectation that Meta will profit over time by taking a small fee from transactions. Meta chief AI officer Alexandr Wang said the company has added support for PayPal and announced integrations with retailers including Walmart, Best Buy, The Gap, Sephora, Wayfair and American Eagle, plus travel connections with Expedia and grocery shopping through Instacart. Wang also said Meta is rolling out computer control for the Mac, letting the agent take over a Mac on the user's behalf, and that Muse is coming to Meta's smart glasses. Muse debuted on Sept. 8 and became the top app on both Apple's App Store and Google's Play Store, hitting 560,000 daily active users after just 11 days according to Sensor Tower, and the early success sent Meta stock soaring 11% on Monday. Wells Fargo and KeyBanc Capital Markets raised their price targets on Meta amid early uptake of the app.
Wells Fargo Raises Salesforce Price Target to $250 on Agentforce Momentum
Wells Fargo analyst Michael Turrin reiterated an Equal Weight rating on Salesforce on September 18 while raising the price target to $250 from $230, citing growing evidence that the company is moving from positioning AI as a long-term opportunity toward demonstrating measurable monetization. The call followed Salesforce's second-quarter results, in which Agentforce annual recurring revenue exceeded $1.5 billion, up more than 240% year-over-year, though the company expanded its definition of Agentforce ARR beginning in Q2 FY27 to include its AI offerings, Slackbot, and Headless 360, complicating the comparison. Salesforce said 7 billion Agentic Work Units had been delivered across Agentforce and Slack, including 3.2 billion in the second quarter alone, and it is targeting $63 billion in revenue in fiscal 2030, including Informatica. The company is also strengthening Agentforce through integrations with Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud and working with AI companies including Anthropic. Risks remain, including the gap between AI pilots and full-scale deployment, competition from AI model developers and emerging agent platforms, and potential seat reductions as agents automate work; hedge fund holders of Salesforce fell to 99 in the second quarter from 101 in the first, while short interest stood at 3.55% of shares as of August 31.
BlackRock Inc
PayPal Holdings Inc
Meta Platforms Inc.
Bitcoin