I was dumbfounded when I checked my account statement last week—just to make my life “smarter,” I somehow ended up paying for seven different subscription services at the same time: one for budgeting, one for price comparison, one for auto bill payment, one for investment reminders… Each one does its own thing. The result? My fitness app bought me an annual membership, but my financial tool was completely unaware and immediately flagged my budget in red.

This made me realize an important question: why are those traditional financial giants all betting on the Kite project lately?

# We’re all paying the “digital island” IQ tax

To put it simply, these automation tools are like hiring seven nannies who don’t talk to each other. Your AI assistant books you a flight, but your bookkeeping software only discovers the expense two days later. Data is moving, money is flowing, but nobody knows what the others are doing.

The payment giants see the bigger picture—if, in the future, billions of AI agents are all running around on their own like this, the entire payment network is bound to collapse sooner or later. Transactions won’t reconcile, permission management will be a mess, and just handling disputes will exhaust customer service.

# What is Kite doing? Setting rules for the digital world

Financial institutions are investing in Kite because they see it as a “universal language for the AI world.” What they’re doing is actually pretty straightforward:

**First, solve the identity problem.** They’ve created something called KitePass, which is like issuing an ID card to every AI. Your shopping assistant, financial advisor, subscription manager—all can authenticate their identities within the same system. Who spent the money, on whose behalf, and for what—it’s all clear at a glance.

**Then, set the rules.** Programmable governance may sound fancy, but in plain language: you can set the rules ahead of time. For example, “Any single transaction over 500 must ask me,” or “Monthly subscription total can’t exceed 2,000.” All AIs have to follow these rules, and if they go over, they’re blocked immediately.

If this really works, my seven subscription services could be consolidated into a single, unified “digital butler.” At the very least, I wouldn’t have to deal with the awkward situation of my fitness card clashing with my investment budget anymore.