Basis Theory Forms Agentic Commerce Consortium, Publishes White Paper Setting Standards for Agentic Commerce
New collaboration unites AI researchers, innovators, and networks to advance agent-led commerce.
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 18, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Basis Theory today announced the formation of an Agentic Commerce Consortium with Lithic, Crossmint, Skyfire Systems, Rye, Channel3, Catalog, New Generation, and Henry Labs. This consortium is a global initiative, uniting AI researchers, solution providers, and networks committed to building the infrastructure to support agent-led commerce.
Together, the consortium is releasing its inaugural white paper, Empowering Merchant-Controlled AI Commerce: An Open Agentic Commerce White Paper. The paper lays the foundation for understanding and enabling agentic commerce, a future where intelligent agents autonomously research, recommend, and transact on behalf of consumers and businesses.
Led by Basis Theory, the Consortium will serve as a collaborative hub for organizations and experts driving innovation in this space. Together, members will research emerging agentic commerce models, develop shared frameworks, and create technical standards that accelerate adoption.
"Rarely, if ever, have we seen consumer behavior change so quickly and in such a meaningful way as we have over the past couple of years since the launch of ChatGPT. We are nearing the point where over a billion consumers are consistently using chatbots and answer engines for all of their daily needs, including shopping and commerce more broadly, and it's requiring us to rethink how the internet economy is going to work in the future," said Colin Luce, CEO of Basis Theory. "The Agentic Commerce Consortium is our attempt at signaling to the market that 'it's going to take a village' to capitalize on the opportunity, and we are proud to play the role of facilitator by bringing together this ecosystem. Each individual part of the stack will need to be addressed with careful consideration and rigor, which requires intense entrepreneurial focus, hence our excitement to partner with builders like Crossmint, Lithic, Rye, and Skyfire, among many others."
This protocol allows merchants to opt into agentic commerce in a controlled, dynamic, and on their terms way, as opposed to the status quo of being scraped by anonymous bots that could be nefarious bad actors or competitors. The Agentic Commerce Consortium fully supports a merchant's right to participate while simultaneously recognizing the difficulties of managing priorities in today's environment.
This announcement comes from Basis Theory on the heels of first-of-its-kind partnerships with both Visa, for their Intelligent Commerce offering, and Mastercard's Agent Pay.
"AI is accelerating payments at an unprecedented pace, making it essential for merchants and technology providers to be empowered with secure, flexible solutions that future-proof their operations," said Sherri Haymond, co-president, Global Partnerships at Mastercard. "Bringing our Mastercard Agent Pay program together with Basis Theory's programmable vault, we're not only redefining how businesses can leverage payments data for intelligence, automation, and new levels of personalization–we're enabling a broader ecosystem of players to participate in and benefit from agentic commerce. This partnership supports the wider adoption of agent-driven payments across the industry, reflecting our commitment to collaborating with innovators who are shaping the future of commerce for all."
The formation of the Consortium, partnerships, and white paper mark a historic step toward aligning industry stakeholders around a shared vision of commerce built for the age of AI agents. By convening leaders across technology, commerce, and payments, the initiative aims to ensure the underlying infrastructure is secure, interoperable, and capable of meeting the demands of this new era.
About the White Paper
The white paper, Empowering Merchant-Controlled AI Commerce: An Open Agentic Commerce Whitepaper, introduces the core concepts of agentic commerce, outlines the infrastructure challenges and opportunities, and proposes early frameworks for collaboration. It is available for download at https://basistheory.ai/consortium.
About the Agentic Commerce Consortium
The Agentic Commerce Consortium is an industry collaboration led by Basis Theory that brings together AI innovators, researchers, solution providers, and networks to support agentic commerce infrastructure. Through shared research and collective innovation, the Consortium aims to accelerate the future of agent-led commerce.
About Basis Theory
Basis Theory is the leading independent payment vault, built to help merchants and platforms secure, control, and utilize sensitive payment data across systems and partners. With PCI Level 1 compliance, SOC 2 certification, and a developer-first API, Basis Theory empowers customers like Pinterest, Melio, and MoneyGram to design their payment infrastructure however they choose with zero lock-in. Founded in 2020, the company is backed by Costanoa, Bessemer Venture Partners, Kindred Ventures, and others.
Media contact: cl@basistheory.com
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SOURCE Basis Theory