Google Partners With Coinbase to Enable Stablecoin Payments in AI Applications

Key Insights:

• Google’s new open-source protocol enables AI agents to send and receive stablecoin payments.

• Coinbase, Ethereum Foundation, and over 60 firms helped build the payment layer.

• The update reflects growing stablecoin adoption, with circulation topping $289B in 2025.

Google is moving deeper into the digital finance space with a new open-source protocol that allows AI applications to send and receive payments including stablecoins pegged to fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar. As part of the rollout, Google has teamed up with Coinbase, the Ethereum Foundation, and over 60 companies spanning crypto and traditional finance.

This move marks a bold step toward fusing AI with blockchain-based financial infrastructure. The updated Agent payment protocol (AP2), part of Google’s broader effort to standardize “AI agent” interactions, expands into money movement, enabling digital agents to carry out transactions on behalf of users with built-in support for stablecoins like USDC.

Big Tech  Embraces Stablecoin Infrastructure

Google’s new payments layer is a major signal that stablecoins are entering mainstream tech stacks. In addition to Coinbase, other notable collaborators include Salesforce, American Express, Etsy, and the Ethereum Foundation.

These partnerships are designed to ensure that both crypto-native and legacy financial systems are supported, bridging the gap between AI and global payments.

James Tromans, head of Web3 at Google Cloud, explained that the new protocol was “built from the ground up to factor in both heritage and existing payment rail capabilities, as well as forthcoming capabilities such as stablecoins.”

The design is a reflection of Google’s ambition to create AI systems that are not just conversational tools but capable digital agents ones that can shop, negotiate, and handle financial tasks autonomously.

Interest In Stablecoins Spike Following Clear Regulation

Interestingly, this updated protocol builds on Google’s earlier release in April, which focused on standardizing communication between AI agents.

Now, with the addition of payment functionality, these agents are positioned to conduct financial transactions in real-world scenarios, whether it is booking flights, paying subscriptions, or even transferring funds across borders.

This development comes amid a broader boom in the stablecoin market. It is worth noting that the growing interest in stablecoin is based on the more crypto-friendly U.S. administration.

The recent Senate-approved GENIUS Act signed by Donald Trump aims to introduce sanity and regulation to the stablecoin market that is already valued at more than $289.708 billion, according to DeFiLlama.

Google’s move shows growing institutional belief in stablecoins as reliable, programmable forms of digital cash and their potential to reshape how software interacts with money.