US-based Affirm has announced an expansion of its partnership with Stripe to support Shared Payment Tokens (SPTs), a payment mechanism designed for agentic commerce that allows AI agents to initiate purchases using a shopper's preferred payment method without exposing sensitive credentials.
The integration will bring Affirm's pay-over-time options into AI-driven checkout experiences, with Stripe processing payments on the backend between merchants and Affirm.
The partnership between Affirm and Stripe dates to 2021, initially covering online checkout and later expanding to in-person payments through Stripe Terminal. The SPT integration represents the next phase of that collaboration, extending into agentic commerce flows.
How the integration works
When a shopper selects Affirm as their payment method within an AI platform using SPTs, they complete Affirm's real-time eligibility check and choose a fixed repayment plan before completing the purchase directly within the AI platform. Affirm underwrites each transaction individually in real time, presenting the total cost upfront with a clear payoff date and no revolving balance structure. Options include rates from 0% to 36% APR, subject to eligibility.
On the backend, Stripe handles payment processing between the merchant and Affirm without exposing sensitive credentials. The capability will initially be available for Stripe's direct merchants, with a planned rollout to merchants not using Stripe for payment processing later in 2026. Any merchant that offers Affirm will be able to opt into accepting these transactions in agentic flows when supported by the relevant AI platform, regardless of whether they have a direct Stripe integration.
Vishal Kapoor, SVP of Product at Affirm, said the company was built to be AI-native from the outset, and that as AI agents help consumers make purchasing decisions, the ability to present transparent repayment terms with no hidden fees within those flows becomes increasingly relevant.
Kevin Miller, Head of Payments at Stripe, said that expanding SPTs to include Affirm enables AI agents to present BNPL options at checkout, helping businesses drive conversion while giving shoppers more choice in how they pay.
Broader agentic commerce positioning
Beyond the Stripe partnership, Affirm has indicated it is working with platforms and merchants across the ecosystem to bring its pay-over-time model into agent-driven commerce, including support for Google's Agent-to-Agent Protocol and Universal Commerce Protocol. The development follows a similar announcement by Klarna, which also confirmed SPT support through Stripe, signalling a broader movement among BNPL providers to secure a presence within emerging agentic checkout infrastructure.
