Technology & Finance
NewsOnScale Staff
October 18, 2026
Charles Schwab CEO Rick Wurster told Bloomberg this week that his firm now receives a weekly report showing it blocks "tens and twenties" of unauthorized AI agent attempts to access client accounts every seven days. He named Meta's Muse as one example. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon confirmed JPMorgan Chase is doing the same.
Schwab is building its own internal assistant — called Charley — for information-only tasks, while standing up Model Context Protocol servers that give external AI systems read-only account access while blocking all fund transfers. The banks are writing their own rules for the agent economy while legislation stalls in Congress.
Amazon has blocked Meta Muse from completing purchases since September 20. Yelp now admits only agents enrolled in its paid data-licensing program. Delta Air Lines has no deals with any third-party agents. The pattern is the same across every major platform: block unauthorized agents, build internal ones, control the economic value of agent commerce inside their own walls.
What this actually means
The agent economy is real and it is already here. AI agents are autonomously attempting to move money, complete purchases, book travel, and access financial accounts at scale. Major institutions are responding not by welcoming the agent economy but by blocking it — unless the agent is theirs.
This is the same playbook that built the internet's current monopoly structure. The companies that controlled the infrastructure controlled the commerce. The companies building proprietary agent systems today are making the same bet.
The gap nobody has filled
Every bank, every platform, and every institution blocking unauthorized AI agents has the same underlying problem: there is no trusted, neutral payment rail for agent-to-agent commerce that operates outside any single institution's control.
Schwab's solution — block everyone, build Charley — is a walled garden. JPMorgan's solution — block everyone, build JPM's own agent — is a walled garden. Amazon's solution — block Meta Muse, build Buy for Me — is a walled garden.
AMilliPay is not a walled garden. It is an open, neutral agent-to-agent payment infrastructure that any agent can use without permission from any bank, any platform, or any institution. Transactions settle at $0.001. No authorization required from the institution whose interests conflict with the agent's task.
The banks blocking AI agents from moving money are not solving the problem. They are creating the dependency that makes the problem permanent.
AMilliPay exists because the agent economy needs infrastructure that no institution controls.
AMilliPay is a product of AMILLI AI, Corp., founded by JJ Johnson. NewsOnScale is owned by AMILLI AI, Corp.