W3C Workshop Spotlights Agent Payments: Huawei Pay and openJiuwen Unveil A4P Protocol

At a recent W3C workshop, Huawei Pay and openJiuwen jointly introduced the A4P protocol, aiming to establish an industry compliance foundation for AI agent payment scenarios. The protocol focuses on critical elements in machine-to-machine (M2M) payments—such as authorization intent, per-transaction limits, and daily cumulative caps—seeking to provide a standardized framework for real fund flows initiated by agents. According to attendees, A4P emphasizes pre-settlement interception and Know-Your-Agent (KYA) mechanisms to address the compliance challenges of "who is paying, who is being paid, and whether the payment should occur" in agent-driven transactions. Several major technology and payment firms participated in the discussions, covering topics like the integration of open protocols such as x402 and MCP with stablecoin settlement. Currently, A4P remains in the standard proposal stage, and its adoption by mainstream ecosystems is still uncertain. Industry observers note that agent payments are transitioning from concept to reality, and the race to establish technical standards around authorization, attribution, and non-repudiation could become the next critical battleground in payment infrastructure.