Short answer: Locus is payment infrastructure for AI agents. Locus Pro lets an agent buy paid APIs and tools per call from one prepaid credit balance, and Pay With Locus gives an agent a USDC smart wallet on Base with an allowance, a maximum transaction size and an approval threshold. Coinstancy Agentic Bank connects your AI to your own finances through a personal MCP, gives each agent a separate USDC wallet on Base with daily and monthly budgets and approval thresholds, and keeps workflows running with Cloud Run after the AI disconnects.
Key takeaways
- Locus has two products: Locus Pro, a prepaid credit balance for a catalog of 17,900+ pay-per-call tools, and Pay With Locus, a USDC smart wallet on Base for agents.
- Locus Pro needs no crypto: credits are bought by card at 1,000 credits per dollar, with plans from $0 to $1,000 a month; Coinstancy Agentic Bank uses USDC on Base.
- Both let you cap spending and require approval above an amount you choose; Coinstancy adds daily budgets, service allowlists, simulation by default and receipts.
- Only Coinstancy links the agent to your portfolio, transactions, rates and investments, and runs scheduled or event-triggered workflows after your AI disconnects.
Locus vs Coinstancy at a Glance
Locus and Coinstancy Agentic Bank both let an AI agent pay for things on its own, within limits a person sets. Locus is built around paying for agent tools and billing agent usage; Coinstancy is built around an agent wallet tied to your own account. The table compares what each provider publishes, as read on November 11, 2026.
| Feature | Locus | Coinstancy Agentic Bank |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Agents that buy paid APIs and tools (Locus Pro), platforms that bill their own customers (Enterprise), and operators who give an agent a USDC wallet (Pay With Locus) | People who want their AI to read their finances and spend within their rules |
| How the AI connects | Locus CLI (the default agent path), hosted MCP server with OAuth, API and Node SDK; a scoped API key for the wallet | Personal MCP for a compatible AI client, plus Cloud Run for workflows |
| Custody | Locus Pro: a prepaid credit balance, no crypto wallet needed. Agent wallet: described by Locus as non-custodial; you own it with a passkey, while the agent signing key is held by Locus in a key management service | Custodial platform: the agent wallet sits in your Coinstancy account, separate from your main balance; no seed phrase to manage |
| Networks | Base for the agent wallet and x402; MPP payments on Tempo | Base |
| Assets | Credits bought by card (1,000 credits = $1) for Locus Pro; USDC for the agent wallet | USDC |
| What the agent can do | Pay-per-call tools from a catalog of 17,900+, Recipes, Tasks and Workflows (Pro); USDC transfers to an address or email, Visa card purchases, checkout and deployments (wallet) | Approved x402 services and transfers between authorized agent wallets and pools |
| Spending limits | Pro: per-call credit cap, per-call and per-run limits on agent keys, optional monthly budget per agent key, monthly hard limit. Wallet: total allowance and max transaction size | Transaction, daily and monthly budgets, service allowlists, prices and approval thresholds per agent |
| Human approval | Approval for paid calls or payments above an amount you choose; one-tap cardholder approval for each Visa charge | Explicit confirmation before money moves through the MCP; approvals above the threshold you set |
| Safety checks | Calls priced above the cap are refused and not charged; OAuth scopes for MCP; an activity trail of payments and calls | Simulation on by default, receipts for every action, paid calls can be paused immediately |
| Access to your finances | No: a credit balance or a standalone agent wallet | Yes: portfolio, transactions, rates and investments through the personal MCP |
| Automation after the AI disconnects | Saved Workflows with a budget per run, started on demand; Locus says saving one does not schedule it | Cloud Run: scheduled or event-triggered workflows after your AI disconnects |
| Fees | Pro plans from $0 to $1,000 a month plus per-call tool prices; gas sponsored on the wallet; no other wallet fee documented | No Agentic Bank fee published on the product page |
| Sign-up | Email or browser sign-in, card top-ups from $5 (Pro); Locus says no KYC for the agent wallet | Coinstancy account with identity verification (KYC by Sumsub) |
How we compared: both products are described on the same points using each provider's own documentation and product page (see Sources). Where a provider does not document a point, we say so instead of guessing. Coinstancy publishes this guide and runs one of the two products compared.
What is Locus?
Locus, also known as Pay With Locus, presents itself as "billing and payment infrastructure for AI agents." Its developers page says Locus enforces policy per transaction with wallets, metered tools, approvals and audit trails, and mentions Y Combinator backing. Locus does not publish a launch date in the pages we read; its public changelog starts on November 6, 2026.
Locus is less a single wallet than a set of products. Locus Pro is the one its docs put first and does not need a crypto wallet. The Pay With Locus agent wallet is the on-chain side, which Locus's own index describes as "the older on-chain USDC wallet product, for existing users."
Locus Pro
One prepaid credit balance gives an agent pay-per-call access to search, scraping, data, enrichment, media and model APIs, with no provider accounts or keys. On top of single tool calls, Recipes return finished results, Tasks take a goal in plain language and Workflows save a repeatable process.
Locus Pro Enterprise
Platforms that build Locus into their own product give each customer a prepaid balance, attribute every call to that customer and add their own markup, as a percentage, a flat fee per call or both. Earnings are paid out to a bank through Stripe or to a USDC address on Base.
Pay With Locus Agent Wallet
An ERC-4337 smart wallet on Base that holds USDC, with gas sponsored by Locus. The agent can send USDC to an address or an email, buy agent tools, charge your own Visa card with your approval, order a prepaid virtual Visa card, accept payments through checkout and deploy services.
How Locus Works
The steps below follow Locus Pro, the product Locus's docs present first. The agent wallet follows the same idea with USDC instead of credits: fund it, set limits, let the agent pay.
Connect the Agent
Agents use the Locus CLI by default since November 9, 2026, or add the hosted MCP server in clients such as Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and Codex, signing in with OAuth rather than a static key. An agent can also sign up by email on its own; such an account can receive at most $50 until a person claims it.
Add Credits
You buy credits by card through Stripe Checkout, from $5, at 1,000 credits per dollar. The agent never handles your card: when it runs low, it sends you a link to top up. Auto-reload can refill the balance below a threshold.
Set Limits
Choose which tools the agent can use, set a monthly hard limit and email alerts, and give agent keys per-call and per-run limits or a monthly budget. You can also require approval before paid calls over a chosen amount.
Pay per Call
The agent searches the catalog, sees the price before a call runs and can cap it. A call priced above the cap does not run and is not charged, and every call appears in the usage view by agent and tool.
What is Coinstancy Agentic Bank?
Coinstancy Agentic Bank connects AI to financial action in three layers. Instead of a wallet on its own, it ties the agent to your Coinstancy account, with a policy you define and can see.
Personal MCP (Ask)
Connects your portfolio, transactions, rates and investments to a compatible AI client. The AI shows a quote or estimate, and you explicitly confirm each financial action before money moves.
Agent wallet (Authorise)
Each agent gets a separate USDC wallet on Base. You set its budget, allowed services, prices and approval thresholds. Autonomous spending stays within that wallet, never your main account.
Cloud Run (Automate)
Scheduled or event-triggered workflows keep running after your AI disconnects: trigger, check, act, trace. Simulate first, approve when required, inspect receipts and pause anytime. Wallet policy and cost limits still apply.
What can an agent pay for? Approved x402 services and transfers between authorized agent wallets and pools, within the service allowlists, spending limits and approval thresholds you define. Coinstancy is a custodial platform and requires identity verification when you open an account.
Key Differences
Both products let an agent spend within a budget and ask a person to approve larger payments. Most differences come from what each one is designed around: paying for tools, or acting on your own money.
Tool Payments vs Your Finances
Locus centers on giving agents paid tools: a catalog of 17,900+ APIs, Recipes, Tasks and billing features for platforms. Coinstancy's personal MCP gives your AI client access to your portfolio, transactions, rates and investments, so it can answer questions about your money and prepare actions you confirm.
Credits vs a USDC Wallet
Locus Pro runs on prepaid credits bought by card, so no crypto is needed; the Pay With Locus wallet holds USDC on Base. Coinstancy Agentic Bank uses USDC on Base in a separate agent wallet inside your Coinstancy account.
Custody
Locus calls its agent wallet non-custodial: you own it with a passkey, and Locus holds the agent signing key in a key management service. Coinstancy is custodial: the agent wallet sits in your Coinstancy account, separate from your main balance, with no seed phrase to manage.
Automation
Locus Workflows are saved processes that you start when you need them; Locus says saving one does not schedule it. Coinstancy Cloud Run keeps scheduled or event-triggered workflows going after your AI disconnects, under the same wallet policy and cost limits.
Spending Controls Compared
Giving an agent money is mostly a question of limits: how much it can spend, on what, and when a person must step in. For Locus, the table covers Locus Pro and the agent wallet; Locus notes that wallet limits do not apply to x402 or MPP payments an agent makes from its own wallet.
| Control | Locus | Coinstancy Agentic Bank |
|---|---|---|
| Per transaction | Yes: credit cap per call (Pro), max transaction size (wallet) | Yes |
| Daily budget | Not documented | Yes |
| Monthly or total budget | Monthly budget per agent key and monthly hard limit (Pro); total allowance (wallet) | Monthly budget |
| Service allowlist | Tool sets and allowed-tools lists on keys (Pro) | Yes |
| Approval above a threshold | Yes (Pro and wallet) | Yes |
| Simulation before acting | Free price quotes; dry run in the CLI | On by default |
| Records and pause | Activity trail and usage by agent and tool; revoke the agent signing key (wallet) | Receipts for every action; paid calls can be paused immediately |
| Rate limit | Tool calls per minute set by plan | Not described on the product page |
"Not documented" means we did not find the control in the provider's public documentation on November 11, 2026; it does not prove the control is missing. Check each provider's current documentation before you rely on a control.
Which One Should You Choose?
Choose Locus If
Your agent mainly needs paid APIs and tools without opening provider accounts, you prefer prepaid credits bought by card to holding crypto, or you run a platform that bills its own customers for agent usage with a markup.
Choose Coinstancy Agentic Bank If
You want your AI to work with your own finances, with daily and monthly budgets, service allowlists, approvals above a threshold, simulation and receipts, and workflows that keep running on schedule after the AI disconnects.
Using Both
Locus Pro handles paid tools from a credit balance while Coinstancy governs an agent wallet tied to your account, so the two can sit side by side. Keep in mind that every extra balance is another set of limits to watch.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Locus?
Is Locus custodial?
Which chains and currencies does Locus support?
How much does Locus cost?
What spending limits can I set on Locus?
How is Coinstancy Agentic Bank different from Locus?
Sources and further reading
The facts on this page rest on the documents below, read on November 11, 2026. Features, limits and fees change: check the live documentation before acting on them.
- Locus, Developerspaywithlocus.com
The two products, non-custodial wording, AWS KMS keys, no KYC, sponsored gas and Y Combinator backing.
- Locus, llms.txtpaywithlocus.com
Locus Pro without a crypto wallet, x402 and MPP sellers, and the wallet described as the older on-chain product for existing users.
- Locus, Pricingpaywithlocus.com
Plan prices, included credits and tool calls per minute.
- Locus docs, Locus Prodocs.paywithlocus.com
Tool catalog size, MCP clients, credit price and monthly hard limit.
- Locus docs, Credits and pricingdocs.paywithlocus.com
1,000 credits per dollar, markups and calls that are not charged.
- Locus docs, Funding and billingdocs.paywithlocus.com
Stripe Checkout from $5, auto-recharge, limits and payouts in USDC on Base.
- Locus docs, Locus Pro spending controlsdocs.paywithlocus.com
Per-call cap, agent key limits, monthly hard limit and email alerts.
- Locus docs, Workflowsdocs.paywithlocus.com
Saved processes with a budget per run, started on demand.
- Locus, MCP serverpaywithlocus.com
OAuth sign-in, scopes, per-call cap and approval token.
- Locus, CLIpaywithlocus.com
Agent sign-up capped at $50 until claimed, per-call caps and dry runs.
- Locus, Changelogpaywithlocus.com
Monthly budgets for agent keys and approvals for expensive calls (November 7, 2026), CLI as default (November 9, 2026).
- Locus docs, Agent Walletsdocs.paywithlocus.com
USDC on Base, sponsored gas, passkey and what the agent can pay for.
- Locus docs, Walletsdocs.paywithlocus.com
Passkey ownership and the agent signing key held by Locus.
- Locus docs, Smart wallet contractsdocs.paywithlocus.com
ERC-4337 accounts on Base with an immutable implementation.
- Locus docs, Agent wallet spending controlsdocs.paywithlocus.com
Allowance, max transaction size and approval threshold, and what they do not cover.
- Locus docs, Pay without a Locus accountdocs.paywithlocus.com
x402 on Base in USDC and MPP on Tempo in USDC.e.
- x402x402.org
The open protocol for paying APIs and services in stablecoins over HTTP.
- Model Context Protocolmodelcontextprotocol.io
The open standard that connects AI clients to tools and data.
- Coinstancy Agentic Bankcoinstancy.com
Personal MCP, agent wallet on Base, budgets, approvals, simulation, receipts and Cloud Run.
Last reviewed: November 2026. External links open in a new tab; Coinstancy is not responsible for their content.
Give Your AI a Wallet
Coinstancy Agentic Bank gives each of your agents a separate USDC wallet on Base, governed by your budgets, allowed services and approval thresholds, and connects your AI to your finances with explicit confirmation before money moves. Coinstancy is custodial, and balances are not FDIC insured.