"Expectations for Establishing a Global Standard for AI Agent-Based Commerce and Payments"
NHN KCP, a comprehensive payment solutions company led by CEO Park Junseok, announced on the 16th that last month it expressed its intention to support the Agent Payment Protocol (AP2), a new artificial intelligence (AI) agent-based payment protocol proposed by Google Cloud.
AP2 is an international standard protocol designed for operation between AI agents that perform payments on behalf of users.
It is an expanded version of the Agent-to-Agent (A2A) protocol, which enables integration between buyer and merchant AI agents, incorporating the Model Context Protocol (MCP) that connects merchant data to AI agents across various data sources.
AI agent-based commerce and payment go beyond simple purchases, enabling functions such as price tracking, ticket reservations, and repeat purchases. It is expected to automate the traditional search and purchase processes.
Currently, there is no common language among merchants, payment networks, and payment service providers (PSPs), resulting in differences in how AI agents communicate. AP2 aims to establish an international framework for AI agent-based digital commerce payments, thereby enhancing reliability.
NHN KCP stated that it plans to actively participate in the early stages of AP2 to ensure that the characteristics and regulations of the Korean payment ecosystem are reflected in the global standard. The company believes that if AP2 becomes the international standard for AI agent-based payments, it will help expand cross-border payment services in connection with overseas PSPs and networks.
AP2 is a universal protocol that enhances the security and reliability of various payment methods, including credit cards, easy payment, and stablecoins. The company expects that its adoption will ensure interoperability with global payment networks.
An NHN KCP representative said, "We believe the AP2 protocol will play a key role in the future global payment ecosystem, and we have decided to support Google Cloud's AP2 initiative. We will actively collaborate with global partners to promote the widespread adoption of AI-based payments."
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