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In this report, we'll explore:

• Where companies are actually competing, and which parts of the market are already getting crowded?
• Where new value is starting to accumulate as agents take over more of the transaction?
• Where startups still have room to build around problems the larger platforms have yet to own?
• Which layers could capture stronger economics as agentic payments scale?
• Which products and features may become easier to copy, bundle, or commoditize?
• Which part of the business becomes more profitable, and why?

Agentic payment infrastructure lets AI agents spend money on behalf of a person or business under defined rules and limits.

We already give AI agents tasks to carry through to completion. At some point while completing those tasks, an agent can reach a step that costs money. That could mean purchasing access to an API, ordering inventory, or releasing an approved invoice.

Once software can make transactions on behalf of a business or person, the financial system needs a way to govern that autonomous spending.

What’s Changing

As agentic payments move from pilots into real transaction volume, several parts of software and financial infrastructure are starting to change.

1. Human is leaving the checkout

AI shopping agents are moving from recommending products to buying under pre-set instructions. Payment no longer assumes a person is present at checkout. Google AP2 added support for Human Not Present transactions, so merchants increasingly need to verify the agent and its authority instead of relying on a human checkout session.

2. Payment approval is becoming policy

Instead of approving every payment manually, companies can define rules in advance. Turnkey checks those rules before a wallet signs a transaction, including limits on the recipient, contract, function, chain, and value. The approval happens through policy before the money moves.

3. Payment is moving inside the agent workflow

Payment is becoming another step the agent can execute while completing a task. With x402, software can request a paid service, make the required payment, receive access, and continue the workflow without handing the transaction back to a human.