According to @scottshics, he has begun a thread to share the backstory of a whitepaper focused on agentic payments and AI agents transacting. Source: x.com/scottshics/status/1987536798269260002; x.com/GoKiteAI/status/1984254607069999116 He states the catalyst was early February 2025 after being shocked by DeepSeek’s reasoning performance, leading him to conclude that AI agents will act and transact and that existing infrastructure is not ready. Source: x.com/scottshics/status/1987536798269260002; x.com/GoKiteAI/status/1984254607069999116 He reports initial pushback from investors and his team, noting many saw payments as a solved problem and AI agents as science fiction. Source: x.com/scottshics/status/1987536798269260002; x.com/GoKiteAI/status/1984254607069999116 He situates this work before milestones he lists as A2A in April, x402 in May, and a Payment hype phase from August onward in 2025, framing a clear timeline for the AI-agent payment narrative. Source: x.com/scottshics/status/1987536798269260002; x.com/GoKiteAI/status/1984254607069999116 He confirms there were multiple internal debates on whether agentic payments were the right direction. Source: x.com/scottshics/status/1987536798269260002; x.com/GoKiteAI/status/1984254607069999116 He does not name any specific cryptocurrencies, tokens, or platforms in this update. Source: x.com/scottshics/status/1987536798269260002; x.com/GoKiteAI/status/1984254607069999116 The dated sequence of A2A (April), x402 (May), and Payment hype (August onward) provides reference points traders can use to map the 2025 AI-payment narrative. Source: x.com/scottshics/status/1987536798269260002; x.com/GoKiteAI/status/1984254607069999116

According to @DeepLearningAI, Google launched Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), an open standard that lets LLM-based agents initiate, authorize, and settle online purchases via credit cards, bank transfers, digital wallets, and cryptocurrency, secured by cryptographically signed mandates that track transactions from intent to payment (source: @DeepLearningAI). According to @DeepLearningAI, AP2 also interoperates with Google’s A2A and Anthropic’s MCP, aligning AI agent workflows with multi-rail checkout flows that explicitly include cryptocurrency support (source: @DeepLearningAI).