In early September I learned with excitement that the status of Payment Request API implementation in Webkit went from “Under Consideration” to “In Development.” That means that the API is being implemented in Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Webkit, as well as Samsung Internet Browser and Facebook. If you know about more implementations, please let me know.

The timing couldn’t be better. Today the Web Payments Working Group advanced both Payment Request API and Payment Method identifiers to Candidate Recommendation Status. This step in the W3C Recommendation Track means that the specification is stable and we will now focus on browser interoperability, primarily by developing a comprehensive test suite. If you would like to help us work on the test suite, please contact me.

For more information about the Candidate Recommendation announcement, see our media advisory and FAQ.

In parallel, the Working Group continues to work on:

Payment Handler API, which enables Web sites to be payment apps in the Payment Request API ecosystem. Google and Samsung have been working on experimental implementations on the browser side of the API, and Klarna and others working on payment apps. I expect that the Working Group will devote more attention to payment apps now that Payment Request API is a Candidate Recommendation.

Payment Method Manifest, which supports the secure deployment of third-party payment apps for proprietary payment methods.

Ongoing discussion of payment methods “beyond Basic Card,” including discussions of encrypted and tokenized cards, as well as credit transfers and interledger payments.

The Working Group’s charter expires 31 December, so we have begun to discuss what’s next. If you are interested in shaping the group’s agenda, now is a great time to get involved, especially as our next face-to-face meeting is around the corner: 6-7 November at TPAC 2017.

Congratulations to the Web Payments Working Group for reaching this milestone!

Update: Many thanks to everyone who responded to this post urging the Working Group to include support for cryptocurrencies. I have turned off comments for now, most of which speak to the same request.