Forrester Predicts Stripe Acquisition To Secure Agentic Transactions
Stripe plans to acquire a vendor to manage trust for agentic transactions, which are increasing rapidly. This move is expected to fill a missing link in the company's financial infrastructure for agentic commerce.
Original reporting · forrester.com
Original: “Predictions 2027: The Seedlings Of Disruptive Payments Innovation Take Root”
Read “Predictions 2027: The Seedlings Of Disruptive Payments Innovation Take Root” at Forrester →
How this was written. Message Verified wrote this article with a language model from Forrester’s reporting (model: @cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast); it describes that reporting rather than adding to it. The original, linked above, is the full story.
Key points from Forrester’s report
- Stripe plans to acquire a vendor to manage trust for agentic transactions, which are increasing rapidly.
- Machine-to-machine payments are gaining traction, but stablecoin payments will remain under 1% of fiat volumes in 2027.
- The surprise winner from the agentic payments hype will be humans paying for other humans, driven by demand for payment-by-proxy capabilities.
- Forrester advises prioritizing near-term investment in use cases where payments innovation solves a clear problem.
- The payment industry is expected to continue evolving in 2027, with a focus on innovative solutions that address specific pain points.
Forrester reported that agentic traffic has grown significantly, with a substantial increase in recent years. This surge in agentic traffic has led to a rise in demand for managing interactions with inbound bots and agents. As a result, companies are looking for ways to secure these transactions and enable agents to make purchases on behalf of human customers.
According to Forrester, Stripe has been building and acquiring the foundations of a financial infrastructure for agentic commerce. The company's expected acquisition of a bot and agent trust management vendor is seen as a key step in filling the missing link in this infrastructure. This move will enable Stripe to connect agent trust to fraud management and payments processing.
Machine-to-machine payments are also gaining traction, with new protocols emerging in machine-native digital commerce. However, Forrester expects stablecoin payments to remain under 1% of fiat volumes in 2027 due to several bottlenecks. These bottlenecks include the reliability of subscription revenues, liability concerns, and a lack of governance frameworks.
Forrester predicts that the surprise winner from the agentic payments hype will be humans paying for other humans. This trend is driven by the growing demand for payment-by-proxy capabilities, particularly among Millennials who are taking care of both aging parents and dependent children. The mechanisms needed to make payment-by-proxy work securely overlap with those required for agentic payments.
In 2027, Forrester expects the pace of payment tech announcements to continue, but notes that payment behavior rarely changes overnight. The firm advises prioritizing near-term investment in use cases where payments innovation solves a clear problem. This includes running controlled pilots and prioritizing reusable capabilities over committing to a single protocol or stablecoin.
Forrester clients can access the full Predictions 2027: Payments report, which includes more details on the predictions and additional insights. Non-clients can explore complimentary resources, including blog posts, guides, and webinars, on the Forrester Predictions hub.
The payment industry is expected to continue evolving in 2027, with a focus on innovative solutions that address specific pain points. As AI transforms the industry, companies must balance control with adaptation to stay ahead of the curve.
Questions and answers
What is driving the growth of agentic traffic?
The growth of agentic traffic is driven by the increasing use of bots and agents in digital commerce.
What is the expected outcome of Stripe's acquisition of a bot and agent trust management vendor?
The acquisition is expected to fill a missing link in Stripe's financial infrastructure for agentic commerce, enabling the company to connect agent trust to fraud management and payments processing.
What is the predicted trend for stablecoin payments in 2027?
Forrester expects stablecoin payments to remain under 1% of fiat volumes in 2027 due to several bottlenecks, including reliability, liability, and governance concerns.
