Google is developing a new protocol called AP2 (Agent Payments Protocol), designed to let autonomous AI agents send and receive payments—potentially using stablecoins or crypto rails.

The idea: AI chatbots, task runners, or multi-agent systems could soon book flights, pay invoices, tip creators, or rebalance portfolios without human clicks. It’s automation, but with a wallet.

“AI agents won’t just talk to you. They’ll pay on your behalf.”

For years, the Web3 community has been building towards programmable money and autonomous organizations. DAOs, smart contracts, and on-chain treasuries already execute without human intermediaries.

Google’s AP2 signals something bigger: Web2 giants are racing to normalize autonomous payments.

• Shared vision: Web3 imagined agents moving value freely. Now Big Tech is validating the premise.

• Key difference: Will AP2 be open, composable, and community-driven—or centralised and proprietary?

If Google controls the protocol:

• Gatekeeping wallets → Which chains and tokens get “approved”?

• Surveillance by design → Every transaction may run through Google’s AI stack.

• Exclusion of communities → Grassroots DAOs or indie projects may not be “authorized” participants.

For Web3 builders, the nightmare is clear: our ideas without our values.

Instead of waiting for AP2 to define the rules, Web3 communities can lead with their own models:

1. DAO Agents

   • DAOs could deploy autonomous agents that manage proposals, execute treasury payouts, or even negotiate with vendors—transparent, open, verifiable.

2. Community Payment Meshes

   • Web3 communities already use multisigs, tipbots, and NFT-gated payments. Agents could amplify this by handling microtasks—like funding Gitcoin grants when KPIs are hit.

3. Agent-to-Agent Economies

   • Imagine a Doginal Dogs agent tipping a YDAO agent for hosting a community space—payments negotiated and settled peer-to-peer, on-chain.

1. Build Open Protocols
   Don’t wait for Google. Projects should double down on agent payment frameworks that run natively on Ethereum, Solana, or Layer 2s.

2. Focus on Transparency
   Every agent payment should leave an auditable trail—wallets, hashes, rules. Web3 must champion proof over trust.

3. Own the Narrative
   Communities should frame AP2 not as competition but as validation: Big Tech is catching up to what Web3 already built.

“Web3 imagined programmable money. AP2 proves everyone else is about to follow.”

If AP2 succeeds, it won’t be long before most payments—subscriptions, services, even salaries—are mediated by AI agents. The fight is over who controls those agents.

For Web3 communities, the mission is clear:

• Keep payments open.

• Keep agents accountable.

• Keep communities, not corporations, at the center of the new agent economy.

AI agents with wallets are coming faster than anyone expected. The question for Web3 communities is simple:

Do we build our own agent networks—or let Google own them?

Drop your thoughts below.