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A leading payments industry news source for more than 17 years. Glenbrook curates the news and keeps you abreast of the important daily headlines in payments.
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August 10, 2026
On the web
Google Play Now Takes Venmo Payments
Engadget
"You can now pay for your Google Play purchases with Venmo. Google has added the service as a payment option in the Play store, letting you purchase apps, subscriptions or in-app content with either your Venmo balance or your linked cards and bank accounts. Google recently opened the Play store to outside billing in the US, the UK and Europe as part of its settlement with Epic Games."
August 7, 2026
On the web
Arriving Now: AI-Powered Toast Ordering on Google Maps
Toast
"Toast, the global technology platform built for restaurant and retail businesses, announced an expanded integration with Google that brings agentic food ordering to Ask Maps, a conversational AI feature within Google Maps. When a diner asks—by voice or text—for a restaurant recommendation or specific food request, Ask Maps can now put a Toast restaurant's menu directly in front of them and carry that request all the way through to a completed order."
August 6, 2026
On the wires
Marqeta Expands Collaboration with Google to Launch New Offering in Wallet for Kids
Business Wire
"Marqeta’s card issuing platform enables Google to expand its Wallet for kids offering, providing a safe, digital-first way for kids to receive and spend allowances without needing a traditional bank account. With Marqeta’s tokenization and spend control functionality, Google enables parents in the U.S. to set daily spending limits, monitor transaction history, and lock or unlock the balance while supervised kids and teens use their Android and Wear OS devices to tap to pay in stores."
August 3, 2026
Top Post
Introducing Ask Google Pay, and Expanding Everyday Credit
"Google launched Ask Google Pay, a new conversational experience built right into the app. Powered by our Gemini models, Ask Google Pay is an opt-in experience that helps you analyze your spending patterns and helps you with information related to managing your money. You can chat with it to understand your spending patterns, get savings tips, explore tailored offers (such as finding the right credit card for your travel expenses), and learn about financial concepts like SIPs or credit scores."
July 23, 2026
On the web
Google Slapped with $1 Billion Fine Under Landmark EU Digital Law
CNBC
"European regulators have fined Google 890 million euros ($1 billion), alleging the company gives preferential treatment to its own services. The fine is Google’s first under the European Union’s sweeping Digital Markets Act (DMA) which aims to scrutinize Big Tech’s operating practices in Europe. European regulators alleged the company gives preferential treatment to its own services."
June 26, 2026
On the web
Google Opens the Play Store to External Billing in the US, UK, and Europe
9 to 5 Google
"Google announced that it will open up the Play Store to external payments starting on June 30 in the US, UK, and Europe. The new policy sees developers paying 10% fees on their first $1,000,000 in annual earnings regardless of billing method, whether that be Google Play Billing, an alternate built-in system, or external links for billing outside of the app. That’s well down from the 30% cut that was standard when this whole dispute first began."
Jack Henry and Google Cloud Expand Collaboration to Deliver AI-Driven Security for Banks and Credit Unions
Jack Henry
Jack Henry® and Google Cloud announced an expanded collaboration to deliver AI-driven security capabilities for banks and credit unions. Building on their strategic relationship established in 2022, Jack Henry will use Google Cloud's suite of agentic defense products to develop a proprietary AI security platform purpose-built for the financial services ecosystem. This initiative will strengthen cyber resilience for financial institutions and help them defend against emerging threats while improving operational efficiency.
May 27, 2026
On the web
Google Is Adding Two New AI Features for Retailers
Retail Brew
"Google is rolling out two new tools in Merchant Center—where retailers upload and manage their product listings so they appear across Google Search, Shopping, and now AI surfaces like Gemini—to help retailers and brands get discovered in AI conversations. “Conversational attributes” let retailers update their product descriptions to match the more natural, conversational way people search in the AI era. The new tool is now available globally."
May 22, 2026
On the web
Google Brings UCP Checkout to YouTube Shopping Ads
The Keyword
"Google has extended its Universal Commerce Protocol checkout into ad campaigns for the first time, putting in-ad purchase inside Shopping ads on YouTube and Direct Offers Demand Gen campaigns. Google will roll the UCP-powered checkout to Canada and Australia in the coming months, with the U.K. to follow. Affirm and Klarna buy-now-pay-later options are now embedded directly into Google Pay for UCP transactions, closing a gap with the BNPL flows already available inside Amazon, Apple Pay, and PayPal checkout."
May 20, 2026
On the web
Google Launches Smart Digital Cart; Upgrades Agentic Commerce Standard
Chain Store Age
"Google continues developing new ways for consumers to leverage Agentic artificial intelligence while shopping. The tech giant is introducing a new intelligent digital shopping cart called Universal Cart and also adding new features to the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), an open standard for agentic AI-based commerce intended to cover the entire shopping journey from discovery and buying to post-purchase support, as well as a new agentic payments protocol. Highlights of Google’s new agentic shopping tools follow."
May 19, 2026
On the web
Would You Let Robots Spend Your Money? Google Is Betting on It
The Verge
"Google is going all in on AI-driven shopping even as some competitors back off. At Google I/O, the company unveiled the latest iteration of its AI commerce tools: a “Universal Cart” that works across different retailers and Google products like Gemini — and eventually YouTube and Gmail, too. Users can add products to Google’s universal cart as they browse Search and chat with Gemini and then check out through Google. The cart will also track prices, provide in-stock notifications, suggest potential discounts, and alert shoppers to potential issues with their selections."
May 13, 2026
On the web
Google Teams with Affirm, Klarna for Flex Payments in AI, Search
Chain Store Age
"Google is partnering with two leading flexible payment platforms to provide new options for checkout with Google Pay in its AI and search environments. The tech giant is collaborating with Affirm and Klarna to bring flexible payment opportunities to its Google Gemini agentic AI engine and its search offering, including AI mode, via the Google Pay digital payment tool in the U.S. Following are overviews of Google’s new partnerships with each flexible payment provider:"
May 11, 2026
On the web
PayPal and Google Cloud Say Crypto Rails Are Key to Scaling Agentic Commerce
MEXC
"Executives from both companies argued that traditional payment systems are not designed for AI-driven transactions. Rich Widmann, Global Head of Strategy for Web3 at Google Cloud, stressed that AI agent interaction in the current web environment is poorly designed. “An agent can’t get a bank account. It’s not just hard; it’s impossible, due to both technological and regulatory challenges,” he said. Widmann described crypto as an excellent machine-readable interface for payments."
May 7, 2026
On the web
Google Expands UCP Checkout to Main Search Shopping Results
MSN
"Earlier this year, Google announced Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), a protocol to allow AI-agents to buy directly from search. This went live only in Google’s AI Mode interface in February. But now, it seems to be rolling out in the main Google Search results where there are retailers that support UCP."
May 6, 2026
On the web
Solana and Google Cloud Launch Pay.sh for AI Agent Payments Using USDC
Coinpedia Fintech News
"Solana Foundation and Google Cloud launched Pay.sh for AI agent payments using stablecoins. AI agents can access and pay for over 75 APIs using USD Coin on Solana network. Platform removes subscriptions and billing accounts, allowing AI agents to pay directly per API request."
April 28, 2026
Top Post
Google: We’re Donating Agent Payments Protocol to the FIDO Alliance to Support the Future of Secure, Agentic Payments
"Google: We’re donating the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) to the FIDO Alliance, a renowned industry association focused on creating open standards. Transitioning ownership to the FIDO Alliance ensures AP2 remains platform-agnostic and community-led, while accelerating adoption of secure agentic payments. Today on GitHub, we’re also releasing AP2 v.0.2, which introduces critical updates for autonomous transactions, including “Human Not Present” payments, which will allow agents to securely execute payments autonomously, like securing and purchasing limited-run tickets the moment they’re on sale, based on pre-authorized user instructions.
March 25, 2026
On the web
Google Just Launched a New Gemini-Powered Dark Web Monitoring Service
IT Pro
"Google has announced the launch of a new AI-powered dark web monitoring service, allowing enterprise security teams to keep tabs on emerging threats and exposed information. The new dark web intelligence capabilities, offered through Google Threat Intelligence , use Gemini to analyze threat actors activities relevant to particular organizations. The new AI capabilities aim to streamline threat intelligence operations, according to Google, removing the need for enterprises to manually input and update keywords on an as-they-go basis."
March 18, 2026
On the web
Mastercard and Google Team Up to Build Trust for AI-Powered Shopping
The Defiant
"Mastercard has unveiled Verifiable Intent, a new open, standards-based trust framework co-developed with Google, designed specifically for "agentic commerce" — a world where artificial intelligence (AI) systems don't just assist shoppers, but actively plan, decide, and complete purchases autonomously. The core problem Verifiable Intent aims to solve is visibility: when a consumer delegates a purchase to an AI agent, the clear “click buy” or "tap to pay" moment that traditionally signals intent disappears."
March 4, 2026
On the web
Google Requires Structured Product Data for UCP Checkout
The Keyword
"Google has published an official help document explaining the Universal Commerce Protocol and how it supports commerce interactions on Google surfaces. Google’s documentation makes it clear that the Universal Commerce Protocol is an open standard that defines how agents can interact with merchants programmatically. This includes product discovery, comparisons, capability negotiation, checkout initiation, and post-purchase flows."
January 12, 2026
Top Post
Google Announces a New Protocol to Facilitate Commerce Using AI Agents
TechCrunch
"Google announced a new open standard, called the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) for AI agent-based shopping, at the National Retail Federation (NRF) conference. The standard, developed with companies like Shopify, Etsy, Wayfair, Target, and Walmart, lets agents work across different parts of customer buying processes, including discovery and post-purchase support. The core idea is that the standard could facilitate these various parts of the process instead of requiring connections with different agents."
December 18, 2025
On the web
Google Pay: Advancing Payments, Credit, and Commerce in India
"Google announced updates designed to help build financial confidence for everyone. Notable: Reimagining Everyday Credit with ‘Flex’; Pocket Money: Financial Confidence for the Next Generation, and over the last few months, launched new efforts to stay ahead of bad actors by preventing Screen-Sharing Scams; and AI-Powered Fraud Prevention."
October 30, 2025
On the web
Google Finally Opens Up the Play Store’s Gates in the US
Android Authority
"Google is opening up the Play Store in the US, allowing users to download apps and make payments outside it starting October 29, 2025. Developers can now link to external app stores or payment options and offer cheaper deals directly to users. The change follows a court order in Google’s legal battle with Epic Games and currently applies only in the United States."
October 29, 2025
Top Post
Introducing an Agentic Commerce Solution for Merchants From PayPal and Google Cloud
Google Cloud
"Modern consumers demand a seamless, personalized shopping journey, from initial product discovery all the way to final purchase. With the rise of agentic AI, merchants now have an opportunity to deliver a truly assistive and cohesive experience across every touchpoint. PayPal and Google Cloud have announced bringing agentic shopping experiences to life with a new offering that combines Google Cloud’s Conversational Commerce agent with payments powered by PayPal."
September 19, 2025
Top Post
Intro to Google Agent Payments Protocol (AP2): How It Works [Video]
YouTube
"AP2 is an open protocol for the emerging Agent Economy, created by Google. It's designed to enable secure, reliable, and interoperable AI-driven commerce for developers, merchants, and the payments industry. The protocol is available today as an extension for the open-source Agent2Agent (A2A) protocol and relies on Agents implementing tools via the Model Context Protocol (MCP)."
On the web
Google and PayPal Forge Multiyear Partnership to Revolutionize Commerce
PayPal Newsroom
"Google and PayPal announced a multiyear strategic partnership focused on advancing several commerce solutions, including innovations redefining the future of commerce such as agentic shopping and commerce experiences; broad embedding of PayPal solutions across Google's platforms; expanded payment processing and Google cloud expansion. "
September 17, 2025
On the web
Ant International Joins Google’s Agent Payments Protocol as a Launch Partner Co-building a Trusted Foundation for Agentic Commerce
Ant International
"Ant International, a leading global provider of digital payments, digitisation, and financial technology, today announced its role as a launch partner of Google to develop Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), an open rulebook that defines how AI agents can reliably transact with the authorisation of users. Existing payment systems are built around direct human interaction and cannot currently address the new requirements of authorization, verification, and interoperability among agents. Google has collaborated with the industry to introduce AP2."
September 16, 2025
On the web
Powering AI Commerce With the New Agent Payments Protocol (AP2)
Google Cloud Blog
"Google announced the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), an open protocol developed with leading payments and technology companies to securely initiate and transact agent-led payments across platforms. The protocol can be used as an extension of the Agent2Agent (A2A) protocol and Model Context Protocol (MCP). In concert with industry rules and standards, it establishes a payment-agnostic framework for users, merchants, and payments providers to transact with confidence across all types of payment methods."
August 27, 2025
On the web
Google Cloud Is Developing Its Own Blockchain for Payments, Currently in Private Testnet
The Block
"Google Cloud is building its own blockchain network, named Google Cloud Universal Ledger (GCUL), for the financial sector, according to Rich Widmann, Google Cloud's Web3 Head of Strategy, who announced this on Tuesday. Widmann wrote in a LinkedIn post that GCUL aims to provide financial institutions with a "performant, credibly neutral" blockchain platform that enables Python-based smart contracts."
August 12, 2025
On the web
Google Pay Gains More Versatile Integrations
Android Police
"Google Pay is getting a substantial upgrade today, and the changes aren’t just cosmetic. They’re designed to make paying for stuff online faster, smarter, and in some cases, cheaper. The first change is all about squeezing more perks out of the cards you already carry. Chrome’s credit card autofill has shown rewards info before, but only for a limited set of cards. That number is now jumping to over 100 in the U.S., so the next time you’re about to check out online, Chrome can tell you which card gets you the best points, miles, or cashback for that particular purchase."
Wise and Google Join Forces to Make International Payments More Accessible
Wise
"Wise will be joining Google’s new remittance experience as one of the key providers. Consumers in the U.S. will soon be able to access Wise's services, powered by Wise Platform, Wise's global infrastructure for banks and enterprises, on Google Wallet online or by searching for select currency exchange rates on Google Search. This feature will be rolled out as a test to Google users in the U.S."
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