PANews reported on October 16th that HashKey Group has officially joined the global partner ecosystem of the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), led by Google. This marks the first compliant digital financial services institution in the Asia-Pacific region to participate in the development of the AI Agents payment standard. The group joins over 110 leading global fintech companies, including PayPal, Circle, and UnionPay International, in promoting the development of the AI Agent Payments ecosystem.

AP2 is an open protocol that defines open rules for AI agents to reliably conduct transactions with user authorization. Through verifiable credentials, the protocol enables AI agents and service providers to securely initiate, authorize, and settle payments without human intervention, ensuring a transparent, auditable, and scalable payment process. The protocol supports cryptographic payment methods such as stablecoins, providing technical support for future on-chain applications.

As an early AP2 ecosystem participant in the Asian market, HashKey Group will explore AP2's compliant application paths in areas such as stablecoin payments, on-chain identity, and on-chain settlement of AI agents.