AI Agent Payment Era: Google's AP2 Protocol Ignites the Flames of War, Top Ten Encryption Projects Rush to the New Continent

Author: Yuliya, PANews

September 16th, a seemingly ordinary day, could become a key turning point in the history of AI development. On this day, Google officially released the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), an open standard designed for AI agents to securely perform financial transactions on behalf of users.

AP2 is not just Google's solo performance; it is not only a technical protocol but more like a call to arms, announcing the dawn of a new commercial era driven by AI that connects traditional finance and 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 forces in the crypto world such as Coinbase, MetaMask, the Ethereum Foundation, and Mysten Labs are prominently listed. This means 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 major trust issues in AI payments.

The rise of AI agents has shattered a fundamental assumption: in the past, all payment systems assumed that there was a “human” behind the screen clicking the “buy” button. However, as AI begins to autonomously book flights, snatch up products, and even manage investments for us, three core issues come to the surface:

• Authorization: How can we prove that “the user really allows the AI to spend this money”?
• Authenticity: How do merchants confirm that the “AI request” genuinely reflects the user's intent?
• Responsibility: If the AI buys something wrong or even gets scammed, whose responsibility is it?

The mission of AP2 is to solve these problems through “Digital Mandates”. “Digital Mandates” are a form of encrypted signatures, tamper-proof contracts that transform every user intention (such as “help me buy concert tickets”) and final approval (like confirming the items and prices in the shopping cart) into a verifiable chain of evidence. Whether it's real-time purchases or preset tasks, the entire process—from intention to shopping cart to payment—will be fully recorded, creating a clear and undeniable audit trail that provides a solid foundation for addressing the three major 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” of interaction between AI agents and the external world along with the previous A2A (Agent2Agent protocol) and the industry-promoted MCP (Model Context Protocol):

• MCP: Driven by companies like Anthropic, it addresses the issue of how AI interacts with external data and tools (such as databases, software, and blockchains). It is like a “universal adapter”, allowing AI to read and write the external world in a unified language, and serves as the foundation for obtaining real-time information and executing operations.
• A2A: Released by Google in April 2025, designed 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 “cooperate”.
• AP2: After acquiring the ability to connect the world and collaborate, AP2 grants AI agents the most crucial ability—“trading”. It extends the A2A protocol, enabling collaboration between agents to achieve a closed loop through value exchange.

The three together 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 “Explosive Point” of the Crypto World: How the Top Ten Projects are Strategizing AI Payments

Since its inception, AP2 has been designed with universality in mind, supporting traditional payment methods such as credit cards and bank transfers, while also considering stablecoins and cryptocurrencies as natively supported payment options. Google has partnered with Coinbase, the Ethereum Foundation, MetaMask, and others to launch the A2A x402 extension, specifically creating production-grade solutions for cryptocurrency payments. This has created unprecedented opportunities for crypto projects deeply involved in the AI agent economy. The following 10 projects are playing key roles in this.

1. Coinbase: The Promoter and Practitioner of AI Payment Standards

As Google's most important strategic ally in the crypto space, Coinbase's role goes 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.

x402 is designed specifically for stablecoin payments, supporting cryptocurrency micropayments and instant settlements between AI agents. Coinbase's engineering director, Erik Reppel, referred to it as a 'natural testing ground for agents to start trading and testing crypto tracks'. In collaboration with Google, Coinbase's shopping demonstration created for Lowe's clearly showcased this: with just a prompt, AI agents can seamlessly complete the entire process of product research, inventory confirmation, cart generation, and final payment using x402 and stablecoins.

Internally, Coinbase has long used AI to enhance operational efficiency. For example, its NodeSmith system automates the management of node upgrades for over 60 blockchains using AI, reducing engineers' repetitive labor by 30%. Additionally, Coinbase is exploring more cutting-edge directions, including integrating the Bitcoin Lightning Network to reduce payment costs.

In terms of external layout, Coinbase has deeply integrated its business with the broader on-chain economy and AI applications by acquiring the DeFi consumer app 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 agency economy.

2. MetaMask: Build Your Own Self-Custody AI Agent Wallet

MetaMask, as a crypto wallet used by hundreds of millions of users worldwide, is fundamentally positioned 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 age of agents.” Marco De Rossi, head of MetaMask AI, emphasized: “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, and collaborates 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 launched the Delegation Toolkit, a tool that 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 collaborating with the Ethereum Foundation to promote the ERC-8004 trust agent standard, establishing an open and verifiable agent registration and reputation system, enabling anyone to query the capabilities and reputation of AI agents.

On August 26, MetaMask announced the launch of a social login feature that allows users to quickly create, back up, and restore wallets using their Google or Apple accounts, while maintaining self-custody characteristics. This not only enhances the 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

Ethereum, with its strong network effects and liquidity, plays the role of a neutral and trusted settlement and coordination network for the global AI agent economy. Currently, the circulation of stablecoins on Ethereum has surpassed 171 billion USD, with the mainnet holding 152.8 billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 78%, firmly establishing itself as the global center for stablecoin liquidity.

To seize the historical opportunities brought by AI, its mission is “to make Ethereum the preferred settlement and coordination layer for AI and machine economy”. The team is working in two major directions: first, to build an “AI economy on Ethereum” that provides payment and coordination mechanisms for AI agents without intermediaries; second, to promote a “decentralized AI stack” to ensure that the future of AI does not rely on a few tech giants.

During this process, the foundation is actively promoting the development of protocols such as ERC-8004 (trust agent standard) and closely collaborating with ecological projects, aiming to enable AI agents to securely make payments, coordinate, and follow rules on Ethereum, thereby freeing them from reliance on centralized platforms and building an open, censorship-resistant decentralized AI ecosystem.

4. Mysten Labs (Sui): High-performance AI commercial infrastructure

The AI agent economy has extremely high demands for the speed and programmability of payments and transactions, which is precisely the core advantage of Mysten Labs and its Sui blockchain. As a launch partner of AP2, Sui, with its unique architecture, compresses transaction confirmation speed to within 400 milliseconds, providing performance assurance for real-time interactions of AI agents.

Its signature feature is Programmable Transaction Blocks (PTB), which can package multiple complex operations into a single atomic transaction. For example, a shopping agent can initiate six independent purchases to three different merchant agents simultaneously and settle them in one transaction, greatly improving efficiency.

In addition, Mysten Labs has built a complete technology stack to support the future of AI agents: Walrus is used for decentralized data storage and provenance tracking, Seal provides programmable data access control, and zkLogin allows users to interact with the blockchain in a privacy-preserving manner using traditional Web2 accounts (such as Google accounts), which offers 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 perform high-risk tasks, “trust” becomes central. EigenCloud is working to provide verifiability for all actions of AI agents, thereby establishing a globally verifiable economy. Founder Sreeram Kannan pointed out that the AP2 protocol creates a “global verifiable economy where agents can coordinate, trade, and prove their actions to humans and to each other,” while EigenCloud provides the underlying infrastructure to ensure their accountability.

The core of EigenCloud is its “encrypted cloud” concept, which extends the security of Ethereum to various services such as AI computing, data availability (EigenDA), and dispute resolution (EigenVerify) through the re-staking mechanism of the EIGEN token. This vision has received strong support from top capital, with a16z investing $100 million and subsequently purchasing an additional $70 million in EIGEN tokens.

To accelerate ecological development, Eigen Labs has launched a series of developer tools such as DevKit, Hourglass, and Multichain, reducing the time required to build an AVS (Active Validation Service) from several weeks to just a few minutes, laying a solid foundation for the trust layer of the AI agent economy.

6. Crossmint: The “universal socket” connecting enterprises to the AI economy

For many traditional enterprises, the threshold for accessing complex blockchain technology is extremely high. Crossmint's role is to act as an enterprise-level “translator” and “adapter,” packaging the complex blockchain backend into simple APIs, allowing businesses to quickly embrace the AI agent economy.

As a partner of Google AP2, Crossmint offers a one-stop solution including wallet-as-a-service, stablecoin payments, and supports credit card and cryptocurrency payments, significantly lowering the entry barrier for businesses and users.

Its powerful capabilities have been validated in multiple practical 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 loyal members spending 3.5 times more than non-members and a 244% increase in store visits. Currently, its clients include 40,000 businesses and developers such as Adidas, Red Bull, and Coinbase. Its stablecoin API and AI robot payment features are highly favored, with subscription growth of 1100% in 2024, making Crossmint a key enabler for the commercialization of AI agents.

7. BVNK: A full-stack service provider for enterprise-grade stablecoin payments

BVNK focuses on providing end-to-end stablecoin payment solutions for global enterprises, serving to provide a complete set of mature and intelligent financial infrastructure for businesses to utilize stablecoins for payments, receipts, and fund management. As a partner of Google AP2 and backed by investment from Visa, BVNK's business is growing rapidly, with an annual transaction volume exceeding $15 billion, serving globally renowned companies such as Deel, Worldpay, and LianLian Global. Through collaboration with Paxos, BVNK is expanding its services to all 50 states in the United States.

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, managing Gas fees, and more, transforming traditional passive and manual financial management into an active, intelligent automated system, perfectly aligning with the 24/7 continuous operation characteristics 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 economical way? Mesh is committed to addressing the fragmentation issue of the crypto payment ecosystem, providing a unified entry point for AI agents. Its CEO Bam Azizi stated that Mesh's technology “abstracts the complexity of the crypto ecosystem.”

As a supporter of the AP2 protocol, Mesh's API can seamlessly connect with 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 route, 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 Hub” of the AI Agent Economy

If other projects are providing “parts”, then Questflow is building an “assembly line” and an “app store”. As a launch partner of AP2, Questflow is positioned as the orchestration layer of the 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 trade 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 (for example, “Help me organize the latest updates on 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 receive compensation 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 funding and deep collaborations with numerous top platforms such as Google, Coinbase, and Circle, it has also launched the A2A.build portal, aimed at becoming the central hub for discovering and using all compatible AP2 and x402 protocol agents. The platform brings together 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 Bitcoin Lightning Network

Among the many Ethereum-based solutions, Lightspark stands out as it brings 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 and 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 aligning with the integration of the Lightning Network with exchanges like Coinbase, Lightspark offers a new, efficient, and highly cost-effective Bitcoin-based option for AI agent payments.

Build AI encryption payment technology foundation

The release of the Google AP2 protocol is far more than just a technical update. In the future, AP2 may become the underlying infrastructure for AI + e-commerce + cryptocurrency payments. It is a clear signal that AI is evolving from an information processing tool into a true economic participant.

This process is woven from two main threads:

• The Power of Web2: Giants like Google, Mastercard, and Salesforce provide vast application scenarios, user bases, and commercial networks.
• The Gene of Web3: Ethereum, Coinbase, MetaMask and other crypto-native forces provide a decentralized, trustless, user-controlled underlying philosophy and technical implementation (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-driven autonomous economy that transcends the boundaries of traditional and cryptocurrency. For the aforementioned top ten cryptocurrency projects, they are not just participants, but also shapers of this economic transformation.