Ripple AI Payments: Game Changer for XRP?

Ripple is introducing agentic AI payments to the XRP Ledger. On June 10, it released the XRP Ledger AI Starter Kit. This kit allows autonomous software agents to pay for services and fees using XRP and Ripple's dollar-backed stablecoin. They use x402, an open standard for machine-to-machine payments. What's interesting is that the x402 protocol already supports other blockchains, like Solana and Ethereum. This protocol launched in May 2025 and processed around 35 million transactions on Solana by March 2026. Here's the thing: Ripple is targeting financial institutions with its offering. It highlights fast transaction finality, low fees, and built-in compliance tools. However, even if this plan succeeds, XRP holders might not see a direct benefit. Every XRP transaction burns a minuscule fee, destroying the XRP instead of paying it to anyone. At the current pace, removing just one percent of the coin's outstanding supply would take over 154 years. The bottom line: While Ripple is innovating with AI payments, the impact on XRP holders might be limited due to the coin's tokenomics.