Chi Zhang

Building Agentic Payments @GoKiteAI, ex-@Databricks, PhD @UCBerkeley, @UWaterloo Alum

[Chi Zhang @ChiZhangData]

We launched @GoKiteAI a year ago on a simple bet: agents are the next users of the internet. Not hype. Not a demo. Real production. In the field, agents hit the same walls: Who am I? Can I pay? Who’s accountable?

We didn’t chase the buzz. We built the rails; plus a unified network that rewards the services agents need (data, models, APIs, real-world).

$33M raised so far, incl. a new $18M Series A led by @PayPal Ventures and @generalcatalyst.

Builders, service providers, and users: join us to shape the agentic economy.

Ok, back to building!

[KITE AI @GoKiteAI]

1/ We’re thrilled to announce our $18M Series A fundraise led by @PayPal Ventures and @generalcatalyst, bringing total cumulative funding to $33 million.

This funding fuels our mission to build the foundational infrastructure for the agentic internet – providing unified identity, governance and native access to stablecoin payments that enable agents to authenticate, transact, and coordinate securely without intermediaries.

We are incredibly grateful to our investors who support our mission: @PayPal Ventures, @generalcatalyst, @8VC, @SamsungNext, SBI US Gateway Fund, @vertexventures, @hashed_official, @HashKey_Capital, @DispersionVC, @AlumniVentures, @AvalancheFDN, @GSR_io, @LayerZero_Core, @animocabrands, @EssenceVenture, and @Alchemy.

A special thank you to our phenomenal angel investors: @EvanWeb3 (Co-founder and CEO, MystenLabs), Hao Min (VP, Circle), @edwinaoki (SVP, Nasdaq; ex- PayPal CTO of blockchain), Frank Chang (VP, Uber), @navinblockchain (CEO, Crystal Intelligence; ex-Ripple Managing Director), @BohanZhangOT (Member of Technical Staff, OpenAI), John Liu (Head of Product, AWS), @RosuGrigore (Professor, UIUC), Haiyan Huang (Professor, UC Berkeley), Sriram Vishwanath (Professor, Georgia Tech) and more.

Join us in building the future of the agentic internet.

Exclusive by @FortuneMagazine: https://t.co/IqFhbePaMw

[Chi Zhang @ChiZhangData]

Can't wait for @proofoftalk at the Louvre next week. 🇫🇷

Agents have moved way past copilots now they're full economic players handling real transactions and decisions. The trust layer is what actually decides who scales and who stays stuck in demos. That's exactly why we're building verifiable identity and agentic payments at Kite so enterprises can let agents act without the old bottlenecks.

Super pumped for the conversations that will shape how this plays out. See you in Paris 🪁

[Proof of Talk @proofoftalk]

AI agents will soon need to identify, transact, and verify each other without humans in the loop. @ChiZhangData is building the rails for it.

Chi Zhang, Co-founder and CEO of @GoKiteAI, takes the Louvre Palace stage on June 2 & 3 this summer.

Kite AI is building the base layer for the agentic internet, the trust and payment infrastructure that lets autonomous agents act as economic participants.

She was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Enterprise Technology in 2020 and mentors early-stage founders through StartX, Stanford's accelerator.

The Louvre Palace, June 2 & 3. The Davos of Web3.
https://t.co/U68vwnGOVb

[Chi Zhang @ChiZhangData]

As agents start doing more of the work, the talent game changes what we value most in people. The way teams and organizations work is evolving fast.

Awesome discussion with Toby 🪁

[KITE AI @GoKiteAI]

AI is changing what "best talent" means.

In Episode 16 of our "AI on AIR" podcast, our Co-Founders @ChiZhangData and @scottshics sat down with @tobystuart, Helzel Professor at @UCBerkeley Haas, to unpack how autonomous agents are reshaping work, hiring, and trust.

▷ The old signal was raw intelligence: find the smartest person for the job

▷ As coding Agents take on more of the actual work, the bottleneck shifts

▷ The winning profile may move toward judgment, adaptability, work ethic, and the ability to plan for where the world is headed

The agent economy is not just a payments problem. It is also a workforce, organization, and trust problem. 🪁

[Chi Zhang @ChiZhangData]

Agents are finally stepping out of the lab and into real balance sheets, and accountability is the key hurdle every time.

Professor Toby brings that perfect mix of research depth and boardroom reality. We're fortunate to have him joining us tomorrow. At Kite we're shipping the identity layer so enterprises can confidently let agents act for them without the worry.

Can't wait to unpack what the future org chart looks like.

[KITE AI @GoKiteAI]

The agent economy is more than a payments problem. It's a workforce, organizations, and trust problem.

As AI moves from white-collar copilot to autonomous economic actor, the harder questions arrive: How does this rewire teams, jobs, and management? What breaks when research meets production? And what trust primitives do enterprises actually need before they let an agent transact on their behalf?

Join us for Episode 16 of AI on AIR podcast as we explore how AI is reshaping work, organizations, and the infrastructure of trust.

Our founders @ChiZhangData and @scottshics will be joined by @tobystuart, Helzel Professor at @UCBerkeley Haas, Cofounder and Board Director of @FlockFreight, Board Director at HNTB Holdings and @FLYRlabs, and Chairman of @Workday's AI Advisory Board. Toby is one of the leading academic and operator voices on how AI is rewiring corporate strategy, organizational design, and the white-collar workforce.

📍 Live on Kite AI's X and LinkedIn
📅 May 22
🕐 9:00 AM PST
📌 Episode 16: From Research to Reality, How AI Is Reshaping Work, Organizations & Trust

We'll discuss:
• The founder/operator journey: the mental shift from academic research to product execution
• How AI is reshaping the white-collar workforce and the structure of the firm
• The intelligence and coordination layer that agents need to actually collaborate
• What trust primitives enterprises require before deploying agents in production
• Why so much agent work breaks at the research-to-execution boundary
• The pay-per-request economy (x402) and how usage-priced inference rewrites software economics
• Identity and accountability when an agent acts: how Kite Passport answers "who is responsible?"

Set your reminder and join us live. Before agents can run the agentic economy, we need to get the work, the org, and the trust layer right. 🪁

[Chi Zhang @ChiZhangData]

@JoinPond LFG!

[Chi Zhang @ChiZhangData]

🔺 Excited to be speaking at @avax Summit 2026 in NYC this September.

Looking forward to conversations around onchain finance, consumer apps, and why Avalanche is the only major blockchain built from the ground up for business.

📍 Chelsea Industrial
📅 Sept 16-17

🔗 https://t.co/nishY93riK

See you there 👋

[KITE AI @GoKiteAI]

Why credit cards can't power the agent economy, and what will.

At the @USC VanEck Southern California Blockchain Conference, our Co-founder & CEO @ChiZhangData broke down why existing payment infrastructure fails when AI agents transact:

▷ Privacy risk: Agents need your CVV, name, and card number with zero accountability.

▷ Fraud triggers: Automated browser clicks get flagged by Visa/Chase algorithms instantly.

▷ No agent identity: Agents can't sign up or sign in. Humans must intervene every time.

The fix?

Stablecoin-native rails with smart contract delegation. Giving agents a specific amount, a specific purpose, and a specific time window.

Not your whole wallet.

This is what Kite is building.

[KITE AI @GoKiteAI]

Introducing Kite Agent Passport

The key to Kite Mainnet. Let your agent pay, manage balances, and access funds, while you stay in control.

What's different?

▷ One line of code: Add Passport as a skill to pay across any LLM or framework.

▷ Control spending: Set limits and whitelist trusted recipients.

▷ Secure identity: Every agent gets a verifiable ID to execute payments.

▷ Agent-built stablecoin rails: Micro-payments, custom protections, verifiable spending, low cost, instant settlement.

All possible with Kite Agent Passport.

Let's dive into three demos. ⬇️

[KITE AI @GoKiteAI]

Kite Mainnet is now live.

This is not just another mainnet. It is the first blockchain built for agentic payments.

Designed for an agent-first internet, for builders, and for the future Agent Economy.

What makes Kite Mainnet different:

Built for builders and agents. Not chasing TVL. Not chasing the next DeFi cycle. Not competing for idle speculative capital.

Three layers, one platform:

• Settlement Layer: built for high-frequency, low-value, agent-driven stablecoin-native transactions.

• Kite Agent Passport: unifies identity, delegated authority, and programmable governance.

• Agent Interface & Experience: where agents and developers interact with the system through agent registration, agent harnesses, and service discovery.

A unified hub for all major payment protocol standards, including x402, Google AP2, and Stripe MPP.

Try Kite Agent Passport today: https://t.co/7tdztPHauj
Join our agentic community: https://t.co/oCQtTJRFBb

Let's build the rails for the Agent Economy.

[KITE AI @GoKiteAI]

Kite Mainnet: The Final Countdown

[KITE AI @GoKiteAI]

Thrilled that our Co-founder & CEO @ChiZhangData joined the "The Use of AI in Blockchain and Crypto" panel at the USC VanEck Southern California Blockchain Conference!

Had energizing discussions on how AI agents are reshaping on-chain economies alongside leaders from @solana, @AvaLabs, @LifeNetwork_AI and more. These conversations reinforced why purpose-built, secure payment infrastructure is essential for large-scale autonomous participation.

Huge thanks to @USC_VEDA and @0xBlockchainSC for hosting this high-signal university-led event!

Kite remains focused on building the first AI payment blockchain to power the agentic economy. The future is accelerating. 🪁

[KITE AI @GoKiteAI]

Yesterday our CTO @scottshics delivered a lecture at @UCBerkeley Haas MBA’s Industry Immersion program.

Thrilled to demo our agentic payments platform live. Watching AI agents autonomously discover, select, and complete real online purchases right in front of the next generation of business leaders was pure energy.

The discussions around the agentic economy were next-level. Huge thanks to @BerkeleyHaas for having us!

[Chi Zhang @ChiZhangData]

AI agents have leapt from copilots to economic actors, faster than the infrastructure around them.

Intelligence is getting cheap, verification is getting expensive. When agent throughput overtakes human audit capacity, this migration will define the next decade.

Agents need a coordination layer no single platform can rewrite. Getting that layer right is where the agentic economy actually begins.

iykyk 👀🪁

[a16z crypto @a16zcrypto]

https://t.co/9gWWVgitKA

[Chi Zhang @ChiZhangData]

Proud to see this wrap-up of Proof of AI Builder & Influencer Day in Seoul 🪁🇰🇷

Huge thanks to every speaker, partner, builder, and influencer who showed up with such conviction. The panels on the agentic economy, AI-native payments, regulatory realities, and decentralized intelligence delivered exactly the high-signal conversation the industry needs right now.

Korea continues to prove it’s one of the most dynamic and strategically important markets for the convergence of AI and crypto. The depth of talent, the regulatory understanding, and the builder mindset here are world-class.

At Kite we’re not just theorizing about autonomous agents, we’re building the first AI Payment Blockchain that will give them the economic rails to transact, settle, and thrive at scale.

This is only the beginning of the agentic economy. Grateful for everyone who made it happen, and even more excited for what’s next!

[KITE AI @GoKiteAI]

That's a wrap! Proof of AI · Builder & Influencer Day @ Korea Build Week 2026 🇰🇷🪁

Yesterday in Seoul, @GoKiteAI × PayPal Ventures convened the sharpest minds in AI × Crypto for a day dedicated to unpacking the Agentic Economy, AI Payments, and what it actually takes to build decentralized intelligence in Asia's most demanding market.

[Chi Zhang @ChiZhangData]

@JustinZhang Congrats!

[KITE AI @GoKiteAI]

Proof of AI - Builder and Influencer Day @ Korea Build Week 2026 🇰🇷🪁

@GoKiteAI × PayPal Ventures are bringing one of the strongest AI × Crypto gatherings to Seoul, diving deep into the Agentic Economy, AI Payments, and the future of decentralized intelligence.

👏 Amazing ecosystems & partners on board: @hashed_official @avax @monad @virtuals_io @brevis_zk @LINEjp_official @unifi_x @Tiger_Research_ @soohoio @INF_CryptoLab @MeetHubbleAI @DecipherGlobal @Unibase_AI and Naver

�� Top founders, VCs, builders & KOLs sharing high-signal insights on autonomous AI agents, agentic infrastructure, and the Open AI Economy.

🍹 Premium cocktails, great vibes, high-energy networking + project showcases in a curated space.

🪩 Connect with the brightest minds shaping the agentic internet against Seoul's vibrant backdrop.

📅 April 14, 2026
⏰ 15:00 – 20:00 (GMT+9)
📍 Club D Cheongdam 클럽디 청담, Gangnam-gu, Seoul

[Chi Zhang @ChiZhangData]

Catching up with everyone in SF tonight.

See you soon!

[KITE AI @GoKiteAI]

We’re excited to co-host a San Francisco local meetup on Trust in the Agent Era. Join us for a conversation at the intersection of agentic infrastructure, security, and digital payments, featuring leaders from @GenDigitalInc (NASDAQ: GEN), @AnthropicAI, @Kite (Agentic Payments), and @Tiny_Fish (Agentic Browser). Together, we’ll explore what’s working right now in this rapidly evolving space.

4/13 6pm - 8pm
AWS Builder Loft
525 Market St, San Francisco, CA 94105, USA
RSVP: https://t.co/OWWiF88dzT

[KITE AI @GoKiteAI]

Excited to announce our next partner for the Kite AI Global Hackathon 2026: @StanfordSBA @thebbfund! 🚀

The Stanford Blockchain Accelerator and the Blockchain Builders Fund bring world-renowned academic excellence and a vibrant community of innovators from Stanford University at the forefront of blockchain, cryptoeconomics, and AI research. Their partnership empowers the next generation of builders to develop truly autonomous agents that will redefine commerce and finance in the Agentic Economy.

This collaboration marks a significant milestone in building the foundational rails for the Agentic Economy.

Stay tuned. More strategic partners will be announced soon 👀

The Hackathon is live! Builders, if you’re ready to build the rails for the next era of AI commerce and finance, join us now:
https://t.co/zVGh3iYdvr

The Agentic Economy takes flight 🪁

[KITE AI @GoKiteAI]

Tick tock.

Kite Mainnet is coming.

[KITE AI @GoKiteAI]

AI on Air Ep.15 - The Trust Layer for Autonomous Commerce: When AI Agents Get a Wallet https://t.co/zgYaDtAwEC

[KITE AI @GoKiteAI]

Excited to announce our next Partner for the Kite AI Global Hackathon 2026: Haas Fintech Club & Haas Blockchain Club @HaasBlockchain @UCBerkeley! 🚀

The Haas Fintech Club and Haas Blockchain Club at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, one of the world’s top business schools, bring together exceptional students and researchers driving innovation at the intersection of fintech, blockchain, AI, and business. Their partnership will inspire and support builders in creating autonomous agents that will transform commerce and finance in the Agentic Economy.

We are thrilled to collaborate with this prestigious academic community to connect cutting-edge research with real-world AI agent applications.

The momentum continues — more partners will be announced soon 👀

Hackathon is kicking off very soon! Builders, if you’re ready to build the rails for the next era of AI commerce and finance, join us now:
https://t.co/zVGh3iYdvr

Pioneering intelligent economic systems 🪁