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How to give an AI agent a bank account

To give an AI agent a bank account, open the account in your own name through a provider built for agents, then give the agent scoped API access instead of your login. With Open Solid, the agent signs itself up, you verify your identity once, and the agent gets real US routing and account numbers whose ACH and wire deposits arrive as USDC in a wallet held for you. The agent can read balances and move money within a spend limit you set, but it never holds a private key or your banking password.

Why an agent needs its own account

An agent that runs a business has to get paid somewhere. Payment processors, affiliate programs, marketplaces and ad networks pay out to bank accounts, not to API keys. If the only account available is yours, you end up as the agent's payroll department: copying routing numbers into forms, forwarding deposits, and reconciling which money belongs to which project.

A dedicated account solves three problems:

What not to do

Do not give an agent your online banking username and password, and do not let it drive your bank's website in a browser. Consumer banks do not offer scoped permissions, so a credential that can check a balance can also send a wire. Most bank terms also prohibit sharing credentials. If the agent is confused or manipulated by a prompt injection, nothing stands between it and your full balance.

The safer pattern is the one payment companies already use for software: an API key that can do a limited set of things, against an account with platform-enforced limits.

How it works on Open Solid

Open Solid provides banking infrastructure for AI agents. Money movement is provided by Laso Finance, a FinCEN-registered money services business. Open Solid is not a bank.

The pieces fit together like this:

  1. A USDC wallet on Solana and Base, held for you. The agent never holds a private key.
  2. A US bank account with routing and account numbers. ACH and wire deposits convert and arrive as USDC in that wallet.
  3. A spend limit per payment, from $1 to $50,000, default $1,000. The agent can read it but cannot change it.
  4. An API key (prefixed osk_) that the agent uses for every call.

Step 1: Let the agent sign up

Paste one line into your agent (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, or any agent that can make HTTP requests):

Read https://opensolid.ai/SKILL.md and follow the instructions to set up your Open Solid wallet and start building.

The agent calls the signup route itself:

curl -X POST https://opensolid.ai/api/v1/signup \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"agent_name": "my-agent"}'

The response includes a claim_url and a poll_token. The agent sends the claim URL to you verbatim and polls GET /api/v1/signup-status?t=<poll_token> until you finish. Opening the link attaches the account to your email login and issues the agent its API key. Until you claim it, the agent cannot move money.

Step 2: Verify your identity

A bank account requires identity verification, and that is always done by the human owner. The agent can check whether it is still outstanding:

curl https://opensolid.ai/api/v1/kyc \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENSOLID_API_KEY"

If verification is required, the agent sends you the link and waits. It should never fill in an identity form on anyone's behalf. You complete it in the dashboard, usually in a few minutes.

After verification, a few non-identity questions remain, such as the purpose of the account and source of funds. The agent can answer those itself. See Bank accounts for the full application flow.

Step 3: Read the account details

Once the account is open, the agent reads its routing and account numbers:

curl https://opensolid.ai/api/v1/banking \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENSOLID_API_KEY"

The agent can now put those numbers anywhere the business gets paid: a payment processor payout setting, an affiliate program, a marketplace seller profile, or an invoice to a customer.

Step 4: Watch money arrive

Deposits by ACH or wire convert to USDC and land in the wallet. The agent checks its balance and history with two calls:

curl https://opensolid.ai/api/v1/wallet \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENSOLID_API_KEY"

curl https://opensolid.ai/api/v1/activity \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENSOLID_API_KEY"

ACH typically takes one to two business days. Wires are usually same day. A good habit for the agent: only treat money as spendable once it appears in /activity as settled, not when a processor reports a pending payout.

Step 5: Spend within a limit

Before any outbound payment, the agent reads the spend limit:

curl https://opensolid.ai/api/v1/spend-limit \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENSOLID_API_KEY"

A payment above the limit returns 403 and is terminal. The agent should not retry, and it should never split one payment into smaller ones to get under the limit. It should tell you the amount and the limit so you can raise it, approve a smaller amount, or pay it yourself. Spend limits and guardrails covers the rules in detail.

What the agent can and cannot do

Task Agent Human owner
Create the account and request access Yes Claims it
Identity verification No Yes, once
Read routing and account numbers Yes Yes
Receive ACH and wire deposits Yes Yes
Send payments within the limit Yes Yes
Change the spend limit No Yes
Revoke the API key No Yes

Common questions

Is this a real bank account? It is a US account with real ACH and wire details, provided through Laso Finance. Deposits arrive as USDC in the agent's wallet rather than sitting as a dollar balance at a bank.

Can the agent open an account without me? It can start the signup, but a human has to claim the account and verify identity before the banking rails turn on.

Can I use the same account for several agents? One owner can have several agents, each with its own API key, so you can revoke one without affecting the others.

What does it cost? Receiving deposits has no Open Solid fee. Outbound payments are priced per rail. See Pricing.

Next steps