Google Adds Stablecoin Support to AI Payments Amid Industry Push

Google unveils a new AI payment protocol integrating stablecoins, developed with Coinbase and guided by the Ethereum Foundation, signaling a major shift in digital finance.

Google has taken another step into crypto by adding stablecoin support to its new AI payment framework, positioning the tokens as a key element of its emerging digital infrastructure. The initiative, announced on September 16, marks one of the most significant moves yet by a Big Tech company to merge artificial intelligence with blockchain-based payments.

Google Expands AI Payment Capabilities

The system builds on Google’s Agent2Agent Protocol, first introduced in April, which allows AI agents to communicate and transact with one another. According to Fortune report, the latest upgrade now enables these autonomous applications to handle both conventional payments—such as credit and debit cards—and stablecoins pegged to the U.S. dollar.

Google developed the stablecoin integration in collaboration with Coinbase, while also consulting the Ethereum Foundation. The launch comes alongside a broader partnership network that includes Salesforce, American Express, PayPal, SAP, and more than 60 other firms across technology and finance.

James Tromans, head of Web3 at Google Cloud, emphasized the system’s hybrid design in comments to Fortune:

“We built this from the ground up to incorporate both legacy and existing payment infrastructure capabilities alongside emerging features like stablecoins,” Tromans said.

Stablecoins as AI’s Financial Backbone

Stablecoins are emerging as one of the most practical use cases for crypto in the AI era. With AI agents capable of executing transactions independently, fast, low-cost, and programmable payments become essential.

The momentum around this integration is reinforced by recent policy shifts. In July, U.S. President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act, giving stablecoins fresh regulatory clarity and helping accelerate adoption.

Industry leaders are taking notice. Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz has projected that AI agents will ultimately become “the biggest user of stablecoins.” The Ethereum Foundation has also underscored the potential, noting that pairing Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 3009 with the HTTP 402 “payment required” code could allow autonomous agents to initiate stablecoin transfers automatically.

Big Tech Eyes Stablecoin Adoption

Google is not alone in exploring stablecoin payments. As CryptoPulseNews reported earlier this year, Apple, Airbnb, and X held preliminary talks with crypto firms about integrating stablecoins into their platforms. Payments companies such as Stripe and Worldpay were also approached to provide back-end support for settlement.

In parallel, Google Cloud has been developing the Google Cloud Universal Ledger (GCUL), a Layer-1 blockchain designed for financial institutions. The platform aims to support tokenized assets, settlements, and even Python-based smart contracts, signaling Google’s long-term ambitions in blockchain infrastructure.

A “SWIFT-Level” Upgrade

Google Cloud has already begun experimenting with real-world stablecoin payments. Select clients can now settle transactions using PayPal’s PYUSD stablecoin, according to Rich Widmann, head of Web3 strategy at Google Cloud.

“Stablecoins represent probably one of the most important payment upgrades since the SWIFT network,” Widmann told Fortune.

This perspective reflects the growing consensus that stablecoins are evolving from a niche crypto product into a global settlement layer.

Stablecoins by the Numbers

The rapid growth of stablecoins underscores their potential as the financial rails of AI-driven commerce:

• The stablecoin market has grown from $4 billion in 2020 to over $280 billion in 2025.
• Monthly settlement volumes surpassed $1.39 trillion in the first half of 2025.
• A joint report by Keyrock and Bitso forecasts stablecoins could handle $1 trillion in annual payments by 2030, equating to about 10% of the U.S. money supply.
• The same study suggests stablecoins could capture 25% of the U.S. Treasury bill market, reaching a total supply of $2 trillion.

Beyond scale, stablecoins already offer clear advantages over traditional banking and remittance systems:

• Up to 13x cheaper than bank transfers
• Instant settlement versus multi-day delays
• Minimal reliance on intermediaries

The report characterized stablecoins as a “new financial operating system” capable of reshaping both domestic and cross-border payments.

What Comes Next

Recent months have seen an uptick in stablecoin innovation, with projects such as:

• Taurus unveiling a private smart contract system for stablecoins
• Tether expanding USDT to Bitcoin via the RGB protocol
• MetaMask launching its own mUSD stablecoin

Together, these developments point to an expanding ecosystem where AI agents, stablecoins, and blockchain infrastructure converge.

As one of the first Big Tech firms to integrate stablecoins at scale, Google is setting the tone for how AI-driven financial systems could function in the future. By combining traditional payment rails with programmable digital assets, the company is positioning itself at the crossroads of two of the fastest-growing sectors in technology.

In doing so, Google is not just responding to market demand—it is helping define what the next generation of payments may look like: AI-powered, blockchain-native, and globally interoperable.