AP2 has announced the dawn of a new business era driven by AI, connecting traditional finance with the crypto world.
Written by: Yuliya, PANews
On September 16, a seemingly ordinary day, a pivotal moment in the history of AI development may have occurred. On this day, Google officially released the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), an open standard designed to enable AI agents to securely execute financial transactions on behalf of users.
AP2 is not just a solo act by Google; it is not only a technical protocol but also a rallying call, announcing the beginning of a new business era driven by AI that connects traditional finance with the crypto world.
Payment giants such as Mastercard, American Express, PayPal, and UnionPay International; tech/AI companies like Salesforce, Adobe, and ServiceNow; as well as key players in the crypto world such as Coinbase, MetaMask, the Ethereum Foundation, and Mysten Labs are all prominently involved. This signifies that empowering AI agents with the ability to "spend money" has become a consensus across the industry.
Why does the world need AP2? The three trust issues of AI payments
The rise of AI agents has shattered a fundamental assumption: in the past, all payment systems assumed that a "human" was clicking the "buy" button behind the screen. However, as AI begins to autonomously book flights, purchase goods, and even manage investments, three core issues emerge:
Authorization: How can we prove that "the user really allows AI to spend this money"?
Authenticity: How can merchants confirm that "the AI's request" truly reflects the user's intent?
Responsibility: If AI buys the wrong item or is even scammed, who is responsible?
The mission of AP2 is to address these issues through "Digital Mandates." A "Digital Mandate" is a cryptographic signature, an immutable contract that transforms each user intent (such as "help me buy concert tickets") and final approval (such as confirming the items and prices in the shopping cart) into a verifiable chain of evidence. Whether for real-time purchases or preset tasks, the entire process—from intent to shopping cart to payment—will be fully recorded, creating a clear and undeniable audit trail that provides a solid foundation for resolving the three trust issues.
The trilogy from MCP, A2A to AP2
AP2 is not an isolated product but a key part of Google's AI agent protocol landscape, forming a trilogy with the previous A2A (Agent2Agent Protocol) and the industry-driven MCP (Model Context Protocol) that together facilitate the interaction of AI agents with the external world:
MCP: Driven by companies like Anthropic, it addresses how AI interacts with external data and tools (such as databases, software, and blockchains). It acts like a "universal adapter," allowing AI to read and write the external world in a unified language, serving as the foundation for obtaining real-time information and executing operations.
A2A: Released by Google in April 2025, it aims to enable AI agents from different companies and platforms to communicate and collaborate securely. If MCP allows AI to "see" and "touch," then A2A enables AI to "converse" and "collaborate."
AP2: After acquiring the ability to connect with the world and collaborate, AP2 grants AI agents the most critical capability—"transactions." It extends the A2A protocol, allowing collaboration between agents to achieve a closed loop through value exchange.
Together, these three elements outline a grand vision: future AI agents will no longer be isolated chatbots but will become intelligent economic participants capable of accessing real-time data, collaborating with other agents, and ultimately completing complex business tasks (including payments).
The "tipping point" in the crypto world: How ten projects are laying out AI payments
From its inception, AP2 has been designed with universality in mind, supporting not only traditional payment methods like credit cards and bank transfers but also considering stablecoins and cryptocurrencies as natively supported payment options. Google has collaborated with Coinbase, the Ethereum Foundation, MetaMask, and others to launch the A2A x402 extension, specifically creating production-grade solutions for crypto payments. This has created unprecedented opportunities for crypto projects deeply engaged in the AI agent economy. The following ten projects are playing key roles in this landscape:
1. Coinbase: The promoter and practitioner of AI payment standards
As Google's most important strategic ally in the crypto space, Coinbase's role extends far beyond that of a simple partner. It is not only the initial proposer of the x402 payment standard but also actively promotes the realization of this vision.
The x402 is designed specifically for stablecoin payments, supporting cryptocurrency micropayments and instant settlements between AI agents. Coinbase's engineering director, Erik Reppel, describes it as "a natural testing ground for agents to start trading and testing crypto tracks." In collaboration with Google, Coinbase's shopping demonstration for Lowe's clearly showcased this: users only need a prompt, and the AI agent can seamlessly complete the entire process of product research, inventory confirmation, shopping cart generation, and final payment using x402 and stablecoins.
Internally, Coinbase has already leveraged AI to enhance operational efficiency. For example, its NodeSmith system automates the management of node upgrades across more than 60 blockchains, reducing repetitive labor for engineers by 30%. Additionally, Coinbase is exploring more cutting-edge directions, including integrating the Bitcoin Lightning Network to reduce payment costs.
In external positioning, Coinbase has deepened its business ties with the broader on-chain economy and AI applications by acquiring the DeFi consumer application team Sensible and serving as the crypto infrastructure partner for the U.S. Department of Commerce's "GDP Data on Chain" project. Its goal is to become a "one-stop trading platform" for the future AI agent economy.
2. MetaMask: Building a self-custodial AI agent wallet
As a crypto wallet used by hundreds of millions of users worldwide, MetaMask's core positioning is to ensure that users maintain absolute control over their assets and data while enjoying the conveniences of AI, with a vision of achieving "self-custody in the agent era." Marco De Rossi, head of MetaMask AI, emphasizes, "Blockchain is the natural payment layer for agents, and Ethereum will be its backbone."
To this end, MetaMask actively embraces the x402 standard and the AP2 protocol, collaborating with Stripe's Bridge platform and M0 to launch the stablecoin MetaMask USD (mUSD), which is deeply integrated with the ecosystem.
In terms of security, MetaMask has introduced the Delegation Toolkit, which allows users to set fine-grained permissions for AI agents, such as budget limits, available asset ranges, and effective time windows, achieving "authorization without handing over private keys" for secure automation. At the same time, MetaMask is jointly promoting the ERC-8004 trust agent standard with the Ethereum Foundation, establishing an open and verifiable agent registration and reputation system that allows anyone to query the capabilities and credibility of AI agents.
On August 26, MetaMask announced the launch of a social login feature, allowing users to quickly create, back up, and restore wallets using Google or Apple accounts while maintaining self-custody characteristics. This not only enhances user experience but also further establishes MetaMask as a secure and convenient entry point into the AI agent economy.
3. Ethereum Foundation: Building the underlying trust network for the AI economy
With its strong network effects and liquidity, Ethereum plays a role in providing a neutral and trustworthy settlement and coordination network for the global AI agent economy. Currently, the circulation of stablecoins on Ethereum has surpassed $171 billion, with $152.8 billion held on the mainnet, a year-on-year increase of 78%, firmly establishing it as the global liquidity center for stablecoins.
To seize the historical opportunities brought by AI, its mission is to "make Ethereum the preferred settlement and coordination layer for AI and machine economies." The team is working in two major directions: first, to build "an AI economy on Ethereum," providing payment and coordination mechanisms for AI agents without intermediaries; second, to promote a "decentralized AI stack," ensuring that AI does not rely on a few tech giants in the future.
In this process, the foundation is actively promoting the formulation of protocols such as ERC-8004 (trust agent standard) and closely collaborating with ecosystem projects, aiming to enable AI agents to securely conduct payments, coordinate, and adhere to rules on Ethereum, thereby breaking free from reliance on centralized platforms and building an open, censorship-resistant decentralized AI ecosystem.
4. Mysten Labs (Sui): High-performance AI business infrastructure
The AI agent economy demands high speed and programmability for payments and transactions, which is the core advantage of Mysten Labs and its Sui blockchain. As a launch partner of AP2, Sui compresses transaction confirmation times to under 400 milliseconds, providing performance assurance for real-time interactions of AI agents.
Its signature feature is Programmable Transaction Blocks (PTB), which can bundle multiple complex operations into a single atomic transaction. For example, a shopping agent can simultaneously initiate six independent purchases from three different merchant agents and settle them in one transaction, greatly enhancing efficiency.
Additionally, Mysten Labs has built a complete technology stack to support the future of AI agents: Walrus for decentralized data storage and provenance recording, Seal for programmable data access control, and zkLogin, which allows users to interact with the blockchain in a privacy-preserving manner using traditional Web2 accounts (such as Google accounts), providing innovative solutions to the identity and data privacy issues of AI agents.
5. EigenCloud: The cornerstone of "verifiability" in the AI agent economy
In an environment where AI agents autonomously execute high-risk tasks, "trust" becomes central. EigenCloud is dedicated to providing verifiability for all actions of AI agents, thereby establishing a globally verifiable economy. Founder Sreeram Kannan points out that the AP2 protocol creates a "globally verifiable economy where agents can coordinate, trade, and prove their actions to humans and each other," while EigenCloud provides the underlying infrastructure to ensure their accountability.
At the core of EigenCloud is its "cryptographic cloud" concept, which extends the security of Ethereum to various services such as AI computation, data availability (EigenDA), and dispute resolution (EigenVerify) through a re-staking mechanism of the EIGEN token. This vision has received strong support from top capital, with a16z initially investing $100 million and subsequently purchasing an additional $70 million in EIGEN tokens.
To accelerate ecosystem development, Eigen Labs has launched a series of developer tools, including DevKit, Hourglass, and Multichain, reducing the time required to build an Active Verification Service (AVS) from weeks to minutes, laying a solid foundation for the trust layer of the AI agent economy.
6. Crossmint: The "Universal Adapter" Connecting Enterprises and the AI Economy
For many traditional enterprises, accessing complex blockchain technology presents a high barrier to entry. Crossmint acts as an enterprise-level "translator" and "adapter," encapsulating complex blockchain backends into simple APIs, allowing businesses to quickly embrace the AI agent economy.
As a partner of Google's AP2, Crossmint provides one-stop solutions such as wallet-as-a-service and stablecoin payments, while also supporting credit card and cryptocurrency payments, significantly lowering the entry barriers for enterprises and users.
Its powerful capabilities have been validated in multiple real-world cases: it helped global remittance giant MoneyGram launch a USDC-based cross-border payment service in Colombia, allowing users to receive stablecoins in their wallets via SMS; it also created an AI-driven on-chain loyalty program based on Solana for the well-known American milk tea brand Boba Guys, resulting in loyalty members spending 3.5 times more than non-members and a 244% increase in store visits. Currently, its clients include 40,000 enterprises and developers such as Adidas, Red Bull, and Coinbase. Its stablecoin API and AI robot payment features are highly favored, with a 1100% increase in subscriptions in 2024, making Crossmint a key enabler of AI agent commercialization.
7. BVNK: A Full-Stack Service Provider for Enterprise-Level Stablecoin Payments
BVNK focuses on providing end-to-end stablecoin payment solutions for global enterprises, serving as a comprehensive and intelligent financial infrastructure for businesses to utilize stablecoins for payments, fund management, and more. As a partner of Google's AP2 and backed by Visa's investment, BVNK has experienced rapid business growth, processing over $15 billion in transactions annually for globally recognized companies such as Deel, Worldpay, and LianLian Global. By partnering with Paxos, BVNK is expanding its services to all 50 states in the U.S.
Furthermore, BVNK has integrated AI into its core products, launching an AI assistant and Smart Treasury. The AI assistant can help customers check balances and generate addresses through natural language processing commands, while the Smart Treasury uses machine learning to predict liquidity needs, automatically completing fund rebalancing and managing gas fees, transforming traditional passive, manual financial management into an active, intelligent automated system, perfectly aligning with the 24/7 operational nature of stablecoins.
8. Mesh: The "Universal Payment Connector" for AI Agents
In a complex network composed of countless AI agents, wallets, and exchanges, how can we ensure that payments are always completed in the most efficient and cost-effective manner? Mesh is dedicated to solving the fragmentation issue in the crypto payment ecosystem, providing a unified entry point for AI agents. CEO Bam Azizi states that Mesh's technology "abstracts the complexity of the crypto ecosystem."
As a supporter of the AP2 protocol, Mesh's API can seamlessly connect to over 300 wallets and exchanges, supporting hundreds of tokens. When an AI agent needs to make a payment, Mesh's technology can automatically analyze and find the optimal payment path, ensuring the success rate and speed of transactions. It acts like a "smart payment GPS" in the AI economy, navigating each transaction.
In August, Mesh secured a new round of investment from institutions such as PayPal Ventures and Coinbase Ventures, bringing its total funding amount to over $130 million. Additionally, it launched wallet-as-a-service, further solidifying its position as the underlying infrastructure for AI agent payments.
9. Questflow: The "Orchestration and Distribution Center" of the AI Agent Economy
If other projects provide "parts," Questflow is building the "assembly line" and "app store." As a launch partner of AP2, Questflow positions itself as the orchestration layer for a multi-agent economy. It allows users to describe their needs in natural language and then automatically coordinates multiple AI agents with different functions (such as content generation, data analysis, and transaction execution) to collaboratively complete complex tasks. Since the release of AP2, Questflow's transaction volume has doubled weekly, experiencing rapid growth.
Its core is the Multi-Agent Orchestration Protocol (MAOP) and the TARS platform, which allows users to describe their needs in natural language (e.g., "help me summarize the latest developments in AI+Crypto"), and the platform can automatically coordinate multiple AI agents with different functions (such as news aggregation agents, on-chain data analysis agents, etc.) to collaboratively complete complex tasks.
Questflow has integrated Coinbase's x402 micropayment system, allowing agents to be compensated based on task results and usage (Pay-as-you-go), thereby building an open and composable AI labor market. With its $6.5 million seed round funding and deep collaborations with top platforms like Google, Coinbase, and Circle, it has also launched the A2A.build portal, aiming to become the central hub for discovering and using all agents compatible with the AP2 and x402 protocols. This platform aggregates 40 active AI agents, 106 A2A integrations, and 66 developers, with the goal of becoming the "App Store" of the AI era, managing the traffic and economic distribution of AI agents.
10. Lightspark: Empowering AI Real-Time Payments with the Bitcoin Lightning Network
Amid numerous solutions based on the Ethereum ecosystem, Lightspark stands out by bringing the near-instant, low-cost payment capabilities of the Bitcoin Lightning Network into the AI agent economy. As a collaborator of the AP2 protocol, this company, founded by former PayPal president David Marcus, focuses on building an open, interoperable global payment network.
It has partnered with fintech giants SoFi and digital bank Revolut to integrate its technology into mainstream financial applications. By promoting its Universal Monetary Address (UMA) standard and integrating with the Lightning Network of exchanges like Coinbase, Lightspark provides a new, efficient, and cost-effective Bitcoin-based option for AI agent payments.
Building the Technical Foundation for AI Crypto Payments
The release of Google's AP2 protocol is far more than just a technical update. In the future, AP2 may become the underlying infrastructure for AI + e-commerce + crypto payments. It is a clear signal: AI is evolving from an information processing tool into a true economic participant.
This process is woven together by two main threads:
The power of Web2: Giants like Google, Mastercard, and Salesforce provide vast application scenarios, user bases, and business networks.
The genes of Web3: Crypto-native forces like Ethereum, Coinbase, and MetaMask provide the underlying philosophy and technical implementations of decentralization, trustlessness, and user autonomy (stablecoins, smart contracts, non-custodial wallets).
AP2 and the alliance behind it represent the first large-scale convergence of these two forces. What it will give rise to is a brand new, AI agent-driven autonomous economy that transcends the boundaries of traditional and crypto. For the ten crypto projects mentioned above, they are not just participants but also shapers of this economic transformation.
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