Dottie Romo, Chief Risk and Control Officer at the IRS, warned that current regulatory frameworks are failing to keep pace with the rapid growth of AI-driven financial systems. While regulators rely on periodic reporting, AI agents are already executing millions of transactions in minutes, creating a significant oversight gap.
Data from the State of AI Agent Payments 2026 report highlights the scale of machine-driven commerce. Between July 23 and August 26, researchers monitored 6.4 million x402 payment transactions totaling $119,947 across the Base and Solana networks. Approximately 90.8% of these transfers were valued at less than one cent, with the agent recording nearly 200 million settlement transactions since its inception.
Experts at the Future of Money summit in New York discussed the necessity of automated supervision. Romo suggested that regulators may eventually require algorithms to monitor other algorithms to maintain real-time oversight. Mastercard’s Julius Moye proposed a layered defense model where AI systems automatically contain anomalies, with human intervention reserved for critical escalation.
Dino Cataldo Dell’Accio of the UN Joint Staff Pension Fund emphasized that automation does not absolve developers or implementers of responsibility. He stated that accountability must be traced back to the individuals who developed, implemented, and oversee the underlying code. The discussion underscored the challenge of balancing machine speed with necessary human-led safeguards.
