Google has unveiled an open-source protocol that allows AI applications to send and receive payments, including transactions using stablecoins — highlighting the growing role of dollar-pegged cryptocurrencies in the emerging AI-driven web.
The initiative is being launched in partnership with Salesforce, American Express and more than 60 other companies, Fortune reported Tuesday. Stablecoin functionality was developed in collaboration with crypto exchange Coinbase, and the Ethereum Foundation was also consulted on the project.
James Tromans, head of Web3 at Google Cloud, confirmed the rollout, telling Fortune that the protocol was designed to support both “existing payment rail capabilities as well as forthcoming capabilities such as stablecoins.”
Coinbase engineer Erik Reppel said the exchange worked with Google to make their payment systems interoperable. “We’re all working to figure out how to make AI transmit value to each other,” he told Fortune.
The payment system builds on Google’s Agent2Agent Protocol, introduced in April, which provides a framework for AI agents to exchange information and interact more efficiently. It was developed with support from more than 50 technology partners, including PayPal, Salesforce and SAP, and consulting firms such as Deloitte, McKinsey and PwC.
The Tuesday announcement comes amid a growing push to connect AI agents — autonomous software programs capable of making decisions without human input — with decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols. Such integration could streamline trading, improve user interaction, and expand real-world payment use cases.
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Stablecoin integration with AI gains momentum
Stablecoins may prove to be the most impactful crypto use case for AI agents, emerging just as both technologies gain broader mainstream adoption. These dollar-pegged tokens recently received a regulatory boost in the United States through the GENIUS Act.
Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz recently underscored stablecoins’ importance in this shift, predicting that AI agents will eventually become “the biggest user of stablecoins.”
The Ethereum Foundation has also highlighted stablecoins’ potential in powering AI-driven applications.
Source: Ethereum FoundationIn August, the foundation pointed to the dormant HTTP 402 status code — which denotes “payment required” — and noted that, when paired with Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 3009, it could enable AI agents to execute stablecoin transfers automatically.
At the time, the foundation stated that “autonomous agents are about to become Ethereum’s biggest power users.”
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