Securing the Machine Economy: How Verification Became the Trust Layer for AI Spending

Only 16% of U.S. consumers trust AI with payments—revealing a trust gap that's architectural, not just marketing. Mastercard and Google's Verifiable Intent framework and Ramp's Agent Cards represent the infrastructure breakthrough needed to solve this: cryptographic proof that AI agents operate within authorized boundaries while maintaining full auditability. As autonomous commerce becomes inevitable, these verification standards are positioning themselves as core infrastructure in the emerging machine economy.