The Agentic Handshake: Why ACP is the New HTTPS for Retail

Beyond Manual Entry: The Security of AP2

Traditional e-commerce relies on users manually entering information, a process rife with friction and risk. ACP, integrated with AP2, introduces Universal Payments that are inherently provable.

• Cryptographic Proof: Every transaction authorization is backed by cryptographic proof of user consent, ensuring that an agent cannot “go rogue” and make unauthorized purchases.

• Verifiable Credentials: The protocol uses verifiable credentials and tokenized payments to communicate securely between agents and business backends.

• Delegated Authority: Through OAuth 2.0 standards, agents maintain secure, authorized relationships with merchants without ever sharing the user’s actual login credentials.

Solving the N x N Security Gap

Before ACP, merchants faced a massive security bottleneck: they had to build and audit bespoke, secure connections for every new AI platform. ACP collapses this complexity into a single, secure abstraction layer. This standardized “handshake” ensures that whether a customer uses Gemini, a specialized shopping agent, or an autonomous travel assistant, the security protocol remains uniform and enterprise-grade.

Merchant of Record: Retaining Your Sovereignty

A common misconception is that agentic protocols strip power from the retailer. In reality, ACP ensures you remain the Merchant of Record. You own the business logic, you define the terms of the transaction, and you maintain the direct relationship with the customer; the AI simply acts as the secure courier for the intent.

Key Takeaway: The Agentic Handshake is the foundation of autonomous retail. By adopting ACP and AP2 primitives, merchants provide the “cryptographic peace of mind” required for consumers to delegate their purchasing power to AI agents.