Amex launches ACE kit, agent protection and Passport NFTs

American Express has rolled out an ACE Developer Kit, an Agent Purchase Protection policy for AI agents and a customer-facing Passport NFT product built on a public blockchain, Luke Gebb, head of global innovation, said.

The ACE Developer Kit lays out technical specifications and standards for agentic commerce, defining how third-party AI agents can act on card members’ behalf to make purchases using American Express cards. The kit is intended to guide developers on secure integration points and data exchanges required for agents to initiate and complete transactions.

Agent Purchase Protection promises to reimburse card members when a registered AI agent makes an error that causes a charge, provided the card member’s intent was clear and the merchant delivered the expected goods or services. Gebb described the protection as a way to limit customer losses from agent-related mistakes when the transaction itself met the merchant’s obligations.

Passport is a digital product that records travel activity in the Amex mobile app as unique tokens on a public blockchain. The feature presents a travel history and allows customers to add photos and notes; Amex says users do not need to interact directly with blockchain tools or understand NFT mechanics to use the feature. Gebb also said the team is exploring stablecoin work that remains at an early stage.

Amex Digital Labs, led by Gebb, operates as the company’s innovation hub. The group has roughly 120 employees and targets about 20 market pilots a year, moving prototypes through testing and stability before transferring successful products to Amex business units. The lab adapts governance and testing to the risk level of each project so lower-risk features move faster while higher-risk financial products receive full review.

The lab is working on two fronts: enabling external conversational agents to transact securely and building Amex’s own conversational experiences within its app and website. Integrations aim to surface Amex features such as offers and booking tools when customers use large language models or third-party agents.

Gebb said the company expects early agent-driven transactions to appear in areas where consumers feel comfortable delegating purchases. He described the current period as one of foundations for agent-enabled commerce and wider blockchain experimentation, with more customer-facing experiences planned over the next year.

Gebb joined Amex in 2002 after an earlier stint in the 1990s and has led Digital Labs since 2017. His role includes removing internal obstacles to innovation and helping product teams work with business units to commercialize new technology. The firm frames the ACE kit, protection policy and Passport product as steps to integrate traditional card services with agent capabilities and distributed ledger technology.