Explained to kids!
The Internet of Payment is when things around us can pay by themselves, like a car or a machine. A grown-up decides first what they are allowed to buy, and how much. Then the object pays at the right moment, without anyone taking out a wallet.
Let’s see it in real life…
On Saturday, Arjun and his mom drive to his grandparents’ house by the sea.
On the highway, there is a toll gate. Cars in the other lane stop to pay.
Mom does not stop. A little box behind the windshield goes “beep”, and the gate opens.
“Who paid?” asks Arjun. “The box did,” says Mom. “I chose how it pays, and it sends me the bill.”
Later, they stop to charge the car at a big charger.
Mom taps her card on the charger. The car gets electricity, and the charger counts how much.
When the car is full, the charger takes exactly the right amount.
Grandpa laughs: “In my time, a car could only drive. Now it can pay!”
Arjun thinks: the box can pay, but only for the road. Mom set the rules.
That is the Internet of Payment.
Tiny recap
- It means… objects that can pay by themselves, with rules a grown-up has chosen.
- It helps when… you want to pay without stopping, queuing or searching for a wallet.
- Watch out for… objects that buy too much. Someone must set limits and check the bills.
…detailed for specialists
The Internet of Payment (IoP) is the ability of connected objects and software agents, such as cars, EV chargers, appliances or AI assistants, to start and complete payments on behalf of a person or a company, within limits that person has set. The object becomes the checkout: the payment happens where and when the need appears, often without any screen.
When we first wrote about IoP in 2023, the examples were fuel paid from a car dashboard and printers that reorder ink. In 2026, the idea has grown in two directions: billions more connected devices, and AI agents that shop and pay. Card schemes, banks and tech companies are now building the tokens, protocols and authentication methods to make it safe.
What is the Internet of Payment?
The Internet of Things (IoT) made objects talk. The Internet of Payment lets them transact. Three families coexist:
- Connected devices: cars, smart meters, printers, appliances or wearables that hold a payment credential and buy goods or services for their owner.
- Unattended machines: EV chargers, parking meters, vending machines, car washes and tolls that accept payment without staff.
- Software agents: AI assistants that search, compare and pay on a user’s instruction. This is often called agentic commerce.
All three share the same principle: the person gives consent once, sets rules, and the payment happens later, without a new checkout each time.
How IoP payments work
- Enrollment: the user links a card or account to the device or agent and defines limits (merchants, amounts, frequency).
- Tokenization: the real card number is replaced by a network token bound to that device or agent, so a leak does not expose the card.
- Trigger: a need is detected: low ink, an empty battery, a parking session, or a user request to an AI assistant.
- Authorization: the device or agent sends the payment with data that identify it and prove the user’s mandate.
- Authentication: biometrics, passkeys or delegated authentication confirm the user when rules or regulation require it.
- Settlement and notification: the merchant is paid through normal rails, and the user receives a receipt and can dispute it.
The Internet of Payment in numbers (2026)
- Connected devices: IoT Analytics counted 18.5 billion connected IoT devices in 2024 and projected 21.1 billion for 2025, heading to 39 billion by 2030.
- Agentic commerce: McKinsey estimates that AI agents could orchestrate $900 billion to $1 trillion of US retail revenue by 2030, and $3 trillion to $5 trillion worldwide.
- Protocols: Google launched its Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) in September 2025 with more than 60 organizations, including Mastercard, American Express, PayPal, Adyen and Worldpay.
- Machine payments in stablecoins: Circle reports that 99.3% of x402 agent-payment volume settles in USDC.
- Shoppers are ready: in the UK, 44% of shoppers are open to AI handling the whole shopping process, including the final purchase, according to Adyen’s 2026 Retail Report.
The Internet of Payment in real life
Cars
Since 2023, Mercedes pay+ has let drivers in Germany confirm in-car payments with a fingerprint sensor, using Visa’s Delegated Authentication and Cloud Token Framework, first for digital services and upgrades, then for fuel at more than 3,600 stations with Mastercard. The car becomes a payment device.
EV charging
Under the EU’s AFIR regulation, public chargers must allow ad hoc payment without a contract. New chargers of 50 kW or more deployed since 13 April 2024 must accept cards through a card reader or contactless device, and from 1 January 2027 existing ones of 50 kW or more on the main TEN-T road network must comply too. Chargers are now one of the largest new categories of unattended payment terminals in Europe.
Replenishment
Printer makers such as HP, Canon and Brother run services where the printer orders ink or toner when levels are low and the subscription is charged automatically. The same model applies to coffee machines, filters and industrial consumables.
AI agents
Visa Intelligent Commerce and its Trusted Agent Protocol let agents prove their identity and the consumer’s consent. Mastercard Agent Pay follows the same path: Santander and Mastercard completed Europe’s first live end-to-end payment executed by an AI agent in March 2026, in a controlled pilot. Rabobank ran the first one in the Netherlands at the end of April 2026, with a Mastercard passkey to confirm the purchase, and in June 2026 Worldline and ING announced an agentic card payment in production, flagged as agent-initiated.
Key players in the Internet of Payment
- Card schemes: Visa and Mastercard provide device and agent tokens, authentication frameworks and agent identity rules.
- Tech platforms: Google, Apple, OpenAI and others build the assistants, wallets and protocols that agents use to shop.
- Banks and issuers: they decide which agents and devices they trust, and on what limits they approve.
- Object makers and operators: carmakers, charge point operators, parking and toll operators, appliance and printer brands.
- PSPs, acquirers and PayFacs: they connect these merchants and machines to the networks, manage risk and settle the funds.
Risks and open questions
Letting objects pay raises real questions. Consent: how clearly did the user approve the rule, and can they change it easily? Liability: who pays when an agent misreads an instruction or a device is hacked? Security: connected objects are often weakly protected, so credentials must never sit on them in clear. Privacy: a car or an assistant that pays also knows where you go and what you buy. Competition: the original promise of IoP was convenience over price; if a device always orders from one partner, the user may pay more without noticing.
Internet of Payment: what changes for PSPs, PayFacs and platforms
One token per device or agent. Network tokens bound to a car, a charger account or an AI agent limit fraud and make it easy to revoke one channel without reissuing the card.
Who pressed “buy”? Issuers and acquirers must tell a trusted agent from a bot. Agent identity, mandate data and the right transaction flags (customer-initiated or merchant-initiated) drive approval rates. In Europe, how agent-initiated payments fit Strong Customer Authentication and liability rules is still being settled as PSD3 and the PSR progress.
Variable amounts, many times. Charging sessions, tolls and replenishment use pre-authorizations, incremental authorizations and recurring logic, close to variable recurring payments on bank rails.
Limits belong in the payment stack. Per-device and per-agent velocity limits protect users from runaway machines and protect merchants from abuse.
Machines need resilience. An unattended charger cannot ask the customer to try another card later. Smart routing and fallback to a second acquirer keep the service running.
Disputes get a new reason. “My agent bought the wrong thing” is a new kind of chargeback. Mandate records and agent logs become evidence.
Micropayments may leave cards. For tiny machine-to-machine amounts, stablecoins and protocols such as x402 are being tested next to cards and A2A. NORBr provides the white-label payment infrastructure to route, onboard, pay out and analyze, under your own brand.
Is the Internet of Payment worth it in 2026?
For unattended payments such as EV charging, parking and tolls, it is already a reality, pushed by regulation and demand. For AI agents, 2026 is the year of first live transactions, not mass adoption. The winners will be the payment providers that support tokens per device, clear mandates, smart limits and strong dispute handling. Convenience will drive adoption; trust will decide its pace.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Internet of Payment?
The Internet of Payment (IoP) is the ability of connected objects and AI agents, such as cars, EV chargers, appliances or shopping assistants, to make payments on behalf of a person or company, within limits that person has set in advance.
What is the difference between IoT and IoP?
The Internet of Things connects objects so they can exchange data. The Internet of Payment adds the ability to transact: a connected object or agent holds a payment credential and can buy goods or services for its owner.
Can an AI agent pay for me?
Yes, in early deployments. In 2026, Santander, Rabobank and ING completed AI agent payments in Europe with Mastercard Agent Pay, the first ones as pilots. The agent acts within limits set by the user and never receives the real card number.
Is it safe to let a device pay automatically?
It can be, if the device uses a network token instead of the real card number, has spending limits, and requires authentication such as a fingerprint or passkey for unusual purchases. Users should also get receipts and be able to dispute.
Do EV chargers in Europe have to accept cards?
Under the EU AFIR regulation, public chargers must allow ad hoc payment without a contract. New chargers of 50 kW or more deployed since April 2024 must accept cards, and existing ones of 50 kW or more on main TEN-T roads must comply from 1 January 2027.
