#609
Bots with Bankrolls
Published:
Sep 20, 2025
Author:
Sarah Parsons Wolter
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Google just gave AI agents a debit card. Its new Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), launched with more than 60 partners including Coinbase, Visa, and major banks, allows autonomous systems to not only browse and recommend but also check out and pay. Think of it as Venmo for machines, complete with open source standards to set spending rules, authorize transactions, and track accountability.
The idea is simple but powerful: rather than stopping at recommendations, AI agents can now handle the full cycle of commerce. Consumers or businesses define the parameters, like how much to spend, where, and on what, and agents execute transactions within those bounds. For developers, AP2 offers an interoperable framework that could bring agentic commerce to any app or platform. For banks and merchants, it provides the guardrails needed to protect against fraud, manage risk, and build trust in a world where machines act on our behalf.
Crucially, AP2 doesn’t just connect to credit cards and bank accounts, it natively supports stablecoins. That means an agent can settle a purchase in USDC just as easily as in dollars, with faster settlement and global reach baked in. This lines up with moves across the payments landscape, as Circle and others expand stablecoin networks to power real time cross border transactions. The overlap of AI agents and digital dollars could accelerate both trends, creating an entirely new layer of programmable commerce.
One thing is clear: the bots are not just talking anymore, they are shopping.
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Bots with Bankrolls
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