MoonPay Unveils Open Wallet Standard for AI Agents
A new open-source framework aims to give AI agents secure, multi-chain wallet access.
Crypto payments firm MoonPay has introduced a new open-source wallet framework designed to power the next phase of AI-driven blockchain activity, as autonomous agents increasingly participate in onchain economies.
Announced on March 23, the Open Wallet Standard (OWS) enables AI agents to store assets, sign transactions, and execute payments across multiple blockchain networks—all while keeping private keys protected. The release is now publicly available via GitHub, npm, and PyPI, with contributions from more than 15 industry participants.
MoonPay positions the initiative as a foundational step toward building infrastructure for the emerging “agent economy,” where software systems independently transact, access services, and manage financial operations.
A Missing Standard for the Agent Economy
The rapid rise of AI agents capable of performing economic tasks—such as purchasing data, paying for compute, or interacting with APIs—has exposed a key gap: there has been no unified wallet standard tailored for autonomous systems.
MoonPay CEO and co-founder Ivan Soto-Wright framed the launch as a critical milestone:
“The agent economy has payment rails. It didn’t have a wallet standard. We built one, open-sourced it, and now the full stack exists.”
According to the company, OWS is designed to act as a universal wallet layer, allowing AI agents to interact seamlessly with different blockchain protocols using a single wallet interface. This mirrors how multiple applications on a smartphone can access the same bank account.
Key Capabilities of the Open Wallet Standard
The framework introduces several core features aimed at interoperability and security:
- Multi-chain support, including Ethereum-compatible networks, Solana, Bitcoin, and others
- Unified wallet access across protocols and applications
- Secure transaction signing without exposing private keys
- Cross-runtime compatibility for different AI agent frameworks
MoonPay emphasized that the standard does not compete with existing blockchain protocols but instead enhances them by providing a shared interface for transaction execution.
Built on MoonPay’s Internal Infrastructure
The Open Wallet Standard originates from MoonPay’s own product development efforts. Earlier in February 2026, the company launched MoonPay Agents, a non-custodial software layer that enables AI systems to access wallets and execute transactions autonomously via a command-line interface.
That product already supported multi-chain environments and compatibility with emerging protocols like x402, which facilitates machine-to-machine payments over HTTP.
However, while building MoonPay Agents, the company encountered a broader industry challenge: each AI framework handled wallet interactions differently, creating fragmentation and limiting interoperability.
To address this, MoonPay abstracted its internal wallet infrastructure, generalized it for broader use, and released it under an MIT open-source license—forming the basis of the Open Wallet Standard.
Industry-Wide Collaboration
The initiative launches with backing from a wide range of crypto and fintech organizations spanning multiple layers of the ecosystem. Contributors include major players such as:
- PayPal, OKX, Ripple, and Circle
- Ethereum Foundation, Solana Foundation, TON Foundation
- Polygon, Arbitrum, Base, Sui, and Filecoin Foundation
- Infrastructure providers like LayerZero, Dflow, and Uniblock
This level of participation signals a growing industry consensus around the need for standardized infrastructure to support AI-native financial interactions.
Security at the Core
A central component of the Open Wallet Standard is its approach to private key management, a critical concern when enabling autonomous systems to transact.
According to MoonPay, private keys within the framework are:
- Encrypted at rest
- Temporarily decrypted only during transaction signing
- Immediately erased from memory after use
This design aims to reduce the attack surface while maintaining the flexibility needed for real-time, programmatic transactions.
AI Agents Enter the Financial Layer
MoonPay’s announcement comes amid a broader push across the crypto industry to integrate AI systems directly into financial infrastructure.
On the same day, digital asset custodian BitGo revealed it had launched a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, allowing AI-powered tools to interact with its platform using natural language. The integration enables agents to navigate wallet operations, transaction flows, and staking processes without traditional interfaces.
Meanwhile, other initiatives are exploring machine-driven payments, including:
- Coinbase’s x402 protocol, enabling stablecoin payments over HTTP
- Tools developed by Visa and Stripe-backed Tempo, allowing AI systems to initiate and execute transactions programmatically
Together, these developments point to a rapidly evolving landscape where software agents act as independent economic participants, interacting with both blockchain and traditional financial systems.
Toward a Unified AI-Crypto Stack
The introduction of the Open Wallet Standard highlights a broader transition in crypto infrastructure—from tools designed for human users to systems built for autonomous, machine-native interaction.
By standardizing how AI agents manage wallets and execute transactions, MoonPay is attempting to lay the groundwork for a more cohesive ecosystem—one where agents can move seamlessly across chains, protocols, and applications without fragmentation.
As AI continues to expand its role in digital economies, interoperability and security at the wallet level may prove essential. Initiatives like OWS suggest that the industry is beginning to converge on shared frameworks, potentially accelerating the development of fully autonomous financial systems powered by blockchain technology.
