Google has decided to enter the world of online payments to improve electronic commerce and sales experiences with a new open protocol, which has called AP2 (Agent Payments Protocol, or protocol of agency payments). AP2 has been developed by the company in collaboration with various companies in the payments and technology sector, with the aim of offering everything necessary to Start and make transactions safely through payments managed by agents.
The protocol can use as an extension of two others: the A2A, or Agent2agent, and the model context protocol (MCP). In accordance with the standards and standards of the sector, the AP2 protocol launches an independent framework for the type of payment for users, merchants and payment providers to make transactions with confidence in any payment system.
At present, Google is collaborating with more than 60 organizations to model the future of agent payments. Among them are Adyen, American Express, Ant International, Coinbase, Etsy, Forter, Intuit, JCB, Mastercard, Mysten Labs, Paypal, Revolut, Salesforce, Servicenow, Unionpay International and WorldPay.
IA agents can perform transactions on behalf of the USAURs, so it is necessary to launch a common basis to authenticate, validate and convey the authority of an agent to perform transactions. With AP2, Google plans to address various critical issues that arise from the use of autonomous agents in electronic payments.
The first is the Authorizationwhich establishes the need to demonstrate that a users has given an agent the concrete authority to make a purchase. Then there is the Authenticitywhich allows a merchant to ensure that the request of an agent precisely reflects the intention of the users. Finally, there is the need to determine responsibility In case a fraudulent or incorrect transaction occurs.
How Google Ap2 works
AP2 is a open and shared protocol what It provides common language for safe and satisfaction between agents and merchantswhich helps avoid a fragmented ecosystem. It also admits different types of payment, from credit and debit cards to real -time bank transfers. This helps to guarantee a coherent, safe and scalable experience for users and merchants, while providing financial institutions with the clarity they need to manage the risk.
The protocol generates trust through the use of mandates, digital contracts proof of manipulations and cryptographically signed that serve as a verifiable test of the user’s instructions. These mandates are signed by verifiable credentials (VC) and act as a fundamental proof for each transaction.
The mandates address the two main ways in which a user will Buy with an agent: real -time purchases with human presence and delegated tasks without human presence. In the first case, when asked to an agent who performs a search for a product, the request for capture in an initial mandate of intention.
This offers the auditable context for the entire interaction in a transaction process. After the agent presents a cart with the product to be purchased, its approval signs a cart of a cart. This step creates a safe and unalterable record of exact items and the Price, which guarantees that what you see is what you pay.
In the second case a delegated task is carried out, and the mandate of intention, is signed in advance. This mandate specifies the rules of participation, with price limits, deadlines and other conditions. It serves as verifiable and pre -authorized test that allows the agent to automatically generate a cart mandate once the precise conditions are met.
In both cases, this test chain culminates with the Sure linking of a payment method to verified content of the cart of cart. This complete sequence, from the intention to the cart and payment, creates an irrefutable audit record that answers the critical authorization and authenticity questions, providing a clear basis for accountability.
ADVANTAGES OF AP2 for purchases
AP2 offers a basis for supporting commercial modelswhich allows you to have smarter purchases, even with mandates for supervision of products for products so that the agent checks their availability within a range that the user is willing to pay to buy it. In case of finding it within the price limits established by the users, the purchase process will carry out.
In addition, it allows you to create custom offers depending on the needs of the buyer. Thus, if this wants a certain product, an agent of an establishment in which it is said product for sale can make a personalized and limited offer over time with the aim of generating a sale.
It can also be complementary in carrying out coordinated tasks. For example, in the payments that an agent has to do to which they have managed a trip that has to find both means of transport and accommodation and restaurants within a period, schedules and established price range. The agent who receives this order can interact with the agents of the different platforms and reserve services for the trip and, when he finds the most appropriate option, execute the reservations with the established payments and make them signed cryptographically.
AP2 is designed as a universal protocol that offers safety for payments even with stablecoins and cryptocurrencies. To accelerate compatibility with the web3 ecosystem, in Google they have worked in collaboration with Coinbase, Metamk or the Ethereum Foundation to expand the basic AP2 constructions so they can work with cryptocurrencies. For this they have developed an extension, ready for production for agent -based cryptographic payments.
In short, AP2, whose code is available in Github, establishes the fundamental bases for safe transactions and creates opportunities for the trade industry and payments to innovate in areas such as the fluid authorization of agents and decentralized identity. From Google they say that they commit to develop the protocol in an open and collaborative process, even through standardization agencies, and collaborating with other actors in the payment community.
