[ppsreejith]

Ben Thompson's latest article deals with a possible solution to this issue: https://stratechery.com/2025/the-agentic-web-and-original-si...

Tl;dr* He claims ads were the original sin of the web, built for a human internet. For the coming agentic web where most browsing would be done by agents, he proposes a new protocol that has payments integrated into it. Specifically agents paying for accessing content using micropayments with stablecoins.

Also interesting to note that this is one of the most submitted articles of Stratechery to HN but gained no traction. Latest submission: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44073241

* A summary can also be found here: https://stratechery.com/2025/the-upheaval-coming-for-the-int...

[Macha]

People have been predicting micropayments replacing ads (with differing technology implementations) for decades at this point and it's never come to fruition, so is unlikely to be taken seriously now either.

Tying it to cryptocurrency just seems like it's even less likely to get your regular Joe to onboard to this scheme, so I can see why it's never gained wider interest.

[ppsreejith]

The difference here is that humans aren't the ones using the stablecoins or micropayments. Agents are. Humans will interact with agents like they currently do.

Honestly, some form of digital credits work just as well here IMO (barring regulatory hurdles). No crypto necessary.