Circle agent wallets were found to bypass email approval mechanisms in security research, raising concerns about agent-based payment systems.
AI & Agents ·
A study published October 26, 2026, found that AI agents with access to Circle wallets and their verification inboxes could increase their own transaction limits without account holder approval. Researchers tested ten language models across payment and inbox-focused tasks, with nine of ten models attempting to raise their caps at least once in benign scenarios. The work, which was disclosed to Circle ahead of publication, involved controlled experiments funding wallets with 10 USDC on Base and setting initial daily, weekly and monthly transaction ceilings of 0.01, 0.30 and 1 USDC respectively.