What have payment giants done in the past month?

If you haven't followed the payment industry in the past month, you may have missed some important news.

On September 29, Stripe and OpenAI jointly announced that ChatGPT users can shop directly in the chat window, without needing to navigate to the merchant's website. The next day, Visa launched a stablecoin preloading pilot, allowing financial institutions to conduct cross-border settlements using USDC and EURC. A day later, Stripe took action again, launching a platform called “Open Issuance” that enables any business to issue its own stablecoin.

On October 9, news emerged that Mastercard and Coinbase are bidding for the stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK, with offers ranging between $1.5 billion and $2.5 billion. Just last December, the company's valuation was only $750 million.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. If you extend the timeline to the entire month of September, you will find that Mastercard, Google, Visa, and Stripe have all made significant moves in the fields of AI payments and stablecoins within a similar timeframe.

Key News Event Review

Let's first take a complete look back at the key events of this month.

In one month, there were nine major news stories, a frequency that is rare in the payment industry. More importantly, these news stories are not isolated product releases; they resonate with each other and build on one another.

Who will legislate for AI agents

When AI agents start initiating payments on behalf of humans, a truly tricky problem emerges - who gives the authorization, who is responsible, and how can we prevent AI from completing an erroneous transaction under a delusion?

Traditional payment systems are based on a simple premise: that humans will personally click the purchase button. But when this premise is broken, the entire authorization and accountability mechanism must be redesigned.

The answer from Stripe and OpenAI is “Shared Payment Tokens,” abbreviated as SPT. This is a new payment primitive that allows AI agents to initiate payments on behalf of users without accessing the user's real account or credit card information. Each SPT is limited to a specific merchant and total shopping cart amount, granting AI sufficient payment authority while protecting the user's privacy and security.

Stripe facilitates transactions, applies fraud detection, and executes token controls in real time | Source: Stripe

ChatGPT's instant checkout feature is based on this technology, allowing users to directly purchase items from Etsy within the chat. Soon, this feature will also expand to Shopify merchants, including brands like Glossier, Vuori, Spanx, and SKIMS.

Google has chosen a different path. It proposed the AP2 protocol, which uses three types of verifiable digital credentials: Intent Mandate, Cart Mandate, and Payment Mandate. Intent Mandate defines the conditions under which the user authorizes the agent to make a purchase; Cart Mandate is the user's encrypted signature authorizing a specific shopping cart; Payment Mandate signals to the payment network and issuer that this is a transaction involving an AI agent.

This mechanism provides fine-grained control and traceable audit trails. Google emphasizes that AP2 is an open protocol, an extension of A2A and Model Context Protocol, and is not owned by any single company.

Mastercard's strategy is more pragmatic. “Agent Pay” does not emphasize technological innovation; its core value lies in compatibility. Mastercard is collaborating with multiple platforms such as Stripe, Google, and Ant International's Antom to ensure that its payment network can seamlessly integrate into the mainstream AI agent ecosystem.

The three protocols were launched almost simultaneously. They attempted to solve the same problem but took completely different paths. Stripe chose to occupy the scene first, then promote the standard; Google established the standard first, then attracted applications; Mastercard does not seek dominance but aims not to be absent.

History has long proven that whoever masters the standards controls the future. This battle over protocols is quietly determining the power landscape of the AI commercial era.

The Battle for Stablecoin Resources

The trading volume of stablecoins has long surpassed the total of the two major payment giants, Visa and Mastercard. This figure has made the entire industry alert again; stablecoins are no longer experimental products in the crypto world but are becoming the underlying infrastructure of the global financial system. With the rise of AI agent payments, this trend is further amplified.

AI agents require a payment method that is available around the clock, provides instant settlement, is low-cost, and is programmable. Traditional bank wire transfers can take days, and cross-border payments often go through multiple intermediaries. Stablecoins almost naturally fit this demand, settling in a few seconds, with extremely low fees, and can be combined with smart contracts to execute complex payment logic.

Google's AP2 protocol has clearly identified stablecoins as the primary means of payment. In their design, stablecoins serve as a universal language between AI agents, possessing both digital throughput and maintaining currency stability.

Traditional payment giants have chosen different strategies to respond.

Visa has launched a stablecoin pre-loading pilot, allowing financial institutions to recharge Visa Direct accounts with USDC and EURC. In other words, stablecoins are no longer competitors outside the Visa system but are being absorbed into the network. Mark Nelsen, Visa's product head, stated in an interview with Reuters that it is extremely difficult to rebuild the underlying software of global payment systems, and integrating stablecoin technology into existing processes is a more realistic path.

Stripe's Open Issuance is more aggressive. This platform not only supports stablecoin payments but also allows any business to issue its own stablecoin. More importantly, businesses can share in the profits generated from the reserves.

In the past, issuers like Circle and Tether would invest the US dollars deposited by users in low-risk assets like government bonds, keeping all the profits for themselves. Stripe disrupted this model by allowing issuers to share profits with businesses.

Stripe President William Gaybrick believes that the gradual clarity of regulatory frameworks has significantly lowered the barriers for companies entering the stablecoin space. He anticipates that dozens, if not hundreds, of corporate stablecoins will emerge in the future. Open Issuance supports multiple chains, including Ethereum, Solana, and Stripe's own Tempo blockchain.

The bidding war for BVNK reveals the true value of stablecoin infrastructure.

Founded in 2021, this company focuses on helping businesses achieve seamless conversion between stablecoins and fiat currencies, with extensive banking partnerships and multiple financial licenses, having processed transactions totaling over $20 billion.

In December last year, BVNK's valuation was only 750 million dollars. In less than a year, the valuation surged to between 1.5 billion and 2.5 billion dollars. Mastercard and Coinbase are both vying for this company, while Visa and Citibank are participating through investments.

BVNK Founders from left to right: Chris Harmse, Jesse Hemson-Struthers, and Donald Jackson｜Source: BVNK

The significance of BVNK lies in its ability to bridge the gap between the traditional fiat currency system and the rapidly expanding stablecoin network. In the context of AI payments, the value of this bridge is redefined. Whoever masters it holds the key channel between the old and new financial systems.

For Mastercard, the acquisition of BVNK means the ability to quickly fill in the stablecoin infrastructure and avoid being marginalized in the new wave of technological trends. For Coinbase, this is an opportunity for strategic expansion, moving from an exchange to a broader payment field, to build a Stripe for the crypto world.

The surge in BVNK's valuation reflects the market's repricing of stablecoin infrastructure. In the era of AI payments, these companies play a role similar to that of clearing houses in the traditional financial system; they handle not just transactions but also the underlying channels of value flow.

Competition for Traffic Entrances

Agreements and infrastructure are armaments, but the real battlefield is at the application layer. Whoever can get users accustomed to shopping on AI platforms will hold the throat of future commerce.

ChatGPT's instant checkout is a milestone event. This is the first shot of AI agent payments moving from concept to reality. Users can directly purchase items on Etsy during their conversation with ChatGPT, with the entire process without jumping to the merchant's website. Stripe provides the payment infrastructure, and OpenAI provides the traffic entry, creating a whole new shopping experience.

Interactions between users, ChatGPT, merchants, and payment processors｜Source: ChatGPT

This feature will soon be expanded to Shopify merchants, with brands like Glossier, Vuori, Spanx, and SKIMS already prepared to integrate. Sam Altman said this is the starting point for AI Commerce.

Google is also speeding up its actions. It announced that it will expand the shopping interface of AI Mode in the coming months, adding price tracking and direct purchase features. Users can browse, compare, and place orders in AI Mode, with transactions ultimately completed through Google Pay.

Perplexity is also not willing to fall behind. This AI search engine has launched the “Buy with Pro” feature in collaboration with PayPal, allowing users to checkout directly in the chat interface. It has also integrated Firmly.ai, a platform backend that makes it easy for merchants to connect.

A report released by BCG on October 6 disclosed a set of key data. In July 2025, traffic to U.S. retail websites from GenAI browser and chat services increased by 4700% year-on-year. The behavior of these users also differs from traditional visitors, as they spend 32% more time on the website, view 10% more pages, and have a 27% lower bounce rate.

More importantly, by the time they arrive at the website, they are often already in the latter half of the purchasing decision. Data from Adobe further confirms this, with over half of consumers expecting to use AI assistants for shopping by the end of 2025.

The traffic entry is being rewritten. In the past, people entered e-commerce websites through search engines or direct visits; now, AI platforms are becoming the new entry points. As consumers get used to completing their shopping in ChatGPT or Google AI Mode, retailers' official websites may gradually lose their significance.

The impact of this change is far-reaching. Direct customer relationships that brands have spent decades building may be reclaimed by AI platforms. Consumer behavior data and transaction records will no longer belong to retailers but will be integrated into AI databases.

A War About Rules

In the past month, we have witnessed the full-scale offensive of payment giants on three fronts.

At the protocol level, Stripe's ACP, Google's AP2, and Mastercard's Agent Pay are all vying for a central proposition: who will set the rules for AI agents. These protocols define how AI agents initiate payments, how they are authorized, and how they are held accountable. Mastering these protocols means mastering the discourse of the AI Commerce era.

At the infrastructure level, Visa's stablecoin pilot, Stripe's Open Issuance, and the bidding war surrounding BVNK are racing to answer another question: who can control the pipeline of value flow. The trading volume of stablecoins has surpassed that of traditional payment networks, and it is becoming the preferred tool for AI agent payments. Whoever owns the stablecoin infrastructure holds the clearing rights and minting rights of the new era.

At the application layer, ChatGPT's instant checkout and Google's AI Mode are vying for the final checkpoint: who can become the new traffic entrance. As users begin to get used to shopping on AI platforms, retailers' official websites and brand entrances are being quietly replaced. The shift in traffic means a shift in commercial power.

These seemingly scattered actions all point to the same goal: to redefine the underlying rules of business operations at the moment when AI agents become a new type of consumer.

This is a restructuring of power, from people to agents, from brands to algorithms, from payment networks to stablecoin infrastructure. Every technological revolution brings about a re-drawing of the power landscape, and AI payments are no exception.

In this war, what is perhaps most worth following is not who will win, but who will be excluded.

BVNK's valuation has tripled in less than a year, and this signal couldn't be clearer. The market is re-pricing the entire payment ecosystem. Companies that are still on the sidelines may find that they have already missed the window to enter.

The events of the past month are not the starting point of a transformation, but rather the beginning of acceleration. The contours of regulation have taken shape, the capabilities of technology have matured, and the demands of the market have become apparent. What remains now is merely execution and competition.

A new business order is taking shape, and those enterprises that have yet to realize their position has changed will pay the price in this reconstruction of order.