Senior executives from PayPal and Google Cloud said at the Consensus Miami conference that AI agents will drive the next wave of internet commerce on cryptocurrency rails. They cited technical barriers preventing agents from using traditional bank accounts. The discussion focused on new protocols and merchant preparations needed for this shift.
Richard Widmann, global head of Web3 strategy at Google Cloud, explained that agents cannot obtain bank accounts due to technological and regulatory hurdles. He described crypto as a natural fit because it offers a machine-readable interface for payments. Google has introduced the Agentic Payments Protocol, known as AP2, and donated it to the FIDO Foundation with more than 120 partners including PayPal.
