Mastercard Prepares Agent Payments Platform for AI Commerce
Mastercard has introduced Agent Pay for Machines, a platform designed to let AI agents and software systems make secure automated payments across cards, bank accounts and stablecoins. The initiative includes more than 30 companies and initially records agent permissions and credentials on Polygon, Solana and Base.
What happened?
Mastercard has introduced Agent Pay for Machines, a platform designed to let AI agents and software systems make secure automated payments across cards, bank accounts and stablecoins. The initiative includes more than 30 companies and initially records agent permissions and credentials on Polygon, Solana and Base.
Why it matters
The company also pointed to growing activity around HTTP 402, an emerging internet payment standard, as an early signal of demand for automated payment options. Mastercard said it plans to expand access to Agent Pay for Machines later this year.
Mastercard has unveiled Agent Pay for Machines, a service built for AI agents and software systems to make payments to each other securely and at scale. The platform is designed to support automated transactions across cards, bank accounts and stablecoins, while adding identity checks, spending controls and settlement through Mastercard’s network.
The move matters because major payments, technology and crypto companies are preparing for “agentic commerce,” a model in which AI systems complete tasks and pay for services on behalf of users or businesses. Mastercard’s pitch is that these transactions will need trusted counterparties, clear authorization and reliable payment rails if they are to move beyond early experiments.
Raj Dhamodharan, Mastercard’s executive vice president of blockchain and digital asset products and partnerships, told CoinDesk that AI-driven services are already emerging across areas such as travel booking, website creation, digital artwork and other online tasks. He said the next challenge is making sure agents can identify legitimate parties, stay within approved spending limits and complete payments to providers.
More than 30 companies have joined the initiative, including Coinbase, Stripe, Adyen, Checkout.com, Cloudflare, RippleX, Polygon Labs, Solana Foundation and OKX. Mastercard said agent permissions and credentials will initially be recorded on the Polygon, Solana and Base blockchains.
The company also pointed to growing activity around HTTP 402, an emerging internet payment standard, as an early signal of demand for automated payment options. Mastercard said it plans to expand access to Agent Pay for Machines later this year.