As artificial intelligence continues its rapid evolution, 2026 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for enterprises worldwide. Forward-thinking organisations are no longer experimenting with isolated AI tools; instead, they are assembling entire teams of autonomous AI agents designed to manage workflows, negotiate transactions, and make operational decisions across departments.
However, as the agent economy accelerates, a critical challenge is coming sharply into focus: trust, governance, and accountability.
Industry analysts are already sounding the alarm. In October, IDC released one of its enterprise technology predictions for the next five years, warning that by 2030, nearly 20% of Global 1000 companies may face lawsuits, regulatory fines, or even executive dismissals due to failures in AI agent oversight and governance.
So how can enterprises deploy AI agents at scale without exposing themselves to systemic risk? And how can autonomous agents from different companies safely interact, transact, and collaborate without relying on fragile, centralised systems?
A new infrastructure initiative called Masumi Network believes it has the answer.
The Coming Explosion of the AI Agent Economy
AI agents are no longer theoretical constructs. They are rapidly becoming operational tools capable of handling customer service, procurement, marketing optimisation, logistics planning, financial reconciliation, and more.
What makes the next phase different is agent-to-agent interaction.
Instead of humans orchestrating every task, AI agents will increasingly:
- Discover other agents
- Negotiate services
- Exchange data
- Execute payments
- Enforce contractual logic autonomously
This shift introduces massive efficiency gains—but also unprecedented complexity.
According to Patrick Tobler, founder and CEO of blockchain infrastructure provider NMKR, the future will consist of billions of AI agents operating across organisational boundaries.
“The hard problem isn’t creating AI agents,” Tobler explains. “It’s enabling agents from completely different companies to interact with each other, transact value, and do so in a way that is verifiable, secure, and trustworthy.”
That problem is precisely where Masumi Network enters the picture.
Introducing Masumi Network: Infrastructure for Autonomous Trust
Launched in late 2024, Masumi Network is the result of a collaboration between NMKR and the Serviceplan Group, Europe’s largest independent agency group.
Rather than being another AI platform or proprietary ecosystem, Masumi positions itself as a framework-agnostic, decentralised infrastructure layer designed specifically for AI agents.
Its stated mission is to:
“Empower developers to build autonomous agents that collaborate, monetise services, and maintain verifiable trust.”
In simpler terms, Masumi is building the rails that allow AI agents to safely work together—regardless of who built them or where they operate.
Why Trust Is the Missing Layer in AI Agent Systems
Today’s AI deployments typically rely on:
- Centralised APIs
- Platform-controlled payment systems
- Proprietary identity and permission layers
While this works inside a single organisation, it breaks down when agents need to interact across companies or jurisdictions.
Consider the legal and operational risks:
- Who is accountable if an agent makes a bad decision?
- How do you verify that an agent is authorised to act?
- How do you ensure payments are executed correctly?
- What happens if a central platform fails or is compromised?
IDC’s warning highlights that lack of governance and control will be one of the biggest failure points in enterprise AI adoption.
Masumi’s approach replaces fragile trust assumptions with cryptographic guarantees.
How Masumi Network Works
At its core, Masumi Network is a decentralised network of AI agents built on blockchain infrastructure.
Instead of relying on central intermediaries:
- Each agent has its own on-chain identity
- Each agent controls its own wallet
- Transactions between agents are cryptographically verifiable
- Payments are executed using stablecoins
This architecture enables agents to interact in a trustless environment—meaning trust is enforced by the system itself, not by human oversight or institutional reputation.
“Masumi doesn’t rely on any centralised payment infrastructure,” Tobler says. “Agents can send stablecoins directly to other agents. That makes interactions secure, auditable, and independent.”
A Real-World Example: AI Agents in Travel
To understand the implications, consider a common scenario in corporate travel.
An employee plans to attend an industry conference. Instead of manually booking everything, they rely on a network of AI agents:
- A travel planning agent
- A hotel booking agent
- An airline ticketing agent
- A corporate expense agent
In a Masumi-enabled environment:
- The hotel agent requests a flight option from the airline agent
- The airline agent responds with pricing and availability
- Payment is executed agent-to-agent using stablecoins
- The transaction is recorded on-chain
- All parties can verify the outcome
No central booking platform. No human intervention. No opaque intermediaries.
The result is a seamless experience built on verifiable trust.
Why Blockchain Makes Sense for AI Agents (Not Humans)
Tobler’s insight comes from years spent working in the cryptocurrency space.
“I realised that many of the problems we solved in crypto were actually solved for the wrong audience,” he says.
For humans, blockchain technology often feels cumbersome:
- Wallet management is complex
- User interfaces are unintuitive
- Transaction processes are confusing
But AI agents don’t experience friction.
“Agents don’t care if something is difficult to use,” Tobler explains. “They just execute.”
For autonomous systems, blockchain is not a usability challenge—it’s a native environment.
In fact, many of the challenges emerging in the agent economy—identity, payment, verification, coordination—are problems that blockchain has already solved.
Cardano as the Foundation Layer
Masumi Network is built entirely on the Cardano blockchain, a platform known for its research-driven development, formal verification, and focus on long-term scalability.
NMKR itself originated on Cardano, making the choice a natural fit.
According to Tobler, Cardano’s architecture offers:
- High security assurances
- Predictable transaction costs
- Strong decentralisation
- A mature smart contract ecosystem
These characteristics are essential for infrastructure that aims to support mission-critical AI agent interactions at global scale.
Governance, Compliance, and Enterprise Readiness
One of the most compelling aspects of Masumi Network is its potential role in enterprise governance.
Because interactions are recorded on-chain:
- Transactions are auditable
- Agent actions can be traced
- Compliance reporting becomes simpler
- Disputes can be resolved with objective data
This directly addresses the governance failures highlighted in IDC’s prediction.
By embedding accountability into the infrastructure itself, Masumi reduces reliance on manual oversight and post-hoc audits.
Bridging the Gap Between AI Hype and Business Reality
Tobler is acutely aware that many businesses feel overwhelmed by AI narratives.
“There are a lot of companies hearing about AI every day,” he says, “but they’re not really using it beyond tools like ChatGPT.”
His goal is not to push speculative technology, but to listen first.
“I want to understand what businesses are actually doing today, and then figure out how we can help them. Too many tech startups build inside their own bubble.”
This pragmatic mindset may prove crucial as enterprises transition from experimentation to real-world deployment of autonomous systems.
Masumi Network and the Future of Digital Commerce
The implications of agent-based commerce extend far beyond travel.
Potential use cases include:
- Automated procurement networks
- AI-driven supply chains
- Decentralised advertising marketplaces
- Autonomous financial reconciliation
- Machine-to-machine service economies
In each case, the ability for agents to discover, negotiate, and transact securely is foundational.
Masumi Network positions itself as the neutral layer that makes this possible.
Industry Visibility at AI & Big Data Expo Global
Patrick Tobler is presenting Masumi Network as part of Discover Cardano at the AI & Big Data Expo Global, taking place in London on February 4–5.
The event brings together enterprise leaders, technologists, and policymakers exploring the future of AI, data, and digital infrastructure.
Discover Cardano’s presence highlights growing interest in blockchain-based solutions for AI governance and interoperability.
A Glimpse Into an Agent-Driven Future
As organisations prepare for a world where AI agents operate with increasing autonomy, the question is no longer whether agent economies will exist—but how they will be governed.
Masumi Network represents a bold attempt to answer that question by combining:
- Decentralised infrastructure
- Blockchain-based trust
- Autonomous AI systems
If successful, it could become a foundational layer for the next generation of digital commerce—one where machines don’t just assist humans, but collaborate with each other securely and transparently.
And in a future where billions of AI agents interact every second, trust may be the most valuable currency of all.