Enterprise stablecoin infrastructure provider Rain has announced the launch of the Agentic Payments Alliance (APA), a cross-industry working coalition created to guide the standards, security, and infrastructure of autonomous artificial intelligence commerce. Announced on August 18, 2026, the alliance brings together more than 25 prominent leaders across traditional finance, payment processing, and blockchain technology, including Visa, Mastercard, Fiserv, Circle, Solana, Remitly, and Uniswap Labs.
The coalition forms as management consulting firm McKinsey projects global agentic commerce volume to reach between $3 trillion and $5 trillion by 2030. As autonomous AI software agents increasingly move from performing basic task automation to executing complex financial transactions on behalf of consumers and businesses, foundational elements such as credential authorization, fraud detection, identity verification, and rewards tracking remain largely unstandardized. The APA was established to align key industry stakeholders before proprietary technological silos develop.
Establishing Infrastructure Standards for Autonomous AI Commerce
The Agentic Payments Alliance will operate as a collaborative, member-run organization rather than an entity controlled by a single corporate owner. Founding members will collectively define its operational charter, mission, and working groups. Early initiatives will concentrate on publishing shared research frameworks, testing open standards for AI agent identity verification, defining transaction authorization boundaries, and engaging with regulatory bodies on the policy implications of agent-driven money movement.
Rain initiated the formation of the coalition following a year of technical development on its own agent infrastructure. The company previously deployed its Agent Control Layer and Scoped Cards, which issue limited, programmatic payment credentials that allow AI agents to make transactions within pre-approved spending limits and merchant categories across major card networks. Recognizing that widespread adoption requires industry-wide interoperability, Rain organized the coalition to establish shared protocols across public blockchains and legacy payment rails simultaneously.
Broad Industry Support and the Agentic Startup Program
The coalition’s founding cohort spans traditional card networks, core banking processors, layer-1 blockchains, digital asset custodians, and compliance providers. Members include Avalanche, Basis Theory, Chainalysis, Coinflow, Crossmint, delta Network, Episode Six, Evertec, Fireblocks, Kala, Lithic, Monad, PayOS, Rialo by Subzero Labs, Sardine, Shift4, Turnkey, and Yuno.
In tandem with the standards initiative, founding members will receive early access to Rain’s Agentic Startup Program, an accelerator designed to fund and mentor early-stage companies building application-layer tools for agentic commerce. The accelerator’s inaugural cohort of five startups will present their technologies during a private demo day for Alliance members, offering established legacy platforms direct exposure to emerging use cases and integration patterns.
Industry executives highlighted the necessity of proactive collaboration as technological capabilities advance. Sherri Haymond, Executive Vice President and Global Head of Digital Commercialization at Mastercard, noted that active participation ensures innovation remains aligned with established global safety and regulatory standards. Rain Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Farooq Malik added that defining how autonomous entities transact requires unified input from network rails, regulatory bodies, and developers to ensure secure and transparent economic interactions.
Disclaimer: CoinScreamer is an independent media brand owned and operated by NuvexMedia LLC, publishing news, research, and market insights on digital assets and related technologies. NuvexMedia LLC invests in and collaborates with companies across the digital asset, blockchain, and technology sectors. These relationships do not influence CoinScreamer’s editorial coverage, and the publication maintains full editorial independence to provide accurate, timely, and objective information. © 2025 NuvexMedia LLC. All rights reserved. This content is for informational purposes only and should not be considered legal, tax, investment, financial, or other professional advice.
