Solana: Rails for the Agentic Era | DAS NYC 2026 | Day 2 | Main

Why It Matters

Solana’s dominance in agentic payments gives it a foundational role in the emerging AI economy, where micro‑transactions and developer‑friendly tooling will dictate the next wave of digital commerce.

Key Takeaways

• Solana dominates 65% of agentic payments via X42 protocol.
• Stablecoins enable pay‑per‑use microtransactions for AI compute services.
• Solana Foundation launches X42 gateway for effortless merchant integration.
• New “skill” files and AI‑first APIs simplify agent development.
• Performance and low fees now outweigh previous EVM tooling advantages.

Summary

The panel, featuring Multicoin co‑founder Tushar Jain and Solana Foundation CPO Vibu, centered on Solana’s strategic response to the AI‑driven “agentic era.” They framed AI not as a vertical but as a platform shift reshaping payments, developer experience, and emerging moonshot use cases. Solana’s focus is on agentic payments—where autonomous LLMs or coding agents transact directly using stablecoins—leveraging protocols like X42 and the newly supported MPP.

Key data points underscored Solana’s lead: over 15 million on‑chain payments processed this year, and roughly 65% of all agentic transactions now flow through Solana’s X42 implementation. The foundation announced an X42‑based payments gateway that lets merchants accept stablecoins without custom integration, targeting micro‑payments for API calls, compute cycles, and other digital services that traditional credit cards cannot price at a cent‑level.

Notable examples included agents purchasing per‑use AI inference or data retrieval, a model impossible with legacy payment rails. Vibu highlighted Solana’s “skill” files—machine‑readable markdown at solana.com/skill.mmd—providing agents with network parameters, wallet operations, and API references. The newly unveiled Solana Developer Platform (STP) offers AI‑first APIs for stable‑coin issuance, real‑world assets, and payment orchestration, reflecting a shift from UI‑centric tooling to terminal‑driven, agent‑compatible interfaces.

The implications are profound: Solana’s performance, low fees, and credibly neutral ecosystem now eclipse the historic EVM tooling advantage, accelerating institutional adoption and redefining internet monetization. By enabling frictionless, pay‑per‑use microtransactions, Solana positions itself as the default financial layer for autonomous agents, potentially reshaping business models across cloud services, content delivery, and beyond.

Original Description

Solana: Rails for the Agentic Era

Speakers: Vibhu Norby, Tushar Jain

This is a panel from DAS New York 2026. To explore more Blockworks events, visit blockworks.co/events