Kite AI, an AI fintech infrastructure company, has announced a strategic partnership with Google's standardized payment model, the Agent Payment Protocol (AP2). The collaboration, revealed via Kite AI's official X announcement on February 25, 2026, marks a significant step in developing machine-based financial infrastructure aimed at redefining the emerging "agentic economy."
The core objective of the partnership is to create trusted and secure payment rails for independent AI agents. Kite AI has joined the AP2 initiative as a Community Partner, with a focus on enabling consistent payment flows between users, services, and autonomous AI agents. Google's AP2 provides an inclusive model designed to allow AI agents to transfer value across various digital environments.
As a key partner, Kite AI is expected to contribute to critical discussions surrounding security models, compliance-ready transfer layers, and payment orchestration. The company stated that backing AP2 will help build interoperable payment rails, allowing agents to operate across networks without facing issues related to inconsistent trust frameworks or fragmented liquidity.
This development coincides with a notable 23% price surge for KITE token, which traded at approximately $0.2715 following the announcement. The altcoin's market capitalization increased to $488 million, supported by significant capital inflows. On-chain data showed a positive Buy-Sell Delta of 542 million, with buyer volume reaching 1.3 billion compared to seller volume of 805 million, indicating aggressive spot accumulation.
Futures market activity also saw a spike, with a 203% jump in Futures Netflow to $10.06 million. Interestingly, despite the bullish price action, a majority of futures positions were short, with a Long/Short Ratio of 0.62 on exchanges like Binance and Bybit, suggesting some traders anticipate a potential pullback.
Kite AI emphasized that this partnership accelerates its long-term vision of establishing a transparent, secure, and programmable financial layer for sovereign digital actors, aiming to enhance risk management, user consent, and auditability within the agentic economy.
