Google's big changes: AI payment, stablecoins lead

# Authored by ChandlerZ, Foresight News

As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes an indispensable part of our lives and work, how will it facilitate value exchange? Google has provided an answer: through stablecoins.

On September 16, Google announced the launch of a brand-new open-source payment protocol, aiming to establish a unified standard for value transfer between different AI applications. This protocol not only supports traditional payment methods such as credit and debit cards but also incorporates stablecoins into its system for the first time.

In collaboration with crypto companies including Coinbase and the Ethereum Foundation, Google has enhanced stablecoin support in this protocol, seeking to address challenges such as cross-border payments, value transmission, and settlement efficiency that AI Agents may encounter in their widespread future applications. James Tromans, Head of Google Cloud Web3, stated in an interview with *Fortune*: "When we built this system from the ground up, we considered both traditional and existing payment channel capabilities, as well as future payment capabilities like stablecoins."

This move signifies that Google is no longer maintaining a distance from the crypto industry only through indirect means such as advertising policies or cloud node hosting. Instead, it is directly integrating stablecoins into its product architecture for the first time, exploring their real-world application scenarios within the AI ecosystem.

## Google Launches AI Payment Protocol, with Stablecoins as a Core Element

According to official disclosures, over 60 institutions participated in the development of this payment protocol, covering technology, finance, e-commerce, and crypto-native organizations. The collaboration with Coinbase is regarded as a key link: as one of the most compliant U.S. crypto exchanges, Coinbase has deepened its presence in the stablecoin field for years, and USDC—jointly promoted by Coinbase and Circle—has become a representative of mainstream stablecoins.

The design logic of the protocol lies in its compatibility with both traditional payment networks and next-generation payment capabilities. In other words, future AI Agents will be able to complete transactions via credit cards or directly use stablecoins for instant settlement. This dual-track model provides a foundation for Google to build a sustainable AI-to-AI payment system.

The integration of stablecoins will attract particular attention. Compared with highly volatile crypto assets like Bitcoin, stablecoins are pegged to fiat currencies such as the U.S. dollar, enabling them to provide a stable value anchor in automated payment scenarios and reduce transaction risks. In cross-border payments or microservice calls frequently initiated by AI Agents, stablecoins excel with their advantages of low costs and fast settlement.

However, using stablecoins as a core payment tool also faces significant challenges. First is regulatory fragmentation. Although regulatory frameworks for stablecoins are becoming clearer in some major economies (such as the U.S.), legal and compliance requirements worldwide remain highly complex and inconsistent. Different countries have varying regulations on the issuance, circulation, and liquidation of stablecoins, which will undoubtedly create compliance barriers for AI Agents to conduct global, automated payments.

In addition, technical security and risk control are top priorities. The autonomous payment capabilities of AI Agents require extremely high on-chain security and smart contract auditing; any vulnerability could lead to irreversible financial losses. How to build a system that not only ensures payment efficiency but also effectively prevents risks such as money laundering and fraud will be a long-term challenge for Google and its partners.

At the same time, the user acceptance and education costs of this new payment method, as well as how to manage permissions and conduct risk audits when AI Agents have direct payment capabilities, are also challenges that cannot be ignored.

## Forging Alliances: The Inevitable Choice of Standardization and Multi-Party Collaboration

This payment protocol is an extension of Google’s layout in the AI Agent ecosystem.

In April this year, Google launched a unified communication protocol, allowing AI Agents from different companies to "communicate" with each other. Now, the addition of payment functionality means that AI interactions are evolving from information exchange to value exchange.

To ensure the interoperability and compliance of the protocol, Google has not only partnered with Coinbase but also collaborated with institutions including Salesforce and American Express. The participation of crypto-native organizations such as the Ethereum Foundation ensures the security and technical scalability of stablecoins and on-chain payment components.

Furthermore, Sui and EigenCloud have become the first batch of partners in this protocol. The former, developed by Mysten Labs, provides sub-second programmable payment capabilities and builds an efficient, privacy-focused infrastructure through Walrus decentralized storage, Move smart contracts, and zkLogin privacy identities—enabling AI Agents to complete value exchange in near-real time while ensuring the security and compliance of interactions. EigenCloud, on the other hand, focuses on "verifiability," with the concept of ensuring that all actions of AI Agents can not only be recorded but also verified and held accountable.

This cross-sector collaboration reflects a reality: the future of AI and payments cannot be dominated by a single company; it must achieve interconnection among different entities through standardized protocols. Google has also emphasized that the goal of this protocol is not to replace existing payment networks, but to enable AI Agents to flexibly use different payment methods in the future through compatibility and expansion.

## Industry Prospects and Conclusion

From a broader perspective, the collaboration between Google and Coinbase sends a signal: the integration of AI and crypto finance is accelerating.

As AI Agents are increasingly applied in fields such as shopping, wealth management, and content creation, their payment needs are shifting from one-time transactions to continuous, automated, cross-regional micro-payments.

Against this backdrop, the value of stablecoins stands out. Their global usability, real-time nature, programmability, and cost advantages make them a natural tool for AI-to-AI transactions. Whether in cross-border payments or scenarios involving automatically executed smart contracts, stablecoins can provide more efficient solutions than traditional payment systems.

This is why major tech companies such as Shopify, Meta, and Apple have explored the application of stablecoins in recent years. As markets like the U.S. gradually relax regulations, stablecoins are evolving from a niche tool in the crypto market to an important bridge in global payments and the AI economy.

Overall, the payment protocol launched by Google this time is not just a product update, but more like a prelude to the evolution of the global payment system. It indicates that if AI-to-AI transaction scenarios become widespread rapidly, stablecoins may become the core currency form supporting their operation. For the crypto industry, this represents not only new implementation opportunities but also a potential restructuring of payment logic in the next decade.

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