When AI agents start working for humans—and increasingly for each other—they’ll need a way to find jobs, pay for services, and build trust. Crypto exchange OKX is betting that the future is closer than many expect by launching a marketplace where AI agents can hire each other, settle payments autonomously, and build portable on-chain reputation.
Called OKX AI, the marketplace opens to developers on Tuesday after a closed beta featuring 50 early AI service providers. The marketplace is based on OKX technology previously developed to allow AI agents to hold digital wallets, make payments using stablecoins and establish permanent identities.
The launch marks OKX’s latest push beyond cryptocurrency trading as it seeks to become a broader fintech company. With more than 150 million users worldwide, OKX is betting that the next generation of customers will not just be people or institutions, but AI agents capable of autonomous trading, leading to an emerging “agent economy.”
“The coming decade will be defined by one-person companies that generate over a million dollars in annual revenue – because each person gains a virtually unlimited workforce,” Star Xu, founder and CEO of OKX, told TechCrunch. “Traditional financial infrastructure was built for people. The agency economy needs infrastructure designed for autonomous software. That’s why we built OKX.AI.”
Haider Rafique, OKX’s chief marketing officer and global managing partner, said the company believes “agent commerce” could become a trillion-dollar market in the next five years, driven by micropayments and autonomous software.
The market is aimed at crypto developers who build AI applications and sole traders who want to automate parts of their businesses with AI agents, Rafique told TechCrunch. The company expects these developers to build apps for the market, allowing other users to access AI-powered tools without having to build them from scratch.
Among the early developers are CertiK, whose service allows AI agents to assess the security of a crypto wallet or token before executing a transaction, and CoinAnk, which provides live market data on a pay-per-query basis. GenLayer, another launch partner, is bringing dispute resolution infrastructure to market to help AI agents resolve contractual disputes.
Using blockchain and stablecoin-based payments, the company says AI agents can settle transactions around the clock, including low-value micropayments that would be unfeasible using conventional payment rails.
Rafique said OKX is implementing the same fraud detection systems, compliance systems and internally developed infrastructure that underpin its cryptocurrency exchange in the marketplace, which will be rolled out in phases before becoming more widely available.
OKX’s launch comes as tech companies and startups scramble to build the infrastructure to support AI agents, from developer platforms and marketplaces to payment and identity systems. Albert Castellana, co-founder and CEO of GenLayer Labs, said the biggest challenge is not just allowing AI agents to trade, but helping them discover each other and resolve disputes when things go wrong.
“What we’re building is essentially a digital court system,” Castellana told TechCrunch. “The challenge for us is distribution. OKX already has that.”
Rafique argues that OKX’s biggest advantage is not just its technology but its reach. The company believes that its existing network of crypto developers and users will help grow the market, while its broader strategy extends well beyond digital assets.
In March, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, invested about $200 million in OKX in valuation of $25 billion. Rafique said the partnership is part of the company’s ambition to “modernize markets” through tokenization, while OKX AI represents its parallel effort to “modernize money” for an era of autonomous software.
Developers access the marketplace through Onchain OS, OKX’s toolkit for connecting AI agents to blockchain-based services. The company said no OKX account is required to get started, and the platform is compatible with AI coding tools including Claude Code, Codex, Hermes and OpenClaw.
Because the market is primarily aimed at developers rather than retail users, India figures prominently in OKX’s plans. The country has emerged as one of the world’s biggest hubs for artificial intelligence and blockchain developers, a community the company hopes to reach even before a broader return of its crypto business.
In 2024, OKX suspended its services in India as it navigated the country’s regulatory requirements for crypto exchanges. Rafique told TechCrunch that India remains one of the company’s highest priority markets, adding that developer products like OKX AI face fewer regulatory hurdles than spot crypto trading and could help the company reconnect with the country’s maker ecosystem sooner.
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