Link started rolling out funded balances on October 26, letting eligible US Instinct users authorize AI agent purchases without approving every checkout. The balance is held in USDC, and users decide how much to load and set a per-purchase maximum an agent can spend on its own. Link built the feature with Stripe, and the US rollout began that day, with New York to follow later. No waitlist is involved.
How the spending cap actually works
The limit is per purchase, not a running budget across all agent orders. That distinction matters: an agent can make several buys under the threshold without the user signing off each time, and the cap doesn't deplete as orders pile up. Anything above the set amount still needs approval. Setting the threshold to $0 stops the agent from skipping approval entirely.
The existing agent-wallet workflow is stricter. It requires biometric approval — passkey, FaceID or Touch ID — for every transaction and issues a one-time card after approval. With a funded balance, the same pool of money covers both approved and unattended purchases, so users don't have to convert funds before buying. Receipts refer to USDC even when the money came in from a card.
What the balance doesn't protect you from
The spending permission covers amount only. It doesn't cover item selection. If an agent buys a different product than the one originally shown, the user is still on the hook, and complaints about wrong items go to the agent platform or the merchant — not to Link. That's a fairly wide gap for anyone treating the per-purchase cap as a safety net.
Funding has its own rules. Users can top up with supported credit and debit cards, but American Express, Discover and Capital One cards are excluded. Amounts added through the setup link must be $150 or less and denominated in USD. Link describes this as a per-link restriction, not a lifetime spending allowance.
Identity checks and custody choices
US onboarding requires SSN verification. The first attempt asks for date of birth and the last four SSN digits; if that fails, all nine digits; if it fails again, Link support has to arrange another attempt. Account holders must be at least 18, and Link may request age documentation.
Link offers two balance types. Custodial balances are held by Bridge, a Stripe company, which holds the assets and manages private keys. Non-custodial balances give users access to an on-chain wallet controlled by them, with Link and Privy providing access. Users can export self-custodial wallet keys at any time, but losing login or recovery access can permanently cut off access to funds.
Withdrawals are allowed after identity verification with no holding period. Users can send funds to a bank account, where USDC is converted to local currency at the current exchange rate, or to an external crypto wallet, where the asset is retained without conversion. Link warns that transfers to a wrong address or an unsupported network may result in permanent loss.
New York is next
The US rollout is live now, but New York users are still waiting on a later launch date that Link hasn't pinned down publicly. Until then, the feature's reach stops at the state line — and the per-purchase limit remains the only lever users have over what an agent can spend, not what it can buy.
