Two major protocols are emerging to standardize how AI agents interact with commerce systems. The winner will define the economics of agentic commerce for the next decade.
Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) — Google’s Open Standard
Announced at NRF 2026 by Sundar Pichai, co-developed with Shopify. Scope: Full commerce journey (discovery → cart → checkout → post-purchase). Open-source, any transport (REST, MCP, A2A), decentralized discovery, modular payment handlers. Merchants remain Merchant of Record. Monetization: Ads via “Direct Offers.” 20+ launch partners including Visa, Mastercard, Stripe.
Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) — OpenAI + Stripe
Launched September 2025, first to enable AI-driven purchasing at scale. Scope: Checkout and transaction flows only. Built on Stripe infrastructure, delegated payment tokens (single-use, time-bound). Centralized listing through OpenAI/Shopify. Monetization: Transaction fees per purchase. Core partners: OpenAI (810M users) + Stripe + Shopify.
Microsoft Copilot Checkout
Hybrid approach: embedded checkout + merchant-controlled Brand Agents. Works across Bing, MSN, Edge. Enterprise SaaSmodel. 53% more purchases in 30 minutes.
The Real Battle
This is a distribution war disguised as an infrastructure debate. UCP owns intent (search queries). ACP owns conversation (chat users). Copilot owns enterprise (B2B relationships). Shopify, Stripe, and PayPal win regardless.
Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
