AP2
Payment-agnostic settlement inside the A2A task lifecycle — handles cards, bank transfers and crypto through one mandate-based framework.
- name
- AP2
- full_name
- Agent Payments Protocol
- layer
- payments
- creator
- Google (with 60+ payments & finance orgs)
- status
- emerging
- year
- 2025
- one_liner
- Payment-agnostic settlement inside the A2A task lifecycle — handles cards, bank transfers and crypto through one mandate-based framework.
- spec_url
- https://ap2-protocol.org
- snippet
An agent presents a signed mandate; AP2 routes it to cards, ACH, or crypto rails.- abbreviation
- AP2
- also_known_as
Agent Payments ProtocolAgents-to-Payments Protocol- canonical_spec_url
- https://ap2-protocol.org
- entity_uri
- https://agentpaymentsprotocol.info/
- taxonomy_layer
- payments
- sub_layer
- mandate-based-settlement
- protocol_type
- settlement
- central_problem
- Gives an AI agent a verifiable, cryptographically signed permission slip (a mandate) from a human before it can spend money, and routes that mandate across cards, bank, and crypto rails.
- maintainer
- Google + 60+ payments/finance partners (AP2 project)
- governance_body
- vendor (Google-led, open partner consortium)
- license
- Apache-2.0 verify-against-primary-at-build ↗ https://ap2-protocol.org
- maturity_tag
- emerging
- current_spec_version
- — verify-against-primary-at-build ↗ https://ap2-protocol.org
- spec_date
- — verify-against-primary-at-build ↗ https://ap2-protocol.org
- launch_date
- 2025-09-16
- last_verified
- 2026-06-15
- transport
- Extension of A2A / MCP task lifecycle; mandates carried as W3C Verifiable Credentials
- core_mechanism
- AP2 introduces three signed mandates — Intent, Cart, and Payment — carried as W3C Verifiable Credentials; the agent presents the signed mandate and AP2 routes settlement to cards, ACH, or crypto rails, with stablecoins treated as first-class alongside cards and bank transfers.
- discovery_endpoint
- Carried within the A2A task lifecycle (no standalone well-known endpoint)
- settlement_type
- card-rail / bank / stablecoin (payment-agnostic, routed by mandate)
- adoption_metric
- Announced with 60+ payments & technology partners (e.g. Mastercard, PayPal, American Express, Coinbase, Adyen, Worldpay) source
- notable_adopters
{"value":"Google","source":"https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/ai-machine-learning/announcing-agents-to-payments-ap2-protocol"}{"value":"Mastercard, PayPal, American Express, Coinbase (launch partners)","source":"https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/ai-machine-learning/announcing-agents-to-payments-ap2-protocol"}- relationships
{"predicate":"extends","target":"x402","note":"AP2 -extends-> x402 (research §2 seed triple)."}{"predicate":"built_on","target":"a2a","note":"AP2 is designed as an extension of the A2A (and MCP) task lifecycle."}- ideal_use_case
- Agent-led purchases that need a human's signed, auditable authorization across mixed payment rails.
- when_to_use
- When an agent must spend a user's money with verifiable consent and you need card/bank/crypto routing under one mandate framework.
- when_not_to_use
- When you only need sub-cent inline API metering (use x402) or an in-conversation checkout for retail (use Agentic Commerce / ACP).
- code_example
- // AP2 mandates are W3C Verifiable Credentials (Intent → Cart → Payment). // The agent presents a signed Payment mandate; AP2 routes it to the chosen rail. // { "type": ["VerifiableCredential", "PaymentMandate"], "credentialSubject": { "amount": "42.00", "currency": "USD" } }
- source
- Launch 2025-09-16 + 60+ partners + three-mandate (Intent/Cart/Payment) VC design: https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/ai-machine-learning/announcing-agents-to-payments-ap2-protocol .
- agent_readiness_link
- agent-readiness/x402
- layer_legacy
- payment