Today in crypto, Forrester said that Stripe’s recently released Machine Payments Protocol could be a game changer for automated transactions, allowing AI agents to remove behavioral barriers that hindered micropayments. Meanwhile, Sweden’s H100 signed a letter of intent to acquire two Bitcoin treasury companies and their BTC holdings, which could make it the second-largest Bitcoin treasury company in Europe and crypto and stocks fell on escalating threats by the US and Iran.
Stripe protocol could mark turning point for micropayments, Forrester says
Stripe’s newly launched Machine Payments Protocol (MPP) could mark a turning point for micropayments — a long-promised but underutilized use case in crypto and beyond — as AI agents reshape how transactions are made.
That’s the key takeaway from newly published analysis by Forrester senior analyst Meng Liu, who argues that MPP may succeed where decades of earlier efforts failed.
Introduced earlier this month, MPP enables AI agents to execute transactions automatically, removing the need for human approval at each step. It is described as an open protocol for coordinating payments between AI agents and services. Liu frames this as a structural shift from human-initiated payments to machine-to-machine transactions.
Micropayments, which are typically small transactions worth a few cents or dollars, have long been seen as a way to monetize digital content, services and data, but have struggled to gain traction at scale.
A major barrier to adoption has been human behavior, including cumbersome digital checkout processes and reluctance to approve small charges, Liu said.
Sweden’s H100 eyes Europe’s No. 2 Bitcoin treasury with 3,500 BTC deal
Sweden-listed health-tech and Bitcoin (BTC) treasury company H100 Group has entered into a letter of intent (LOI) with the shareholders of privately-held Norwegian Bitcoin companies Moonshot and Never Say Die to acquire all shares of the target companies in exchange for newly issued H100 stock.The proposed transaction would be completed with newly issued H100 shares and no cash consideration, a structure intended to preserve the sellers’ Bitcoin exposure while moving the assets into a larger listed vehicle, according to a Monday press release.
A definitive agreement is expected by April 22, with closing targeted after H100’s annual general meeting. H100’s public materials currently show inconsistent AGM dates: its investor-relations calendar lists April 21, while a March 12 company notice referred to an AGM on May 21.
If the deal goes ahead, it would make H100 the second-largest listed Bitcoin treasury company in Europe behind Germany’s Bitcoin Group, which holds 3,605 BTC. H100 currently holds 1,051 Bitcoin, while the target companies hold about 2,450 BTC, bringing H100’s total to 3,501 BTC (worth around $239.7 million at current prices) after the deal, the release states.
Crypto falls as Iran vows response to Trump threat
Crypto and the wider markets tumbled on Monday as the US and Iran escalated threats toward each other, as the Iran war entered its fourth week, sending oil prices seesawing.
US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the US would “hit and obliterate” Iranian power plants if the country didn’t open the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours. Iran responded by saying it will answer any US strikes with similar attacks on US and Israeli infrastructure in the Gulf and threatened to completely close the Strait, a vital oil shipping lane.
Rachael Lucas, an analyst at BTC Markets, said that crypto “is trading in lockstep with equities right now, not as a haven,” as Bitcoin (BTC) dropped to a low of below $67,600 in late trading on Sunday, which caused a surge in liquidations.
Crude oil also surged, which Lucas said would increase inflation expectations and the probability of a rate hike in the US.
She added that if the Iran war de-escalates, “crypto would be among the fastest risk assets to recover. However, this conflict has no clear negotiating counterpart and no defined exit timeline, which makes that outcome difficult to call in the near term.”
