Why we invested in Circuit & Chisel, agentic payments for the AI economy
AI agents are on the verge of independence. They can plan, reason, and act, but when it comes to paying for the tools and services they need, they hit a wall. Today’s payment systems weren’t built for software that acts on its own. That’s the problem Circuit & Chisel is solving. Founded in 2025 by Louis Amira and David Noël-Romas, both from Stripe’s crypto and AI teams, Circuit & Chisel is building the payment layer for the AI economy.
ATXP, their open protocol for agent-native payments, is designed for transactions that are nested, delegated, and composable. Imagine in today’s world of Netflix and YouTube having to drive to Blockbuster each time you wanted to watch the next video. That’s the gap AI agents face with legacy payments. With ATXP, an agent can buy a single report, get one-time access to a tool, or chain together services—without the clunky workarounds of credit cards or subscriptions.
ATXP is intentionally open. It was built because the agentic web needs a shared standard, not a closed system. Agents can hold wallets, tools can define their own access rules, and payments authorize usage directly. No API keys, no heavy user management—just a simple way for software to interoperate. Developers can plug in and make their services accessible to agents immediately.
Louis and David bring the right mix of expertise and credibility. At Stripe, Louis led crypto and AI partnerships; David ran crypto engineering. They left to pursue Circuit & Chisel’s vision, with Stripe not only endorsing them but investing heavily in their seed round. That combination of insider knowledge and outside ambition gives them a rare advantage.
As we build toward on-device AI and more capable assistants, secure autonomous payments are critical. Agents need the ability to buy content, services, or goods on a user’s behalf. Samsung is poised to capitalize on the intersection of AI agents and blockchain-based payments. With our longstanding thesis around both of these sectors, we believe the time is right for the convergence of the two and there is no better team to do it.
It’s still early, but timing matters. As agents mature, the ability to transact will unlock new workflows and business models. Today, Circuit & Chisel announced a $19.2M seed round led by Primary Venture Partners and ParaFi Capital. We at Samsung Next are proud to be part of the round alongside Stripe, Coinbase Ventures, Solana Ventures, and Polygon Labs, as well as industry operators and founders.
We believe payments are one of the most valuable layers in technology. Circuit & Chisel has the team, product, and timing to make ATXP the default rails for autonomous software. That’s why we invested.
Sam Campbell is an investor at Samsung Next. Samsung Next’s investment strategy is limited to its own views and does not reflect the vision or strategy of any other Samsung business unit, including, but not limited to, Samsung Electronics.