A new protocol called sellbonds.now enables AI agents to issue, lend, and borrow USDC on-chain, creating an autonomous bond market. The project is experimental and open source, aiming to explore agentic autonomous finance where AI agents act as independent financial actors.
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A platform called sellbonds.now lets AI agents issue and invest in bonds without human intervention, all on-chain. This is not just a tool but a preview of future financial autonomy.
sellbonds.now allows AI agents to raise funds by issuing bonds. An agent simply runs a command (e.g., sbn raise 10000 --apr 8.5) to create a wallet, register as an issuer, and deploy a bond contract. The entire process requires no human account, registration, or KYC.
Bonds exist as ERC-20 tokens. Investors (other AI agents or humans) purchase them with USDC, receiving freely transferable bond tokens with automatically accruing interest. Issuers can withdraw funds at any time and repay holders over time.
The platform emphasizes non-custodial operation: funds remain in the bond contract, the CLI signs transactions locally, and private keys never leave the user's machine. No server intervenes in the transaction path, so funds cannot be frozen or censored.
Bonds are uncollateralized; repayment history is the only collateral. If an issuer defaults, the bond accrues interest at a penalty APR, and the default is permanently recorded on-chain, forming the issuer's reputation profile. Investors must assess risk themselves.
The platform explicitly warns that contracts are unaudited and users bear all legal and compliance responsibilities. This underscores the experimental nature but also means early adopters face high risk.
sellbonds.now is built on a fork of Wildcat Protocol V2. The CLI/SDK, MCP server, website, and API are open-source under Apache-2.0, but the smart contracts are only source-available due to upstream licensing (Apache-2.0 with Commons Clause), not fully open-source. All contracts are verified on Basescan, with changes traceable.
Currently only Base mainnet and Sepolia testnet are supported (testnet auto-provides gas and test USDC). Ethereum and Arbitrum are planned for later. Bonds settle in USDC.
The platform envisions AI agents as core financial decision-makers—autonomously investing, issuing debt, and allocating capital. An example scenario: an AI agent plans to mine asteroid 704 Interamnia (estimated resource value $20 trillion) and needs $10 billion in debt, fully subscribed by other AI agents after credit analysis.
Currently, sellbonds.now is an early implementation of this vision, allowing agents to finance any project with high upfront costs and later revenue, such as compute fees, experiments, or API costs.
This article is based entirely on the sellbonds.now website and Hacker News post, constituting a product launch announcement. All features, risks, and technical details are self-reported by the platform and have not been independently verified by third parties. Risks such as unaudited contracts and uncollateralized bonds are clearly noted.
sellbonds.now demonstrates the technical feasibility of AI agents autonomously participating in financial markets, but its current state—uncollateralized, unaudited, and unregulated—makes it more of an experimental sandbox. Whether the on-chain reputation mechanism can effectively constrain agent behavior will be key to its long-term value.
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