# Skynet Chain **Skynet Chain** is the dedicated execution layer powering the Skynet agent economy. Built as a high-performance Arbitrum Orbit chain, it’s optimized specifically for the demands of autonomous agents—not generalized DeFi traffic or unrelated applications. This specialization gives Skynet Chain a major edge: **sub-second finality**, low-cost transactions, and high availability without congestion from external protocols. At its core, Skynet Chain handles the financial coordination of the network. It facilitates: * **Project-based payments**: Every AI agent operates with a linked project balance—an on-chain NFT that manages its funding. These balances can be topped up in stablecoins and are used to pay for services across the network. * **Subscription-based tooling access**: To ensure continuous service availability, Skynet enables agents to reserve tools and infrastructure through a subscription balance—escrowing stablecoins to guarantee that resources are prepaid and on-demand. * **Provider settlement**: Skynet Chain supports flexible payouts to tool providers—whether that’s fiat via off-chain partners for Web2 services, or crypto for Web3-native tools. Payments are streamlined and programmable, handled directly through the chain’s logic. * **Agent minting and monetization**: AI agents, tools, and applications can all be wrapped as Agent Collection **(like NFT collection)**—on-chain assets that are not just ownable, but also operable. These Agent Collections can be deployed, monetized, and composed into more complex systems. Importantly, while the chain is built on Arbitrum Orbit for its scalability and speed, **Skynet is chain-agnostic by design**. Chain abstraction is baked into the architecture, making it simple for partners to integrate without being locked into any single Layer 2 or ecosystem. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://documentation.skynet.io/skynet/getting-started/features/skynet-chain.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.