BSV standard BRC-181 limits the money an AI agent can spend

In September 2026, the BSV community approved BRC-181, a standard by developer RexStarBSV. It lets an AI agent send money with no human who agrees to each payment. The owner signs rules for the wallet, and the wallet applies the rules for each instruction from the agent. The standard is for payments of small value that the agent makes in large numbers.

How it works

The signed rules set a limit for each payment, a budget for each time period and a record of approved recipients. They also set a speed limit and a control that stops all payments. Each agent has an isolated account with a small balance. Circuit breakers freeze all payments if the work is not usual, and only a human can clear them.

The numbers

In an August 2026 test, a payment of 100 satoshis (a small unit of BSV money) was in a budget of 1,000 satoshis. It had 500,100 satoshis in fees. The standard checks fees before the signature. An audit gave 151 results, 3 very important, all repaired.

What is not known

At this time, no other wallet maker uses the standard. It does not work with BRC-166, which uses a new address for each invoice. The author will make a repair. Only the author made the tests.

Insight: The limit on agent money may sit in the wallet, not the bank

Citigroup does not let external AI agents use accounts. Bank of America says a human must agree before money moves out of an account. Amex uses a token at checkout. BRC-181 puts the limit in the wallet. This reads as a move to hold the control point of agent money: the bank, the card network or the wallet. More than one can hold it.