Netomi CEO says $5 trillion AI customer experience market could boost stablecoin demand

The customer experience industry will become a $5 trillion market by 2030, according to Netomi founder and CEO Puneet Mehta, who says that growth will create demand for stablecoins and blockchain-based payment infrastructure rather than pull capital away from crypto.

Mehta said companies currently spend roughly $500 billion annually on customer experience-related knowledge work. As AI expands beyond customer support into sales, conversion, upselling and cross-selling, he expects the market opportunity to grow tenfold by 2030.

"Customer experience today is structured as a silo," Mehta said. "That layer of technology and people does not fully talk to every system and every process autonomously in the company. Once that starts to happen, it unlocks a much bigger category."

Mehta, whose company recently raised $110 million in a Series C round backed by Accenture Ventures and Adobe Ventures, argues that the rise of artificial intelligence and crypto should be viewed as complementary trends rather than competing sectors.

“The idea that AI is simply sucking capital away from crypto is a fundamental misunderstanding of where technology is heading,” said Mehta, who previously worked as an engineer and data scientist at IBM and later held similar roles at JPMorgan, Citi and Merrill Lynch. “We are not in a zero-sum battle for venture dollars.”

Mehta's view that AI agents will require faster financial infrastructure aligns with a growing argument among crypto executives that autonomous software could become a major driver of stablecoin adoption.

Fiat-pegged cryptocurrencies are entering a new phase of adoption, with large corporations using them for cross-border treasury flows while AI agents begin using blockchain rails for autonomous payments, Bridge and Deus X Capital executives recently said at Consensus 2026. In April, Chainalysis said stablecoins are on track to become a foundational layer of global finance, with adjusted transaction volumes projected to reach $719 trillion by 2035

AI enabling crypto

The next phase of enterprise software will rely on autonomous AI agents capable of handling increasingly complex business functions, including financial transactions, according to Mehta.

“AI agents are moving money and assets faster than legacy enterprises can follow,” he said. “An autonomous agent cannot rely on traditional banking systems that take days to settle transactions via manual paperwork. ”

Mehta argues that fully automated software systems require two key components: AI systems capable of decision-making and blockchain payment infrastructure capable of moving money instantly.

“To achieve true end-to-end automation, these software systems require always-on capital rails that operate 24/7,” he said.

That requirement could drive greater demand for stablecoins and blockchain-based settlement networks that operate around the clock (24/7). Stablecoin issuers and crypto payment firms have increasingly positioned their products as tools for real-time settlement and cross-border transactions.

Still, many enterprise software companies continue to rely on traditional payment providers and banking networks, and it remains unclear how quickly blockchain-based settlement systems will become a standard component of AI-driven commerce.