Google Joins the Fray: Tech Giant Enters Agentic AI Stablecoin Payments Race

Google just threw its hat into the ring—big tech's latest move to dominate AI-driven stablecoin infrastructure.

The AI-Payment Revolution

Forget clunky legacy systems. Google's betting that agentic AI can process stablecoin transactions faster, cheaper, and with fewer human touchpoints. No more waiting for confirmations or dealing with intermediary banks.

Why Stablecoins?

Stablecoins offer predictability—a must for corporate treasury departments allergic to volatility. Pair that with AI that learns and adapts, and you’ve got a payments stack that could bypass traditional finance entirely.

Wall Street’s Watching—And Sweating

Banks aren’t thrilled. Another tech giant muscling into their territory? Shocking. But when Google moves, markets listen. Even if it’s just another 'innovation' that'll probably get regulated into oblivion by 2026.

Autonomous AI Payments

Coinbase has been developing its own AI and crypto payment solutions, specifically including support for dollar-pegged stablecoins. Google’s protocol builds on the firm’s Agent2Agent framework from April 2025, anticipating a future where AI agents communicate and transact directly without human intervention.

“The way we built it is from the ground up to factor in both heritage and existing payment rail capabilities as well as forthcoming capabilities such as stablecoins,” head of Web3 at Google Cloud, James Tromans, told Fortune.

AP2 is designed as a universal protocol, “providing security and trust for a variety of payments like stablecoins and cryptocurrencies,” the firm stated. It aims to accelerate support for the Web3 ecosystem through a production-ready solution for agent-based crypto payments.

“Extensions like these will help shape the evolution of cryptocurrency integrations within the core AP2 protocol.”

The system builds trust by using “Mandates,” which are tamper-proof, cryptographically-signed smart contracts that serve as verifiable proof of a user’s instructions.

These Mandates address the two primary ways a user will shop with an agent: real-time purchases with the human present, and delegated tasks which the agent will handle.

The Future of Shopping

AP2 also enables sophisticated autonomous commerce such as “smart shopping,” where AI agents monitor availability and execute purchases when conditions are met.

It can also seek out personalized offers with agents contacting merchants with specific details and time frames for the item wanted.

AI agents can also carry out coordinated tasks such as booking flights and hotels with multi-vendor transactions simultaneously.

This week, the Ethereum Foundation also announced the formation of a new team to work on agentic AI payments for the Ethereum network.