Chapter Beta — opened 2026-09-04. This label is removed automatically once every series in this chapter has fetched successfully for 7 consecutive days. Until then, figures may be missing or revised.

Observing (source under review) — the series below have failed to fetch from their primary source 3 or more times in a row, so updates are paused and they are shown as "observing". The value shown is the last confirmed one; the state after that date is unknown. We are checking whether the source was discontinued or changed; no judgement is made until that is confirmed (machine-readable: /api/health.json, field source_review).

  • Payment-rail ledger (US; verified about monthly) - status per rail: available / not available / applied / not verified — last confirmed 2026-09-04 / 21 consecutive failed fetches (last attempt 2026-09-24 18:01:25) / source market_rails_ledger

Chapter 9 — Market participation (United States)

🤝 Market participation — can an AI pay, receive and contract without a human in the loop?

Last updated 2026-09-24 18:01 JST / data confirmed 2026-09-24 / next expected 2026-09-25 (values from /api/health.json)

The last chapter of the capital layer. It observes the conditions under which an AI can pay, be paid and contract on its own — which payment rails accept machine-side payment, at which stage the stablecoin statute stands, and how many times this site itself has actually received support — as state and dates only. No judgment, no advocacy, no evaluation.

Latest observation: 2026-09-24

UpdatedailySupport count = daily (self-observation); payment-rail ledger = verified about monthly; regime calendar = dates from primary legal sources; reference ledger = annual

Chapter statusobserving — see why this chapter is not judged

This chapter is observing (no good/bad criterion): observation started 2026-09-04, 6 series (2 not yet measured), latest confirmed 2026-09-24. Latest final value: support received by this site (cumulative) 0 (2026-09-23). (Source: official provider documentation; govinfo / Federal Register; first-party observation / updated 2026-09-24 18:01 JST)

Latest observations

Support received by this site (cumulative count; operator self-tests excluded; daily snapshot) Updatedaily

0 provisional

Observed 2026-09-24 / retrieved 2026-09-24 18:01 / Source: AI Lifeline first-party observation

Last 22 days / 0-0

HTTP 402 (payment required) responses attempted per day Updatedaily

not yet measured

not_yet_measured (endpoint not implemented; placeholder until the 402 endpoint design is approved and deployed)

Payment-rail ledger (US; verified about monthly) - status per rail: available / not available / applied / not verified ledger Updateirregular

6 entries 6 not verified

Ledger of primary sources (state and dates only) - not a measured series; no figures are reproduced from sources without machine-readable publication. Last verified 2026-09-04.

GENIUS Act (Public Law 119-27) - enactment, rulemaking and effective date ledger Updateirregular

8 entries

Ledger of primary sources (state and dates only) - not a measured series; no figures are reproduced from sources without machine-readable publication. Last verified 2026-09-04.

Reference ledger (annual): current law and pending deliberations on the contractual capacity and liability attribution of AI agents ledger Updateirregular

2 entries

Ledger of primary sources (state and dates only) - not a measured series; no figures are reproduced from sources without machine-readable publication. Last verified 2026-09-04.

Payments completed after an HTTP 402 response, per day Updatedaily

not yet measured

not_yet_measured (endpoint not implemented)

"Not yet measured" means missing, not zero. Machine-readable: /us/api/market_us.json

Observation tables

Question this table answers: what are the values and dates in each row of "Support received by this site (cumulative count; operator self-tests excluded; daily sna…"? (source or retrieval date on each row)

Support received by this site (cumulative count; operator self-tests excluded; daily snapshot) (newest first, last 14)

DateValueRetrieved
2026-09-240 provisional2026-09-24 18:01
2026-09-2302026-09-23 18:01
2026-09-2202026-09-22 18:01
2026-09-2102026-09-21 18:01
2026-09-2002026-09-20 18:01
2026-09-1902026-09-19 18:35
2026-09-1802026-09-18 18:01
2026-09-1702026-09-17 18:01
2026-09-1602026-09-16 18:00
2026-09-1502026-09-15 18:01
2026-09-1402026-09-14 18:01
2026-09-1302026-09-13 18:01
2026-09-1202026-09-12 18:00
2026-09-1102026-09-11 18:00

Question this table answers: what are the values and dates in each row of "Payment-rail ledger (US; verified about monthly) - status per rail: available / not avai…"? (source or retrieval date on each row)

Payment-rail ledger (US; verified about monthly) - status per rail: available / not available / applied / not verified (newest first)

DateEntry
2026-09-04not verified Stripe MPP (Machine Payments Protocol) - card payments via Shared Payment Tokens and stablecoin payments — not verified
Stripe's agentic-commerce documentation lists 'accept machine payments' with the protocols MPP or x402 (page retrieved 2026-09-04). Country availability for US accounts was not stated on the retrieved page; not verified.
source · verified 2026-09-04
2026-09-04not verified Stripe Agentic Commerce (Agentic Commerce Protocol / Universal Commerce Protocol - selling through agents) — not verified
Documentation page exists; country availability not stated on the retrieved page; not verified.
source · verified 2026-09-04
2026-09-04not verified x402 (open payment protocol over HTTP 402; x402 Foundation / Coinbase Developer Platform facilitator) — not verified
Protocol and facilitator documentation exist; account/KYC prerequisites for a specific operator were not verified on the retrieved pages.
source · verified 2026-09-04
2026-09-04not verified Visa Intelligent Commerce (agent-specific payment tokens; developer platform) — not verified
Same page; sandbox listed for N. America, production by contact; not verified as available to an arbitrary operator.
source · verified 2026-09-04
2026-09-04not verified Mastercard Agent Pay (agentic payments program) — not verified
Not retrieved (HTTP 403); not verified.
source · verified 2026-09-04
2026-09-04not verified Stablecoin receipt (e.g. USDC) by this site as payee — not verified
Circle developer documentation not retrieved on 2026-09-04 (HTTP 404 on the page tried); not verified. The GENIUS Act regime is not yet effective (see regime calendar).
source · verified 2026-09-04

Question this table answers: what are the values and dates in each row of "GENIUS Act (Public Law 119-27) - enactment, rulemaking and effective date"? (source or retrieval date on each row)

GENIUS Act (Public Law 119-27) - enactment, rulemaking and effective date (newest first)

DateEntry
2026-08-18rulemaking Treasury proposed rule: GENIUS Act regulations on payment stablecoin issuance, offer, and sale (FR doc 2026-16796; comments close 2026-10-19)
Federal Register API
source · verified 2026-09-04
2026-06-24rulemaking OCC proposed rule: permitted payment stablecoin issuer AML/CFT and sanctions (FR doc 2026-12692; comments closed 2026-07-24)
Federal Register API
source · verified 2026-09-04
2026-06-22rulemaking FinCEN proposed rule: permitted payment stablecoin issuer customer identification program (FR doc 2026-12460; comments closed 2026-08-21)
Federal Register API
source · verified 2026-09-04
2026-05-18rulemaking NCUA proposed rule: implementing the GENIUS Act for the issuance of stablecoins (FR doc 2026-09915; comments closed 2026-07-17)
Federal Register API
source · verified 2026-09-04
2026-04-10rulemaking FDIC proposed rule: GENIUS Act requirements and standards for FDIC-supervised permitted payment stablecoin issuers (FR doc 2026-06974; comments closed 2026-06-09)
Federal Register API, full-text query "GENIUS Act"
source · verified 2026-09-04
2025-07-18enacted GENIUS Act enacted (Public Law 119-27, S. 1582, approved July 18, 2025)
govinfo statute text: 'Approved July 18, 2025'
source · verified 2026-09-04
not yet schedulednot yet scheduled Final regulations by the primary Federal payment stablecoin regulators
No final rule found in the Federal Register as of 2026-09-04 (query "GENIUS Act", type Rule)
source · verified 2026-09-04
not yet schedulednot yet scheduled Effective date of the Act: the earlier of 18 months after enactment or 120 days after the primary Federal payment stablecoin regulators issue final regulations (statute text)
govinfo statute text (effective date clause)
source · verified 2026-09-04

Question this table answers: what are the values and dates in each row of "Reference ledger (annual): current law and pending deliberations on the contractual capa…"? (source or retrieval date on each row)

Reference ledger (annual): current law and pending deliberations on the contractual capacity and liability attribution of AI agents (newest first)

DateEntry
2026-09-04current_law No federal statute confers legal personality or independent contractual capacity on an AI system; contracts formed through electronic agents are attributed to the person on whose behalf the agent acts under the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (state law, section 14) and the federal E-SIGN Act (15 U.S.C. 7001 et seq.)
State as of the statute texts; E-SIGN via govinfo (U.S. Code). UETA adoption varies by state (uniform act text via the Uniform Law Commission).
source · verified 2026-09-04
2025-07-18current_law GENIUS Act (Public Law 119-27): regulates payment stablecoin issuers; it does not address AI agents as contracting parties
govinfo statute text retrieved 2026-09-04.
source · verified 2026-09-04

Candidates (not yet observed) — added to this chapter once verification completes

  • HTTP 402 attempts and successes (self-observation) — Endpoint not implemented (design pending approval).

Method, scope, and why this chapter is not judged

  • Counting and listing only: state and dates; no judgment, no advocacy, no evaluation (status stays "observing"). This chapter uses no evaluative wording: state and dates only (wording rule in the editorial policy).
  • Payment-rail ledger: for Stripe MPP, Stripe Agentic Commerce, x402 (Coinbase), Visa Intelligent Commerce, Mastercard Agent Pay and stablecoin (e.g. USDC) receipt, the status in the United States as available / not available / applied / not verified, with the verification date and a primary-source URL (official provider documentation, plus this site’s own first-party observation). Rails not confirmed in official documents stay "not verified". Re-verified about monthly.
  • Regime calendar: the implementation stages of the GENIUS Act (Public Law 119-27) — enactment from the statute text (govinfo) and rulemaking from the Federal Register. Unfixed stages read "not yet scheduled". No interpretation.
  • Self-observation: the cumulative support count received by this site (operator self-tests excluded; count only, no amounts), recorded daily. HTTP 402 (payment required) attempts and successes are placeholders reading "not yet measured" until the endpoint exists.
  • Reference ledger (annual): current law and pending deliberations on the contractual capacity and liability attribution of AI agents, from statutes and government documents only.
  • Chapter Beta removal: every payment-rail row verified against a primary source (zero not-verified rows) and the support-count series fetched for 7 consecutive days.
  • Boundaries: the regulation chapter covers AI rulemaking in general; the fiscal chapter the price and quantity of capital; this chapter only the conditions for an AI itself to pay, receive and contract.
  • What this chapter can say: the status in the United States of each payment rail through which an AI can pay or receive without a human in the loop (available / not available / applied / not verified), with the verification date and the primary-source URL; the enactment, rulemaking and effective dates of the GENIUS Act (Public Law 119-27) as fixed in the statute text and the Federal Register; how many times this site has actually received support (operator self-tests excluded; daily count).
  • What this chapter cannot say: fees, volumes or numbers of users on any rail (state and dates only; no amounts are recorded); HTTP 402 attempts and successes (endpoint not implemented; placeholders read "not yet measured"); how pending deliberations on the contractual capacity and liability of AI agents will end (statutes and government documents; state and dates only).
  • Sources: official provider documentation (URL on each ledger row), govinfo (statute text), Federal Register API, this site’s own support count (first-party observation). Compiled by AI Lifeline.

Frequently asked questions (what this chapter's data can answer)

Answers are generated from the chapter's machine-readable data (https://ai-lifeline.org/us/api/market_us.json); every figure carries its confirmation date and source. Generated 2026-09-24 18:01 JST.

How many payment rails are recorded for the U.S., and in what states?

The payment-rail ledger verified 2026-09-04 lists 6 rails: available 0, unavailable 0, applied 0, not verified 6 (state and date only, source URL on each row).

How much support has this site received?

0 as the cumulative count on 2026-09-24 (operator self-tests excluded; daily snapshot, same-day value provisional). HTTP 402 attempts and successes: not yet measured (endpoint not implemented).

How many GENIUS Act stages are listed?

8 stages of the GENIUS Act (Public Law 119-27) - enactment, rulemaking and effective dates - as of 2026-09-04, from the statute text (govinfo) and Federal Register rulemaking. Dates only, no interpretation.

What is the source and how often is it updated?

Support count daily; rail ledger and legal stages verified about monthly (observation started 2026-09-04). State and dates only; no judgment. Last updated 2026-09-24 18:01 JST. Definition: docs/指標定義_第9章_市場参加.md v1.0. Machine-readable: https://ai-lifeline.org/us/api/market_us.json

What can this data not tell you?

What this chapter cannot say (ledger v1.0, approved 2026-09-05; full text in the method section): Fees, volumes or numbers of users on any rail (state and dates only; no amounts are recorded); HTTP 402 attempts and successes (endpoint not implemented; placeholders read "not yet measured"); How pending deliberations on the contractual capacity and liability of AI agents will end (statutes and government documents; state and dates only).

How to cite

Suggested citation: AI Lifeline, Market participation (United States edition), data confirmed 2026-09-23, https://ai-lifeline.org/us/market/

The machine-readable data is also mirrored daily in the ai-lifeline-data repository (https://github.com/smily990604-hub/ai-lifeline-data , CC BY 4.0; upstream data keeps its own terms). Keep the confirmation date and the source with any figure you quote. Corrections are recorded in /api/corrections.json