New initiative, spun out of the U.S. Payments Forum, welcomes cross-industry collaboration to tackle emerging agentic interoperability, human intent and security challenges
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., August 4, 2026 – Agentic commerce is projected to reach more than $300 billion in the U.S. by 2030. As AI-assisted shopping makes way for agent-initiated purchases, the Secure Technology Alliance today announced the launch of its Agentic Trust and Commerce Forum.
The new initiative was developed by the U.S. Payments Forum as part of broader AI-centered efforts within the Secure Technology Alliance. It will bring together cross-industry stakeholders, including LLM providers, to address the trust, interoperability and governance challenges that emerge when AI agents begin to transact on behalf of consumers and businesses.
“Agentic commerce is reaching a point where early decisions could have lasting consequences for the payments, identity and AI landscape,” said Devon Rohrer, Managing Director of the U.S. Payments Forum. “This is the moment to make sure the whole technological ecosystem gets the fundamentals right.”
“We need a clearer understanding of how intent is established, how consent is conveyed and who is accountable when an AI-initiated transaction goes off course,” said Itai Sela, Chair of the Secure Technology Alliance Board. “Identity and authentication will be cornerstones in that trust equation. The Agentic Trust and Commerce Forum is designed to bring the right stakeholders into the room before fragmented approaches create new openings for fraud, disputes and liability.”
More than a decade ago, the Alliance’s U.S. Payments Forum united the industry to support the EMV migration. That shift reshaped the transaction experience and helped significantly reduce card-present fraud. It also showed what sustained collaboration can make possible when new technology changes the way transactions work. Agentic commerce now represents a new inflection point. While the technology is different, the stakes are similarly high. The rules and protocols behind AI-driven transactions are being written in real time.
The Agentic Trust and Commerce Forum will provide a neutral space for collaboration on agentic commerce issues no single stakeholder can solve alone. The Forum will develop practical, consensus-driven frameworks that reflect how payments, identity and commerce actually work. Its mission is to support trusted agent-initiated shopping and buying experiences that can scale across the ecosystem. In its early stages, the Forum will strive to answer the following questions:
- How should agent identity be established and verified?
- What data standards and interoperability principles need to be in place, particularly for capturing intent?
- What constitutes valid consumer authorization for an AI-initiated transaction?
- How are disputes and exceptions handled when no human was at the point of transaction?
The Agentic Trust and Commerce Forum is open to all organizations with a stake in how agentic commerce develops, regardless of size and scope. This includes AI technology and LLM providers, merchants, payment platform providers, financial institutions, identity companies, fraud prevention firms, standards organizations and policymakers.
Those interested in participating in upcoming projects can visit the Secure Technology Alliance website to learn how to become a member. By joining the Secure Technology Alliance, members will have access to activities within the Agentic Trust and Commerce Forum and additional Alliance-affiliated organizations, including the U.S. Payments Forum and the Identity and Access Forum.
Alliance membership also provides organizations with access to in-person networking events, offering interactive education sessions focused on industry pain points and opportunities for innovation. The Agentic Trust and Commerce Forum will hold its first in-person meeting November 17-18th at Best Buy’s corporate campus in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The event will be co-located with the U.S. Payments Forum’s Fall Member Meeting. Registration details will be provided in the coming weeks.
About the Secure Technology Alliance
The Secure Technology Alliance is the digital security industry’s premier association. Through its Agentic Trust and Commerce Forum, U.S. Payments Forum and Identity and Access Forum, the Alliance fosters open dialogue among industry stakeholders to explore and develop secure technology innovations in the payments, identity and access markets. By collaborating on education and guidance, the Alliance helps enable efficient, timely and effective implementation of large-scale, disruptive technologies.
Contact
Sherlyn Rijos-Altman
Montner Tech PR
[email protected]