Mastercard Expands AI Payments Strategy With New Machine-to-Machine Transaction Service

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• Mastercard unveiled Agent Pay for Machines (AP4M), a payment service designed for autonomous AI agents and machine-to-machine commerce.
• The platform supports automated transactions across cards, bank accounts and stablecoins.
• More than 30 companies from the payments, technology and digital asset sectors have joined the initiative.
• The launch expands Mastercard’s Agent Pay strategy, introduced in 2025 to support AI-driven commerce.

Mastercard has introduced a new payment service designed to allow artificial intelligence (AI) agents and connected machines to conduct transactions autonomously, as the payments company expands its efforts to build infrastructure for AI-driven commerce.

The service, called Agent Pay for Machines (AP4M), was announced on June 10 and is intended to support machine-to-machine payments, including high-frequency and low-value transactions that can be executed without direct human involvement.

The launch comes as payment networks, technology firms and digital asset companies increasingly explore “agentic commerce,” an emerging model in which AI systems can perform commercial tasks on behalf of users and businesses. Industry participants are developing infrastructure that would allow software agents to purchase services, manage resources and complete transactions autonomously while operating within predefined permissions and controls.

Mastercard Builds on Earlier Agent Pay Initiative

Agent Pay for Machines expands Mastercard’s broader Agent Pay framework, which the company introduced in April 2025 as part of its strategy to support AI-enabled commerce.

While the original initiative focused on enabling trusted AI agents to participate in transactions on behalf of consumers and businesses, the new platform is specifically designed for machine-driven commerce involving continuous and automated payment flows.

According to Mastercard, the system provides credentialing for AI agents and machines, establishes permissions and spending controls, enables transaction execution across different providers, and supports settlement through multiple payment methods.

The company said the infrastructure can facilitate automated transactions ranging from digital services and cloud-computing resources to broader machine-to-machine economic activity. Mastercard also stated that the platform supports settlement through cards, bank accounts and stablecoins, reflecting growing interest in integrating traditional payment networks with blockchain-based payment systems.

The launch follows a series of recent moves by Mastercard to expand its digital asset and next-generation payments strategy. In March, the company announced plans to acquire stablecoin infrastructure provider BVNK in a deal valued at up to $1.8 billion and also added TRON to its crypto partner program to explore blockchain payment applications. More recently, Mastercard expanded its settlement network with stablecoin support and 24/7 payment capabilities, highlighting its growing focus on programmable and always-on payments infrastructure.

Jorn Lambert, Mastercard’s Chief Product Officer, said in a statement:

“Agent Pay for Machines will create the conditions for a superbloom of AI business models.”

The comment reflects Mastercard’s view that autonomous AI agents could create new commercial use cases requiring automated payment infrastructure.

Industry Partners Join AI Commerce Ecosystem

Mastercard said more than 30 companies are participating in the initiative, including payments providers, blockchain infrastructure firms, digital asset platforms and technology companies.

Participants include Adyen, Alchemy, Anchorage Digital, Ant International, BVNK, Catena, Checkout.com, Cloudflare, Coinbase, Coinflow, Crossmint, Getnet by Santander, Global Payments, MoonPay, Nevermined, OKX, PayOS, Polygon, Rain, RippleX, Solana Foundation, Stripe, Tempo, Turnkey and Utila.

The announcement follows a series of recent developments in AI-powered commerce and automated payments. Mastercard has continued expanding its AI-focused payment initiatives during the past year, while companies across the payments and technology sectors have increased efforts to establish standards for autonomous commercial activity conducted by AI agents.

As AI systems become increasingly capable of independently carrying out transactions and coordinating services, payment providers are developing frameworks intended to address authorization, security, identity verification and settlement requirements for machine-driven commerce.

Mastercard said Agent Pay for Machines is designed to provide the infrastructure needed to support those transactions as autonomous agents and connected devices take on a larger role in digital economic activity.