Ant International launches mobile AI payment protocol

Ant International has launched the Agentic Mobile Protocol, an open-source payment framework for AI agents on mobile interfaces. It is aimed at digital wallets, banking apps, super apps and wearable devices.

The framework is designed to enable AI agents to handle payments in mobile environments, where Ant International argues that existing AI payment protocols have focused mainly on card-based systems. Merchants, large language model providers, AI platforms and wallet operators can add it to existing workflows without replacing core systems.

The launch comes as digital wallets account for a growing share of consumer payments worldwide. Ant International cited industry estimates that put the number of digital wallet users at 4.4 billion in 2025, rising to more than 6 billion by 2030.

Interest is also growing in agentic commerce, as companies test software agents that can carry out tasks and complete transactions on behalf of users. Ant International said the market could reach about USD $28 billion by 2030, shifting from early pilots to more autonomous transaction systems.

Mobile focus

The protocol is built specifically for mobile services, including smartphones, smartwatches, augmented reality glasses and in-car systems. Ant International says this addresses a gap between the rise of wallet-based payments and the way many current AI payment tools have been built around card rails.

The framework includes a trust architecture for delegating payment authority to AI agents, a settlement model for agent-to-agent transfers and a verification process called Know Your Agent. It is intended to allow users to grant agents permission for tasks such as buying coffee, booking transport, or organising travel, while retaining the option to revoke or change those instructions.

According to Ant International, the checkout process cuts the number of steps needed to link a payment agent to a digital wallet by 50% compared with traditional card-binding methods. It also says that transactions initiated by agents are backed by a money-back guarantee for payment partners in the event of account takeover.

Another part of the framework focuses on very small transactions between software agents. Ant International says its agent-to-agent settlement mechanism can process transfers as low as USD $0.000001 with real-time accounting and clearing, a level it says is needed to support frequent low-value exchanges that traditional payment infrastructure cannot handle efficiently.

Open-source push

Ant International has released the protocol as open source, saying it wants to support a universal, auditable standard for AI agents transacting across platforms. The approach may also help attract developers, merchants and payment partners to a system that depends on broad adoption across services and networks.

The Know Your Agent framework is intended to establish an agent's digital identity and define what it may do. Ant International added that a proprietary Agent Trust Rating mechanism is designed to assess an agent's trustworthiness and determine the level of autonomy it should be granted.

Implementation is expected to begin through wallet partners connected to Ant International's cross-border wallet network. According to the company, Alipay+ links more than 40 digital wallet partners, covering 1.8 billion user accounts and 150 million merchants worldwide.

That network gives Ant International access to a broad mobile payments base at a time when competition is intensifying over how AI agents will interact with payment systems. Payment groups, wallet providers and technology companies are all trying to shape the standards that could govern autonomous commerce.

Ant International is also among the early partners of Mastercard and Visa, testing card-based transaction functions for AI agents, while working with Google on protocols for agentic commerce and payments. Those partnerships suggest wallet-based and card-based approaches may develop alongside each other rather than under a single technical standard.

Jiang-Ming Yang, Chief Innovation Officer at Ant International, outlined the commercial rationale for the project in a company statement.

"We are deeply grateful for partners, acquirers and developers who contributed to this project. An agentic protocol for mobile commerce that ensures superior efficiency and security results will be key for businesses large and small expanding into the world's fastest growing markets. We look forward to expanding our multi-layered partnerships to enable real-world successes of AI commerce," Yang said.