TheDefiant says two pieces of infrastructure serve different jobs in AI agent payments: AP2 records spending authority, while x402 carries payment requests. The distinction matters because a payment instruction is not the same as money actually moving.
The article points to Mastercard’s machine-payment pilot as a practical example. In that setup, a signed voucher represents authorization, but final settlement happens as a separate step. That framing helps explain how Mastercard Agent Pay, AP2, and x402 fit together in an emerging agentic economy, where software agents may need to request, approve, and complete payments through distinct layers rather than a single action.
In AI agent payments, AP2 records spending authority, while x402 carries payment requests, according to TheDefiant.
The article says Mastercard’s machine-payment pilot shows why a signed voucher and final settlement should be treated as separate steps.
How Agent Pay, AP2, and x402 are separated
As described in the report, AP2 is used to record spending authority, and x402 is used to carry payment requests. Mastercard’s pilot is presented as an example of why authorization and settlement are not the same action in machine-driven payments.
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