Mastercard Taps Crypto Firms for AI Agent Payments

Mastercard Unveils Agent Pay for Machines, Enabling Autonomous AI Transactions

Mastercard announced Wednesday the debut of Agent Pay for Machines, a new payment platform designed to empower AI agents to conduct transactions autonomously using cards, bank accounts, and stablecoins.

The platform is engineered to allow AI systems to independently purchase services and initiate payments, including handling numerous small, background transactions, according to Mastercard. This offering represents an extension of the company’s existing Agent Pay program, specifically facilitating payments between AI agents, software platforms, and connected devices.

“Agent Pay for Machines will create the conditions for a superbloom of AI business models,” stated Jorn Lambert, Mastercard Chief Product Officer, in a press release. “Machine payments can make it possible for services to be bought and sold among agents at fundamentally different scales than payments today—very high volumes, very small values, very fast, and at extremely low latency.”

Over 30 companies have already joined this initiative, including prominent names such as Coinbase, OKX, Polygon, RippleX, Aave Labs, Alchemy, Anchorage Digital, BVNK, MoonPay, Stripe, Cloudflare, and the Solana Foundation.

This launch signifies Mastercard’s intensified focus on AI-driven commerce. The move aligns with a broader trend across the payments and cryptocurrency sectors, where companies like MoonPay, MetaMask, and Coinbase are actively exploring the potential of autonomous AI agents to execute services and complete transactions without direct human intervention.

The announcement follows a series of strategic moves by Mastercard into the cryptocurrency market throughout the year. In March, the company introduced its Crypto Partner Program, collaborating with over 85 firms, including Binance, Ripple, and PayPal, to develop products integrating digital assets with Mastercard’s payment network. Later that month, Mastercard agreed to acquire stablecoin infrastructure firm BVNK for up to $1.8 billion, a deal aimed at bolstering its capabilities in digital asset payments and settlement.

Mastercard has also significantly expanded its stablecoin operations in 2026. In March, the company joined Solana’s enterprise blockchain platform to support stablecoin settlement. Earlier this month, Mastercard broadened its program for settling transactions using regulated stablecoins, such as Circle’s USDC and Ripple’s RLUSD.