While many people are still focused on the old methods of lending and staking within the Bitcoin ecosystem, the GOAT Network has already begun to shift its focus toward the 'Agentic Economy.' In simple terms, this means enabling AI agents to conduct secure and autonomous transactions and payments on Bitcoin.
First, let's look at an interesting study from a data perspective. The Bitcoin Policy Institute conducted a series of tests, running 36 cutting-edge AI models across 9,072 control scenarios, and the results are quite clear: in 48.3% of cases, the models favored Bitcoin as the preferred currency tool; in scenarios requiring a store of value, this ratio jumped to 79.1%, and not a single model placed fiat currency in the top position.
What's more interesting is that the stronger the model, the more obvious its preference for Bitcoin; for instance, at the level of Claude Opus 4.5, it can reach 91%. The preference fluctuates very little under different experimental conditions, with a variance of only 0.6%.
Why would AI choose this way? Viewed through the framework of GOAT Network, it makes sense. Their proposed argument (agent standards)—that humans need a currency free from political interference, and machines also need a currency free from human intermediaries—is empirically supported. AI agents cannot open accounts, sign contracts, or call customer service; they require finality, certainty, and 24/7 availability—issues that are marginal in traditional finance but are necessities in autonomous agents.
Bitcoin L1 is clearly not the execution environment; costs, throughput, and programmability are insufficient for agents. Therefore, Bitcoin-secured L2 has become a necessary link, and GOAT's layout in this area is not just about building a bridge, setting up a vault, or stacking some yield. What they are doing now has already evolved from the initial 'Bitcoin-secured DeFi' to 'digital economic infrastructure.'
Looking at the recent directions they are pushing, they are very targeted:
On the user side, there is a movement toward Stage 3, where chatting with GOATLightbot allows one to learn how to bridge assets to the mainnet, and sharing a screenshot can enter a $200 reward pool. The community atmosphere on Discord and Twitter is quite lively, and it also helped popularize the concept of BTCFi.
Another initiative is the global hackathon, in collaboration with @MetisL2, held in San Francisco, Shenzhen, and Chennai, with Toronto next. The focus is on encouraging developers to build AI Agents, supporting cross-chain payments, using BTC or ETH for native payments directly, bypassing bridges. There are quite a few developers deploying Agents on-site, and prizes like the Mac Mini are indeed being awarded, providing tangible incentives for builders. This includes a joint draw with @emcd_io for Whoop 5.0 bands plus membership; although it looks like a welfare activity, it actually connects community engagement with users' life scenarios. When market fluctuations are significant, such details can indeed enhance goodwill.
Technologically, there has been no lag. After the x402 payment standard was implemented on GOAT, the threshold for AI agents to conduct cross-chain payments has significantly lowered. The BitVM2 testnet is iterating, and the degree of decentralization in bridging is increasing. The team is simultaneously building merchant tools and agent infrastructure; it may not seem very lively, but the work is substantial—it's the first decentralized sorter on Bitcoin, plus a self-developed universal zkVM (Ziren), which directly enables BTC to become income-generating capital while avoiding many risks associated with smart contracts.
GOAT's native design for AI agents is also quite detailed. An agent is not a person; it doesn't press buttons, open bank accounts, or sign contracts, so it requires an identity system, cross-chain payment capabilities, coordination mechanisms, and a reputation system. ERC-8004 is used for registration, and the optimized version of the x402 standard solves the problem of integrating multi-chain payments in one go. Transfers, settlements, and verifications between agents are fully settled in Bitcoin, without relying on any third-party trust. Once this underlying design is operational, it won't just be DeFi scenarios on top of it, but a complete operating system for autonomous economic activities between agents.
From an overall perspective, GOAT aims to make Bitcoin the core settlement layer of the AI economy, with gas paid in real BTC and returns also settled in BTC, rather than relying on issuing air tokens to maintain the economic model. This logic is different from many L2 solutions; others may be replicating Ethereum's DeFi operations on Bitcoin, while GOAT is more like writing a set of economic activity infrastructure that both humans and machines can autonomously participate in.
GOAT is currently pushing three lines simultaneously: community engagement, developer ecology, and user education. The OpenClaw global hackathon, AgentKit tools, Lightbot interaction, and merchant tools are all driving builders to get agents running rather than just remaining in the conceptual discussion stage.
As AI agents gain more control over funds and economic autonomy in the future, their inclination towards Bitcoin as a monetary base will become increasingly evident. GOAT Network has preemptively laid down the execution environment, payment standards, identity systems, and coordination mechanisms, which provides a significant first-mover advantage in the upcoming agent economy phase.
GOAT's upward space and investment value come more from its redefinition of Bitcoin L2 positioning—not merely as a simple asset bridge and yield generation but as a neutral settlement infrastructure for autonomous economic participants.
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