What have the payment giants done over the past month?
Written :Sleepy.txt
Editor: Kaori
If you haven't been following the payments industry in the past month, you may have missed some important news.
On September 29, Stripe and OpenAI jointly announced that ChatGPT users can shop directly in the chat window without having to jump to the merchant's website. The next day, Visa launched a stablecoin predeposit pilot, allowing financial institutions to settle cross-borders with USDC and EURC. Another day later, Stripe made another move and released a platform called "Open Issuance", allowing any business to issue its own stablecoin.
On October 9, news broke in the market that Mastercard and Coinbase were bidding for stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK, with prices ranging from $15 to $2.5 billion. And as of December last year, the company was valued at only $750 million.
This is just the tip of the iceberg, if you stretch the timeline to the whole of September, you will find that Mastercard, Google, Visa, and Stripe have released their major moves in the field of AI payments and stablecoins in almost the same time window.
Key News Events Recap
Let's start with a complete review of the key events of the month.
blockbuster news stories in a month, this intensity is rare in the payments industry. More importantly, these news are not isolated product releases, they echo each other and progress layer by layer.
Who will legislate for AI agents
When AI agents start initiating payments on behalf of humans, the really tricky questions arise – who authorizes, who is responsible, and how can AI prevent an illusionary transaction from being completed?
Traditional payment systems are built on the simple premise that humans will personally click the buy button. But when this premise is broken, the entire authorization and accountability mechanism must be redesigned.
Stripe and OpenAI's answer is "Shared Payment Tokens," or SPT for short. This is a new payment primitive that allows AI agents to initiate payments on behalf of users without access to the user's real account or card information. Each SPT is limited to a specific merchant and cart total, giving AI sufficient payment authority while protecting user privacy and security.
Stripe facilitates transactions, applies fraud detection, and enforces token control in real time|Source: Stripe ChatGPT's
instant checkout feature is based on this technology, allowing users to purchase items on Etsy directly in the chat. Soon, this feature will expand to Shopify merchants, including brands like Glossier, Vuori, Spanx, SKIMS, and more.
Google chose a different path. It proposes the AP2 protocol, which uses three verifiable digital credentials: Intent Mandate, Cart Mandate, and Payment Mandate. Intent Mandate defines the conditions under which the user authorizes the agent to purchase; Cart Mandate is a cryptographic signature authorization for a specific shopping cart by the user; Payment Mandate signals to payment networks and issuers that this is a transaction involving an AI agent.
This mechanism provides fine-grained control and traceable audit trails. Google emphasizes that AP2 is an open protocol, an extension of A2A and the Model Context Protocol, and does not belong to any single company.
Mastercard's strategy is more pragmatic. "Agent Pay" does not emphasize technological innovation, its core value is compatibility. Mastercard is partnering with platforms such as Stripe, Google, and Ant International's Antom to ensure that its payment network can seamlessly integrate with the mainstream AI agent ecosystem.
All three protocols were launched at about the same time. They try to solve the same problem but follow completely different paths. Stripe chose to occupy the scene first and then promote the standard; Google sets standards before attracting apps; Mastercard doesn't want to lead, but it doesn't want to be absent.
History has repeatedly proven that whoever masters the standard will control the future. This battle over protocols is quietly determining the power landscape in the AI business era.
The battle for stablecoins
Thetrading volume of stablecoins has long exceeded that of the two major payment giants, Visa and Mastercard combined. This figure has renewed the industry's vigilance that stablecoins are no longer experimental objects in the crypto world but are becoming the underlying facility of the global financial system. And with the rise of AI agent payments, this trend has been further amplified.
What AI agents need is an all-weather, instant settlement, low-cost, programmable payment method. Traditional bank wire transfers often take several days, and cross-border payments have to go through multiple layers of intermediaries. Stablecoins are almost a natural fit for this need, with settlements in seconds, extremely low fees, and can be combined with smart contracts to execute complex payment logic.
Google's AP2 protocol has explicitly included stablecoins as the primary means of payment. In their design, stablecoins are a common language among AI agents, providing both digital throughput and currency stability.
Traditional payment giants have chosen different strategies to respond.
Visa has launched a stablecoin pre-deposit pilot, allowing financial institutions to fund Visa Direct accounts with USDC and EURC. In other words, stablecoins are no longer competitors outside the Visa system, but are absorbed into the network. Mark Nelsen, head of product at Visa, said in an interview with Reuters that the underlying software of the global payment system is extremely difficult to rebuild, and integrating stablecoin technology into existing processes is a more realistic path.
Stripe's Open Issuance goes even more aggressively. This platform not only supports stablecoin payments, but also allows any business to issue its own stablecoin, and more importantly, it allows companies to share in the benefits of reserves.
In the past, issuers such as Circle and Tether would invest the dollars deposited by users in low-risk assets such as Treasury bonds, and all the proceeds would be owned by themselves. Stripe breaks this pattern by allowing issuers to share revenue with businesses.
William Gaybrick, President of Stripe, believes that the gradual clarity of the regulatory framework has significantly lowered the barrier to entry for businesses into the stablecoin space. He expects dozens or even hundreds of corporate stablecoins to emerge in the future. Open Issuance supports multiple chains, including Ethereum, Solana, and Stripe's proprietary Tempo blockchain.
And BVNK's bidding war reveals the true value of stablecoin infrastructure.
Founded in 2021, the company focuses on helping businesses seamlessly convert between stablecoins and fiat currencies, with extensive banking partnerships and financial licenses in multiple places, processing more than $20 billion in transactions.
In December last year, BVNK was valued at just $750 million. In less than a year, the valuation jumped to $15 to $2.5 billion. Mastercard and Coinbase are vying for the company, while Visa and Citigroup are involved in the investment way.
BVNK Founders From left to right: Chris Harmse, Jesse Hemson-Struthers, and Donald Jackson|Source: BVNK
The significance of BVNK lies in its bridging between the traditional fiat currency system and the rapidly expanding stablecoin network on the other. In the context of AI payments, the value of such bridges is redefined. Whoever masters it has a key channel between the old and new financial systems.
For Mastercard, the acquisition of BVNK means that it can quickly replenish its stablecoin infrastructure and avoid being marginalized in the new wave of technology. For Coinbase, this is an opportunity for strategic expansion, moving from exchanges to the broader payment space to build a Stripe that belongs to the crypto world.
The surge in BVNK's valuation reflects the market's repricing of stablecoin infrastructure. In the era of AI payments, these companies play a role like clearing houses in the traditional financial system, handling not only transactions but also the underlying channels for value flow.
Thecompetition for traffic ingress
protocols and infrastructure is armaments, but the real battlefield is at the application layer. Whoever can get users used to completing their purchases on the AI platform will hold the throat of future business.
ChatGPT's instant checkout is a milestone event. This is the first shot of AI agent payments from concept to reality. Users can purchase items on Etsy directly in conversations with ChatGPT, eliminating the need to jump to the merchant's website. Stripe provides the payment infrastructure and OpenAI provides the traffic on-ramp, and the combination of the two creates a new shopping experience.
interaction between users, ChatGPT, merchants, and payment processors|Source: ChatGPT This
feature will soon be extended to Shopify merchants, and brands such as Glossier, Vuori, Spanx, and SKIMS are already ready to join it. This is the starting point for AI Commerce, says Sam Altman.
Google is also speeding up its moves. It announced that it will expand AI Mode's shopping interface in the coming months, adding price tracking and direct purchase features. Users can browse, compare, and place orders in AI Mode, and transactions are finally completed through Google Pay.
Perplexity is not far behind. The AI search engine has launched a "Buy with Pro" feature, partnering with PayPal to allow users to check out directly in the chat interface. It also integrates Firmly.ai, a platform backend that merchants can easily access to.
BCG disclosed a key set of data in a report released on October 6. In July 2025, U.S. retail website traffic from GenAI browsers and chat services increased by 4,700% year-over-year. These users also behave differently than traditional visitors, spending 32% more time on the site, navigating 10% more pages, and having a 27% lower bounce rate.
More importantly, they often arrive at the site in the second half of their purchase decision. This is further confirmed by Adobe's data, with more than half of consumers expecting to use AI assistants for purchases by the end of 2025.
The traffic entrance is being rewritten. In the past, people entered e-commerce websites through search engines or direct access; Now, AI platforms are becoming the new entry point. As consumers become accustomed to shopping in ChatGPT or Google AI Mode, retailers' websites may be losing their meaning.
The implications of this change are far-reaching. Direct customer relationships that brands have spent decades building could be retaken by AI platforms. Consumer behavior data and transaction records will no longer belong to retailers, but will be imported into AI's database.
A war over rules Over
the past month, we've seen the payments giants go all out on three fronts.
At the protocol layer, Stripe's ACP, Google's AP2, and Mastercard's Agent Pay all compete for a core proposition: who will set the rules for AI agents. These protocols define how AI agents initiate payments, how they are authorized, and how they are held accountable. Once you master the agreement, you have the right to speak in the AI Commerce era.
At the infrastructure layer, Visa's stablecoin pilot, Stripe's Open Issuance, and the bidding war around BVNK are answering another question: who can control the flow of value. Stablecoins have surpassed traditional payment networks in terms of transaction volume, and they are becoming the go-to tool for AI agent payments. Whoever owns the stablecoin infrastructure has the right to liquidate and mint in the new era.
At the application layer, ChatGPT's instant checkout and Google's AI Mode are competing for the last hurdle: who can become the new traffic entrance. As users begin to get used to completing purchases on AI platforms, retailers' official websites and brand portals are quietly being replaced. The transfer of traffic means the transfer of commercial power.
These seemingly scattered actions actually point to the same goal: to redefine the underlying rules of business operations at a time when AI agents become the new type of consumer.
It's a restructuring of power, from people to agents, from brands to algorithms, from payment networks to stablecoin infrastructure. Every technological revolution brings about a redrawing of the power map, and AI payments are no exception.
In this war, perhaps the most noteworthy thing is not who will win, but who will be excluded.
BVNK's valuation has tripled in less than a year, and the signal couldn't be clearer. The market is repriced the entire payment ecosystem. Those who are still waiting and seeing may find themselves missing the window to get in.
What has happened in the past month is not the starting point of change, but the beginning of acceleration. The contours of regulation have taken shape, the capabilities of technology have matured, and market needs have emerged. All that's left is execution and competition.
A new business order is taking shape, and companies that do not yet realize that their position has changed will pay the price in this reconstruction.