Agent Spending Without Controls — Rodrigo Coelho & Pranav Maheshwari, Edge & Node
AI agent payments lack controls, requiring new infrastructure beyond legacy payment systems
“the missing infrastructure layer for AI payments”
Edge & Node CEO Rodrigo Coelho presents Ampersend, a payment controls layer built for autonomous AI agent transactions, arguing legacy payment infrastructure is insufficient for the agentic economy. The team contributed prior micropayment art to the X402 spec (Coinbase) and is collaborating with Google and Circle on nano-payment standards. The talk frames agent spending controls as the critical missing layer as autonomous agents increasingly transact on behalf of users.