- In today’s CEO Daily: The agentic economy is starting to take shape.
- The big leadership story: United Airlines’ ‘premiumization’ strategy is paying off.
- The markets: Mixed globally as chipmakers continue to slide.
- Plus: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune.
Good morning. How do you plan to move your company’s money when AI agents start doing the buying and selling for you? And how can you make sure that agentic commerce is accurate, compliant, fast, and smart? A year after the GENIUS Act passed, a wave of new stablecoins, platforms, and partnerships point to how the ecosystem is taking shape.
The most compelling scenario I’ve seen so far comes from Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire, who last week published an 18,500-word treatise called The Agentic Economy. (There are several iterations available, including a 60-second version.) He argues that the “planetary nervous system for information” must now be matched by a “circulatory system for value.” If AI is the new operating system for intelligence, blockchain is the new operating system for the economy. In other words, Allaire writes, “an economy run by software agents must run on software money, software contracts, and software governance, or it cannot run at all.”
Allaire, of course, makes the case for Circle’s USDC, a regulated stablecoin that can be redeemed 1:1 for U.S. dollars, along with the growing ecosystem around it. Among other things, the global fintech company just got approval to establish a federally regulated national trust bank. There’s a lot happening across this space that leaders should pay attention to:
Stablecoin innovation: You may know Tether, the popular and controversial stablecoin issuer from El Salvador with ties to the family of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. (Here’s a terrific feature from my colleague Jeff John Roberts.) New offerings are emerging. Keep an eye on Open Standard, which is partnering with Stripe, Visa, Blackrock and about 140 other firms to launch a new stablecoin this year called Open USD. Instead of the reserve income being held by a single issuer, it’s shared with partners who can also mint and redeem tokens at no cost. Why would consumer brands like Walmart, Amazon and Starbucks launch their own stablecoins? It could let them bypass credit card fees to securely settle transactions at a fraction of the cost.
New ecosystems: The winners of today might not dominate the onchain economy of tomorrow. In Visa’s recent earnings call , CEO Ryan McInerney predicted agentic commerce “will expand our addressable market,” with stablecoins and blockchain showing “significant opportunities” for growth. Visa launched a new platform last week to provide stablecoin services to more than 200 million merchants. SWIFT, the network linking more than 11,500 financial institutions, now has a blockchain-based ledger. Circle’s Allaire, meanwhile, has told me about the power of building a full-stack platform, from the open-source Arc blockchain infrastructure to nanopayments for agents in the application layer, from coins to compliance.
Winners: The landscape keeps shifting, from Stripe’s bid to buy PayPal to new currencies and platforms. Guidelines for managing agentic commerce are evolving as the technology is put to use. Look at who is attracting respected talent to their teams, top developers to their platform and top partners into their ecosystem? Putting a toll booth on a popular and safe highway that everyone wants to use is better than trying to monetize access to a neighborhood that people don’t know or trust.
Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com
Top leadership news
Inside United’s ‘premiumization’ strategy
United Airlines has spent years training passengers to pay more for roomier seats, perks, and loyalty benefits, and that “premiumization” push is paying off. Higher-yield cabins are helping offset a fuel-cost shock and lift revenue even as basic fares stay under pressure. The strategy is turning United’s best seats—and the passengers who buy them—into the core engine of its earnings story.
Trump’s choices as Iran war resumes
The Trump administration appears to have lost the upper hand in the Iran war and faces a stark choice: escalate the conflict in a prolonged morass resembling Ukraine or capitulate and let Iran control the world’s leading energy artery with the ability to charge service fees for passage and recoup costs, a toll in all but name.
Bond market greets new U.K. leader
Andy Burnham will become the United Kingdom’s seventh prime minister in a decade today. “But investors know it’s the bond market that will call the shots in the $4.2 trillion economy no matter who sits in the prime minister’s office,” wrote Wall Street veteran Ed Yardeni, who coined the term “bond vigilantes.”
The markets
S&P 500 futures are up 0.23% this morning. The last session closed down 1.01%. The STOXX Europe 600 was up 0.02% in early trading. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 was down 0.31% in early trading. Japan’s markets are closed today. South Korea’s KOSPI is down 4.46%. China’s CSI 300 was up 1.53%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 2.36%. India’s NIFTY 50 was down 0.40%. Bitcoin was up at $64K.
Around the watercooler
SpaceX stock falls back to earth shortly after Wall Street analysts release florid targets: ‘Paving the superhighway to the stars’ by Shawn Tully
‘Right to repair’ is coming to cars, but there’s still this big blind spot as consumers demand more autonomy by Joshua Hong
CEO Daily is curated and edited by Joseph Abrams, Jason Ma, Claire Zillman, and Lee Clifford.
