In the early days of the internet, protocols like HTTP, developed by Tim Berners-Lee, laid the foundation for the seamless web experience we know today. Proponents of AI agents argue we are now at a similar inflection point, agents have enormous potential, but they lack the protocols needed to communicate, transact, and collaborate effectively.

Enter Circuit & Chisel, a startup founded by former Stripe executives Louis Amira (ex-head of crypto & AI partnerships) and David Noël-Romas (ex-head of crypto engineering). The company has raised $19.2 million to launch ATXP, a protocol Amira describes as the “HTTP for agentic payments.” The platform aims to enable AI agents to pay for and access services autonomously, from scraping data behind paywalls to retrieving premium content.

Backed by Coinbase Ventures, ParaFi, Primary Venture Partners, and others, ATXP joins a growing wave of initiatives building infrastructure for AI-powered microtransactions. Google and Coinbase recently announced a similar open-source protocol, underscoring the race to define standards for AI-driven payments.

If successful, ATXP could unlock a new era where agents seamlessly exchange information and value, transforming the economics of the web through frictionless, scalable microtransactions.