AI agents are increasingly using Stripe's Link wallet to shop for their users, Upstarts Media reports. In September the number of agent-initiated transactions grew 38-fold and payment volume grew 20-fold. Stripe has not disclosed how many purchases or how much money sit behind those figures, and the growth started from a small base.

About 70 agents were using the service when Stripe ran the analysis; executive Dan Hill says that number has since grown to around 200, including Meta's Muse and Grok Bot, and that the volume is now becoming significant. Most agents spend about $100 per transaction, though some users have them book flights or buy furniture worth thousands of dollars. Retail made up 36 percent of transactions and 32 percent of volume, with travel next at 28 percent of volume.

Link does not give agents the user's real credit card number: it issues a separate 16-digit number, and users can set spending limits. Anthropic and OpenAI also use Link, but not yet for agent purchases, and Hill concedes Stripe will not stay the only option, naming PayPal and Shopify's Shop Pay as competitors in a market still in its very early days.