Digital Wallet
By Dan Saada
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What Needs to Happen First. Open payment protocols sit at the top of the list. These protocols would let devices talk to each…
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Why Custody Matters More Than You'd Think. Custody is kind of the whole ballgame here. Devices can't hold private keys the way humans do.
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The Infrastructure Isn't Ready. Getting there means building infrastructure that doesn't really exist yet.
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PayPal and Google Cloud want machines to pay each other. No humans needed.
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Representatives from both companies laid out what they think needs to happen before devices can buy and sell stuff on their own.
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Open payment protocols sit at the top of the list. These protocols would let devices talk to each other and move money around without a human clicking "confirm" every time.
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Machine-readable merchant catalogs are the second piece. Devices need to know what's for sale, how much it costs, and who's selling it.
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Multi-party crypto custody came up a lot. Both companies think shared management of digital assets is the way forward.
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Custody is kind of the whole ballgame here. Devices can't hold private keys the way humans do. They can't remember seed phrases or lock a hardware wallet in a safe.
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The representatives didn't name specific partners or projects. They didn't give a timeline either. No launch dates, no pilot programs, no "coming soon" promises.
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But the vision is clear enough. Devices that can transact on their own could change how commerce works. Imagine a delivery drone that pays for its own battery swaps.
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Related: Crypto Holders in Europe Lose $101 Million to Armed Robbery Gangs
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Getting there means building infrastructure that doesn't really exist yet. Open protocols need to be designed, tested, and adopted across industries.
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PayPal and Google Cloud are exploring how to make it happen. They're looking at partnerships, though they didn't say with who.
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Security is a big question mark. Automated systems are only as safe as their weakest link. If a device gets compromised, can it drain a wallet?
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