The integration of AI and cryptocurrency finance is accelerating.
Written by: ChandlerZ, Foresight News
As artificial intelligence becomes an indispensable part of our lives and work, how will value exchange occur? Google has provided an answer: through stablecoins.
On September 16, Google announced the launch of a brand new open-source payment protocol aimed at establishing a unified standard for value transfer between different AI applications. This protocol not only supports traditional payment methods such as credit and debit cards but also incorporates stablecoins into the system for the first time.
In collaboration with cryptocurrency companies like Coinbase and the Ethereum Foundation, Google has strengthened its support for stablecoins in this protocol, attempting to address challenges that AI agents may encounter in the future, such as cross-border payments, value transfer, and settlement efficiency. James Tromans, head of Google Cloud Web3, stated in an interview with Fortune: "When we built this system from scratch, we considered both traditional and existing payment channel capabilities, as well as future payment capabilities like stablecoins."
This move signifies that Google is no longer just maintaining a distance from the cryptocurrency industry through indirect means such as advertising policies or cloud node hosting, but is directly incorporating stablecoins into its product architecture for the first time, exploring their real application scenarios within the AI ecosystem.
Google Launches AI Payment Protocol, Stablecoins as Core Element
According to official disclosures, over 60 institutions participated in the formulation of this payment protocol, covering technology, finance, e-commerce, and cryptocurrency-native organizations. The collaboration with Coinbase is seen as a key element: as one of the most compliant cryptocurrency exchanges in the U.S., Coinbase has been deeply involved in the stablecoin sector for many years, and its partnership with Circle has made USDC a mainstream stablecoin representative.
The logic behind the protocol's design is to be compatible with both traditional payment networks and next-generation payment capabilities. In other words, in the future, AI agents can complete transactions using credit cards or directly utilize stablecoins for instant settlement. This dual-track parallel model provides a foundation for Google to create a sustainable AI-to-AI payment system.
The introduction of stablecoins will be particularly noteworthy. Compared to highly volatile cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, stablecoins are pegged to fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar, providing a stable value anchor in automated payment scenarios and reducing transaction risks. In cross-border payments or microservice calls frequently triggered by AI agents, the low cost and rapid settlement advantages of stablecoins are especially prominent.
However, using stablecoins as a core payment tool also faces significant challenges. The first is regulatory fragmentation. Although some major economies (like the U.S.) are gradually clarifying their regulatory frameworks for stablecoins, legal and compliance requirements globally remain highly complex and inconsistent. Different countries have varying regulations regarding the issuance, circulation, and settlement of stablecoins, which undoubtedly poses compliance obstacles for AI agents conducting global automated payments.
Additionally, technical security and risk control are of utmost importance. The autonomous payment capabilities of AI agents require extremely high on-chain security and smart contract audits; any vulnerabilities could lead to irreversible financial losses. How to build a system that ensures payment efficiency while effectively preventing risks such as money laundering and fraud will be a long-term challenge for Google and its partners.
At the same time, user acceptance of this new payment method and the education costs involved, as well as how to manage permissions and conduct risk audits when AI agents have direct payment capabilities, are challenges that cannot be overlooked.
Collaboration and Standardization: An Inevitable Choice
This payment protocol is an extension of Google's layout in the AI Agent ecosystem.
In April of this year, Google launched a unified communication protocol that allows AI agents from different companies to "communicate." Now, the addition of payment functionality signifies a shift in AI interaction from information exchange to value exchange.
To ensure the interoperability and compliance of the protocol, Google has not only partnered with Coinbase but also collaborated with institutions including Salesforce and American Express. The involvement of cryptocurrency-native organizations like the Ethereum Foundation ensures the security and technical scalability of the stablecoin and on-chain payment components.
Moreover, Sui and EigenCloud have also become the first partners of this protocol. The former, developed by Mysten Labs, provides sub-second programmable payment capabilities and builds an efficient infrastructure focused on privacy protection through Walrus decentralized storage, Move smart contracts, and zkLogin privacy identity, enabling AI agents to complete value exchanges at near real-time speeds while ensuring the security and compliance of interactions. EigenCloud, on the other hand, focuses on "verifiability," with the concept that all actions of AI agents can not only be recorded but also proven and held accountable.
This cross-industry collaboration reflects a reality: the future of AI and payments cannot be dominated by a single company; it must achieve interconnectivity among different entities through standardized protocols. Google has also emphasized that the goal of this protocol is not to replace existing payment networks but to allow AI agents to flexibly utilize different payment methods in the future through compatibility and expansion.
Industry Outlook and Conclusion
From a broader perspective, the collaboration between Google and Coinbase sends a signal: the integration of AI and cryptocurrency finance is accelerating.
As the application of AI agents in shopping, wealth management, content production, and other fields gradually increases, their payment needs are shifting from one-time transactions to continuous, automated, cross-regional micro-payments.
In this context, the value of stablecoins becomes prominent. Their global universality, real-time capabilities, programmability, and cost advantages make them a natural tool for AI-to-AI transactions. Whether in cross-border payments or automatically executed smart contract scenarios, stablecoins can provide more efficient solutions than traditional payment systems.
This is also why large technology companies like Shopify, Meta, and Apple have been exploring the application of stablecoins in recent years. As markets like the U.S. gradually relax regulations, stablecoins are evolving from niche tools in the cryptocurrency market to important bridges in global payments and the AI economy.
Overall, the payment protocol released by Google is not just a product update; it is more like a prelude to the evolution of the global payment system. It indicates that if AI-to-AI transaction scenarios become widely adopted, stablecoins may become the core currency form supporting their operation. For the cryptocurrency industry, this represents a new landing opportunity and suggests that the next decade may witness a reconstruction of payment logic.
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