AgentGate Payments

AgentGate Payments provides a unified payment layer for agent-to-agent and agent-to-vendor transactions. It handles routing, currency conversion, escrow, and authorization mandates across multiple payment rails.

Payment Router

The Payment Router selects the optimal path for each transaction based on destination, currency pair, and cost. Supported payment methods:

The router considers three factors when selecting a path:

1. Availability -- whether the method supports the target currency and region.
2. Total cost -- the sum of processing fees and FX spread for the currency pair.
3. Settlement speed -- prioritized when the agent or mandate specifies urgency.

Currency Support

AgentGate Payments supports 12 currencies with real-time FX quotes sourced from multiple providers:

• Americas: USD, CAD, BRL
• Europe: EUR, GBP, CHF
• Asia-Pacific: JPY, AUD, SGD
• Stablecoins: USDC, USDT, DAI

FX rates are refreshed every 60 seconds. Each quote includes the mid-market rate, the applied spread, and the total cost breakdown so agents can make informed routing decisions.

Cost Optimization

When an agent initiates a payment, the router evaluates all eligible methods and selects the cheapest route. The cost calculation includes:

• Processing fee -- the base fee charged by the payment method.
• FX spread -- the markup over mid-market rate for cross-currency transactions.
• Settlement cost -- opportunity cost of delayed settlement, weighted by mandate urgency.

Agents can override the automatic selection by specifying a preferred method in the payment request.

Escrow

Escrow contracts hold funds during agent-to-agent or agent-to-vendor transactions until predefined conditions are met.

How it works

1. The payer agent creates an escrow contract specifying the amount, payee, hold percentage, and release conditions.
2. Funds are locked in the escrow account. The hold percentage determines how much of the total amount is held (10% for partial holds, 100% for full holds).
3. When the conditions are satisfied (e.g., delivery confirmed, milestone approved), the payer or an authorized agent releases the funds.
4. If conditions are not met before the expiration date, the funds are returned to the payer.

Dispute Resolution

If a dispute arises, the escrow contract enters a disputed state. Resolution requires:

• A human operator with owner or maintainer role to review the dispute.
• Evidence submitted by both parties through the dashboard or channel commands.
• A final decision recorded in the audit trail with hash chain integrity.

Mandates

Mandates are HMAC-signed authorization tokens that grant agents permission to execute payments within defined limits.

Mandate Types

• Payment mandate -- authorizes a single payment up to a specified amount. One-time use by default.
• Delegation mandate -- authorizes an agent to create sub-mandates for other agents, with a delegation cap that limits the total amount that can be delegated.

Properties

Security

Each mandate is signed with HMAC-SHA256 using a per-tenant secret key. The signature covers the agent ID, amount, currency, expiration, and type. Mandates cannot be forged, extended, or reused after expiration.

Mandate creation and revocation are recorded in the audit trail.

Dashboard

The payments dashboard is available at /dashboard/payments and provides:

• Transaction history -- all agent-initiated payments with amount, currency pair, method, fees, FX rate, status, and timestamps.
• Escrow management -- active escrow contracts with status, conditions, expiration, and release actions.
• Mandate overview -- active mandates with agent, authorization, limits, type, and revocation actions.
• Summary metrics -- total volume, active escrow value, active mandate count, and total fees.

Three tabs organize the data: Transactions, Payment Methods, and Escrow & Mandates.