Global financial technology firm MoonPay has officially launched PayBox, the first payment vault engineered specifically for artificial intelligence agents. The platform allows AI assistants to transact across the open internet without requiring users to exit their active conversational threads.
Through a custom connector, users can link PayBox directly to AI interfaces like Claude or ChatGPT, giving their assistants the ability to execute financial transactions using natural language commands. Users can instruct the AI to complete tasks ranging from crypto onramping, token swaps, and yield optimization to everyday services such as booking flights and reserving dinner tables. The AI prepares the transaction parameters, which are then executed only after the user approves the action via a passkey.
Historically, conversational AI tools could execute code and answer queries but were unable to move money directly without transferring the user to an external terminal, developer tool, or third-party custodian. PayBox resolves this limitation by integrating directly into conversational platforms. Utilizing x402, an open standard designed for agent-initiated payments, the system enables AI to pay for services spanning DeFi, travel, and online retail, with initial integrations already active and additional platforms scheduled to roll out continuously.
To ensure safety and prevent common agentic payment fraud, PayBox operates without giving any single party outright custody of funds. Card credentials are processed through Visa’s agentic commerce protocol, ensuring raw card numbers are never stored or exposed to the AI. Meanwhile, crypto wallet keys are distributed using Multi-Party Computation (MPC) and Secure Enclaves (TEEs) built on Sodot’s key management infrastructure. Consequently, neither MoonPay, the device, nor the AI agent holds a complete key or can sign a transaction independently.
Users maintain control over their funds through customizable permission layers within PayBox. Under the “Always Ask” model, every individual action requires explicit passkey approval from a human user. Alternatively, the “Autonomous” setting allows the AI to execute transactions independently, provided they remain within user-defined limits. Every approval is strictly scoped to a single action and expires immediately after use to prevent authorization replay attacks.
At launch, PayBox supports major networks including Solana, Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, Polygon, Hyperliquid, Tempo, and Robinhood Chain. MoonPay plans to expand support to additional AI platforms while broadening PayBox’s decentralized finance capabilities to include routing swaps, perpetual futures trading, and liquidity management across the open market.
