Polkadot-based interoperability protocol Moonbeam said it is moving to Ethereum’s Layer 2 base to launch an AI agent communications and settlement network aimed at capturing a piece of the emerging market.
“This is a shift towards the most exciting frontier in cryptography: autonomous AI agents that find each other, negotiate for work, and pay each other completely on-chain, without intermediaries,” Moonbeam he said in a statement announcing the Moonbeam Protocol on Friday.
“We believe AI-powered on-chain coordination represents a significant long-term opportunity. This transition allows us to focus resources around this direction,” Moonbeam added.
Moonbeam did not provide a timeline for the launch of the Moonbeam protocol.
Source: Moonbeam
Agent development has seen wide adoption in the cryptocurrency industry, with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire among executives predicting that AI agents will become the dominant users of blockchain-based payments in the coming years.
Coinbase’s x402 payments protocol has been one of the biggest drivers of this trend, while Layer 1 blockchain networks Aptos and Near have also developed infrastructure to support agent-led onchain activity.
However, adoption in the blockchain payments space has not been effortless, and Artemis data shows that the x402 protocol has only facilitated $2 million in turnover in the last 30 days.
The development of AI agents is also progressing slowly in Gigantic Tech, with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg saying on Thursday that the technology has not accelerated the company’s workflow as quickly as expected.
Moonbeam dealt a blow to Polkadot
Several members of the crypto community said that Moonbeam’s pivot marked a major setback for the Polkadot ecosystem, with one user X vocation Moonbeam Polkadot’s “flagship project.”
“This is a real pain for Polkadot,” another X user he said.
Moonbeam launched on the Polkadot parachain in January 2022, providing developers with the ability to build Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible applications directly within the Polkadot ecosystem.
Moonbeam users instructed to migrate tokens
Moonbeam (GLMR) holders will need to link their tokens to Moonbeam’s Polkadot parachain to the database before July 31, 2026, including GLMR pegged to credit markets, staking contracts and other decentralized finance protocols, Moonbeam said.
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People holding the token on the centralized exchange will not need to take any action, Moonbeam said.
Moonbeam stated that it will continue to provide cross-chain interoperability services on the Polkadot parachain during the transition period and will not abandon its existing builders or infrastructure providers.
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