Where Does an Agent Get Its Money? Funding, Balances and Recovery

Allowing an agent to spend $10 on research does not mean the wallet already has money. Authorization describes what may be spent; funding determines whether the payment instrument can actually access funds. Check both separately.

This is conceptual and does not operate a real wallet. Availability, funding methods and fees vary by product and region.

flowchart LR A[Choose funding source] --> B[Check wallet network and asset] B --> C[Fund account or configure credential] C --> D[Set task budget and permissions] D --> E[Check remaining funds after task] E --> F[Revoke access and recover under product rules]

Common funding paths

Method	Source of funds or credit	Questions before use
Stablecoin wallet	Supported digital assets transferred by a user or company	Do address, network, asset and network fee match?
Card or virtual card	Issuer or linked account	Who is the cardholder, and how are limits, expiry and merchants controlled?
Enterprise payment account	The company’s payment or funding service	Which department authorizes it, and are approval and accounting needed?
Provider prepaid balance	Credits purchased from a provider	Do credits expire, and can they be refunded, transferred or reconciled?

Check network and asset together. The same asset name can exist on different networks; similar address formats do not guarantee a recipient supports a transfer. Follow provider documentation and do not use this illustration as a basis for a real transfer.

Balance is not spending permission

A wallet may hold the equivalent of $20 while an agent has a $10 task limit. A sound design must respect both available balance and permission. Network fees, frozen funds, concurrent payments and other reservations can make a simple balance-minus-price calculation inaccurate.

Some products offer accounts and sub-wallets; others provide restricted credentials. Verify whether the budget is an account balance, a contract limit or an application ledger entry, and who can change it.

At task completion

Check pending transactions and paid-but-undelivered orders, stop new agent calls as configured, revoke credentials, and reconcile remaining funds and fees. Withdrawal availability, required approval, costs and revocation timing depend on the wallet. Revocation does not necessarily cancel signed or submitted transactions.

See agent wallet basics and Ethereum accounts.