Worldpay is agent–ready and helping companies navigate the challenges of tokenization, liability and fraud in agentic commerce. (Part 2 of a series).

4 minutes

AI agents are here – and they’re changing payments

Worldpay is agent–ready and helping companies navigate the challenges of tokenization, liability and fraud in agentic commerce. (Part 2 of a series).

Haydon Croker

SVP, Strategy and Acquisitions

This Insights series explores agentic commerce – a transformative shift where AI agents take the lead in shopping, payments and customer decision-making.

Autonomous shopping agents aren’t just reshaping what consumers buy – they’re altering how payments work. When an AI agent initiates a transaction, it challenges traditional systems for identity verification, authorization and dispute resolution. Merchants, platforms and agent developers must rethink how they secure transactions, manage fraud and resolve disputes in a world where the “buyer” might be software.

This article explores three critical areas that must evolve – tokenization, chargebacks and fraud prevention – and how Worldpay is helping the ecosystem prepare for agent-driven commerce with confidence.

How tokenization builds trust and security for agent-driven transactions

In agentic commerce, tokenization is essential. It gives AI agents access to payment credentials without exposing sensitive data. Agents may conduct one-time guest checkouts, initiate repeat purchases or manage subscriptions on a consumer's behalf; in this model, tokens become the safe, abstracted stand-ins for card data that allow these agents to act securely and compliantly.

Our tokenization and vaulting solutions already power some of the world's largest commerce platforms, offering merchants and ISVs the infrastructure they need to support emerging agent-driven experiences securely and at scale.

"By prioritizing flexibility over fragmentation, we enable agentic commerce to do what it does best."

Our Credential Management Platform is built to be standalone, and, when combined with our Forward API, remains fully acquirer-agnostic, supporting a wide range of token formats – from network tokens to digital wallet tokens to proprietary security tokens – via a single API integration. In a landscape where standards are still evolving, this openness ensures agent developers are not locked into specific acquiring relationships or ecosystems. By prioritizing flexibility over fragmentation, we enable agentic commerce to do what it does best: empowering users to buy across the open web through a unified interface that works across token types.

In 2024, Worldpay generated more than 12 billion tokens, demonstrating our operational maturity and the trust placed in us to safeguard sensitive data. Our vaulting infrastructure is designed to meet the highest standards of security and performance, helping businesses retain control while minimizing risk.

Redefining liability in the age of autonomous shopping agents

Agent-led commerce introduces novel questions around liability, consumer intent and agent misrepresentation – and existing chargeback rules aren't yet built for this. At Worldpay, we're not waiting to react. We’re collaborating with card schemes to define fair chargeback rules for agent-driven transactions, particularly in edge cases where an agent might hallucinate, misrepresent or act counter to the consumer's intent. We’re also forming partnerships with leaders in digital identity and intent verification, reflecting our commitment to giving clarity and recourse in these gray areas.

"As agents become more autonomous, we need tools that can understand the nuance behind a transaction dispute."

Additionally, our Disputes Defender solution provides further resilience. As agents become more autonomous, we need tools that can understand the nuance behind a transaction dispute – not just whether a credential was used, but how, why and by whom. Our adaptive, scalable tooling helps close that gap.

The rules may still be catching up, but we're already building toward a system where both merchants and consumers are protected – even when the agent is in the driver's seat.

Staying ahead of fraud in the agent economy

Agentic commerce opens new frontiers for customer experience, but also for fraudsters. Indeed, OpenAI has indicated that agents introduce new vulnerabilities that bad actors will inevitably try to exploit. When bots act on behalf of consumers, traditional signals such as device ID, IP address or behavioral patterns tied to a logged-in user become less reliable. That's why fraud prevention in this new era demands flexibility, speed and resilience.

Recognizing this shift early, we made a strategic move to acquire Ravelin, a leading AI-native fraud solution. This acquisition reflects our commitment to investing in forward-looking capabilities that anticipate (rather than respond to) the evolution of digital commerce.

"Fraud prevention in this new era demands flexibility, speed and resilience."

Ravelin is uniquely suited to agentic commerce in its ability to span the full customer journey, not just the checkout. It monitors and evaluates risk signals from the moment a user (or agent) arrives on-site – through browsing, account creation, payment submission and post-transaction behavior like refunds or chargebacks. This holistic visibility enables a significantly richer risk profile than alternative checkout-centric fraud tooling can provide.

Ravelin's solutions capture and calculate a wealth of data, with thousands of machine-learning features per user action all working towards reliable recommendations that are specific to each merchant's fraud landscape. The majority of these persist and may even be enhanced in agent-led journeys – from customer identity attributes and order history to payment credentials and velocity checks, all underpinned by sophisticated graph-powered intelligence. This depth, combined with real-time learning and adaptability, gives merchants the tools they need to detect emerging fraud vectors before they become widespread.

Learn more about how Ravelin can help you stay on top of fraud without compromising on conversion in a world where intelligent agents act on behalf of your customers.

Engineering payments for the agent era

Agent-led commerce is no longer on the horizon – it’s here. For merchants, success will mean having payment systems that are as dynamic, adaptive and intelligent as the AI agents driving this change.

At Worldpay, we’re building that future now – helping merchants take, make and manage payments securely in an era where humans and AI agents shop side by side.