Circle Launches Nanopayments Testnet for Gas-Free Microtransactions, Targeting Agentic Economy

Circle has launched Nanopayments on testnet, a payment primitive enabling gas-free USDC transfers as small as $0.000001 through offchain aggregation and batched onchain settlement.

The March 10, 2026 release, powered by Circle Gateway, is designed to support high-frequency, sub-cent payments required for autonomous agent transactions, pay-per-call APIs, and machine-to-machine economic activity across 12 supported blockchain testnets.

Technical Architecture and Problem Statement

Legacy Payment Limitations

Traditional payment rails established decades ago were not designed for the high frequency and ultra-fine granularity required for autonomous agents making countless sub-cent payments. Fixed fees and operational overhead drive up the cost of these transactions, rendering ultra-small payments uneconomical under conventional systems.

Standard onchain transactions, while meaningfully more efficient than legacy systems, still face economic realities that hinder high-frequency, sub-cent payments. When settled individually, a typical onchain transaction fee can overshadow the payment value itself. Even on low-cost blockchains, fees for a $0.0001 transfer can represent 1,000 to 5,000 percent of the total amount.

Nanopayments Solution

Circle Nanopayments addresses these bottlenecks through offchain aggregation and delayed, batched onchain settlement. By bundling thousands of transactions into a single onchain settlement, the system reduces gas fees to zero for developers, with onchain costs covered by Circle at the batch settlement layer.

This delayed settlement approach makes agentic payments economically viable at scale, allowing developers to build applications that transfer value nearly instantly without paying gas fees for individual transactions. By eliminating per-transaction gas, Nanopayments enables business models built around true sub-cent value exchange.

Transaction Flow and Implementation

Payment Authorization Process

Nanopayments works on any Gateway-supported EVM chain while following the x402 standard, which allows any agent to pay any merchant without creating an account or adding a credit card. The transaction flow operates as follows:

1. When an agent initiates a payment, it signs an EIP-3009 authorization—a signed token transfer authorization message—that is forwarded to the Circle Nanopayments API.

2. Nanopayments validates the signature, adjusts the agent’s internal ledger balance, and provides instant confirmation to the merchant.

3. The merchant can then release the good or service immediately.

4. Actual onchain settlement occurs periodically in the background.

Developer Capabilities

The infrastructure enables developers to confidently implement pay-per-call APIs, real-time compute billing, pay-per-crawl search, and autonomous service marketplaces where every interaction carries programmable value. Each of these use cases becomes economically viable when per-transaction gas costs are eliminated.

Real-World Validation

OpenMind Collaboration

Nanopayments has already been validated in practice through Circle’s collaboration with open-source robotics software developer OpenMind. In the demonstration, an autonomous robot dog used Nanopayments to complete transactions in USDC to recharge itself.

This agent-driven payment loop demonstrates autonomous software initiating payment, receiving near-instant confirmation, and continuing a workflow—such as recharging—while settlement is handled later via batching. The collaboration illustrates early stages of the agentic economy, signaling a near future where robots and agents increasingly exist as fully independent economic actors.

Testnet Availability and Supported Chains

Current Deployment

Circle Nanopayments is currently available on testnet for developers building applications that incorporate sub-cent payments. As of February 2026, Nanopayments is supported on the testnet of the following chains:

• Arbitrum

• Arc

• Avalanche

• Base

• Ethereum

• HyperEVM

• Optimism

• Polygon PoS

• Sei

• Sonic

• Unichain

• World Chain

Development Resources

For the most up-to-date supported chain list and implementation details, developers can refer to the Nanopayments documentation. The infrastructure is designed to be accessible for builders creating applications ranging from pay-per-crawl search to usage-based billing and machine-to-machine marketplaces.

FAQ: Circle Nanopayments

Q: What is Circle Nanopayments and how does it work?

A: Circle Nanopayments is a payment primitive that enables gas-free USDC transfers as small as $0.000001. It works by aggregating thousands of transactions offchain and settling them in batches onchain, with gas costs covered by Circle at the settlement layer. Transactions use EIP-3009 authorizations and follow the x402 standard for account-free payments.

Q: Why are Nanopayments needed for the agentic economy?

A: Traditional payment rails and even standard onchain transactions become uneconomical for high-frequency, sub-cent payments because fixed fees can exceed payment values by 1,000 to 5,000 percent. Nanopayments eliminates per-transaction gas costs, making it viable for autonomous agents to make countless micropayments for services like API calls, compute billing, and machine-to-machine transactions.

Q: Which blockchains support Nanopayments on testnet?

A: Nanopayments testnet is currently available on 12 EVM chains including Arbitrum, Avalanche, Base, Ethereum, Optimism, Polygon PoS, and World Chain. The full list is maintained in the Nanopayments documentation.

Q: What real-world use cases have been demonstrated?

A: Circle collaborated with OpenMind to demonstrate an autonomous robot dog using Nanopayments to pay for recharging services in USDC. This validates agent-driven payment loops where software can initiate payments, receive instant confirmation, and continue workflows while settlement occurs later in batches.