At Consensus, executives said AI agents cannot use traditional bank accounts, while Google introduced its Agentic Payments Protocol with more than 120 partners and donated it to the FIDO Foundation (identity standards group).
Google Cloud and PayPal executives said at Consensus that AI agents may need crypto-based payment infrastructure because they cannot use traditional bank accounts. Google launched the Agentic Payments Protocol, a framework designed to support payments for AI-driven transactions, with more than 120 partners including PayPal, and said it donated the protocol to the FIDO Foundation (identity standards group). PayPal added that 95% of merchant sites already see AI agent traffic, but only 20% currently offer machine-readable catalogs, highlighting a gap between AI-driven shopping activity and the technical systems needed to support it. The comments point to a potential role for blockchain-based payment rails (digital networks for moving value) in machine-to-machine commerce, where software agents need programmable, internet-native ways to transact.