Lightspark Joins Google’s AP2 Protocol to Revolutionize AI-Driven Payments
Lightspark today announced its participation in Google’s Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), an open protocol designed to enable secure, trusted payments through AI agents. As one of over 60 founding organizations, Lightspark will integrate its Spark protocol with AP2, bringing real-time settlement capabilities and stablecoin support to this groundbreaking initiative. The collaboration aims to establish a new standard for AI-driven commerce that addresses critical challenges in authorization, authenticity, and accountability.
The payments landscape is rapidly evolving, with AI agents increasingly acting on behalf of users to complete transactions. However, this shift introduces new challenges that traditional payment systems weren’t designed to handle. AP2 solves these challenges through an innovative mandate system that creates a cryptographically verified chain of evidence for every transaction.
“Today’s payment infrastructure wasn’t built for a world where AI agents transact on our behalf,” said David Marcus, CEO & Co-founder of Lightspark. “It’s like trying to run modern software on decades-old hardware. AP2 represents a fundamental upgrade to the payment ecosystem, and Lightspark is proud to contribute our expertise in real-time settlement networks to help shape this new standard.”
Building Trust in AI-Driven Commerce
AP2 addresses three fundamental challenges in AI-driven payments: authorization (ensuring agents have permission to transact), authenticity (verifying the agent’s request accurately represents user intent), and accountability (maintaining a clear audit trail). The protocol uses mandates—tamper-proof, cryptographically-signed digital contracts—to create verifiable proof of user authorization.
Lightspark’s integration focuses on bringing stablecoin support and real-time settlement capabilities to the AP2 ecosystem. By leveraging the Spark protocol, Lightspark enables low-cost cross-border payments and micropayment capabilities that complement AP2’s payment-agnostic architecture.
Unlocking New Commerce Experiences
The collaboration between Google and Lightspark through AP2 will enable entirely new commerce experiences. For example, users could authorize an AI shopping assistant to monitor prices for a specific product and automatically purchase it when it meets predefined conditions. Or a travel agent could coordinate bookings across multiple services while adhering to a preset budget.
These experiences require a level of trust and verification that only a protocol like AP2 can provide. With Lightspark’s integration, these transactions can also benefit from the speed, efficiency, and global reach of the Spark protocol.
The AP2 protocol is available as an open-source project, with technical specifications, documentation, and reference implementations accessible on GitHub. Lightspark invites developers, payment providers, and merchants to explore the protocol and join the growing ecosystem of organizations working to define the future of AI-driven commerce.
Get ready for a faster, more secure, and more powerful payments experience as AI transforms how we shop, pay, and transact online.