Google Cloud has introduced the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), an open standard designed to enable secure, AI agent-led payments across platforms. Developed with more than 60 payments and technology companies worldwide, AP2 creates a payment-agnostic framework that allows users, merchants, and providers to transact with confidence across different payment methods.
The protocol builds on the existing Agent2Agent (A2A) and Model Context Protocol (MCP), and works alongside industry rules and standards. It is intended to address the growing need for trust and accountability in a future where AI agents increasingly transact on behalf of users.
Key Southeast Asian companies collaborating with Google include Airwallex, Fiuu, Garena, Lazada, Manus, Razer, Shopee, and ZALORA. Global players such as American Express, Mastercard, PayPal, Coinbase, UnionPay International, Worldpay, and Adyen are also participating.
Addressing challenges in agentic payments
Unlike traditional systems that assume a human directly confirms purchases, AI agents can initiate transactions independently. This creates new challenges around authorisation, authenticity, and accountability. AP2 aims to solve these by introducing Mandates—cryptographically signed digital contracts that act as verifiable proof of a user’s intent.
In real-time shopping, users approve purchases through Cart Mandates, which create unchangeable records of items and prices. For delegated tasks, such as buying tickets the moment they go on sale, users can pre-approve conditions through Intent Mandates. These safeguards establish a clear audit trail from request to payment, ensuring accountability across the entire process.
Rao Surapaneni, Vice President and General Manager of Google Cloud’s Business Applications Platform, said the protocol would prevent ecosystem fragmentation. “AP2 is an open, shared protocol that provides a common language for secure, compliant transactions between agents and merchants. It also supports different payment types – from credit and debit cards to stablecoins and real-time bank transfers.”
Industry response and collaboration
Industry leaders welcomed the announcement. Jacob Dai, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Airwallex, described AP2 as “a critical step forward in building a secure, interoperable ecosystem for agentic AI payments.” Eng Sheng Guan, Chief Executive Officer of Fiuu, added that the protocol would support “secure, scalable agent-to-agent transactions across multi-channel systems.”
Mastercard’s Chief Digital Officer, Pablo Fourez, highlighted the company’s work with industry bodies to strengthen trust. “Together, we’re playing an essential role in securing the payments ecosystem, ensuring that trust and safety remain at the core of every transaction,” he said.
Other partners emphasised AP2’s potential in transforming e-commerce and Web3 payments. Shopee’s Chief Product Officer David Chen noted that protocols like AP2 would be “critical to enabling this future,” while MetaMask’s AI Lead Marco De Rossi pointed to its importance in integrating blockchain-based transactions.
Unlocking new commerce opportunities
AP2’s design enables new types of commerce experiences, from personalised offers and smarter shopping to automated, multi-agent coordination of tasks such as travel bookings. The protocol also extends to digital assets through the A2A x402 extension, developed with partners including Coinbase and the Ethereum Foundation, to enable crypto-based transactions.
Google Cloud’s Southeast Asia Managing Director, Mark Micallef, said the region was a key growth market. He cited research showing that Southeast Asia’s gross merchandise value for e-commerce, travel, food delivery, and online media reached US$263 billion in 2024, with digital payments projected to surpass US$2,100 billion by 2030.
“AP2 provides a trusted foundation to fuel a new era of AI-driven commerce,” said Micallef. “We are committed to evolving this protocol in an open, collaborative process and invite the entire payments and technology community to build this future with us.”
