Mastercard has unveiled a new payments infrastructure designed specifically for AI agents, with over 30 fintech, legacy finance and crypto firms like Coinbase, OKX and Tempo joining as early adopters. 

The new system, called Agent Pay for Machines (AP4M), will support super-fast, “always-on” transactions between AI agents and machines, including microtransactions, according to the announcement on Wednesday. 

"AI agents are no longer just assisting decisions. They are able to act on human intent, coordinate services and complete transactions that are bespoke for their users," Mastercard wrote, noting that autonomous agents can execute high-volume, low-value payments "at machine speed."

The move comes as more and more financial giants build infrastructure designed for AI agents, including open payments protocols like x402, incubated by Coinbase, and the Machine Payments Protocol (MPP), built by Tempo. Rival network Visa has also begun experimenting with AI infrastructure.

Mastercard notes that legacy payment rails are too expensive for micro-amounts and not designed for continuous programmatic use. To get around this, AP4M adds a new layer on top of its global network that works across cards, accounts, and stablecoins.

The system also supports AI credentialing, so agents can prove they're authorized, and permissions, so users can set authorization rules and spending limits that are programmatically enforced.

This permissioning layer has been a common theme in several AI-related crypto releases, including MetaMask’s recently announced Agent Wallet, which uses pre-defined authorizations as part of its security system. 

According to the announcement, at launch, Mastercard has worked with "a broad set of partners to validate priority use cases, establish common rules and accelerate adoption across industries."

These early adopters in the crypto-verse include Aave Labs, Alchemy, Anchorage Digital, BVNK, Coinbase, MoonPay, OKX, Polygon, Ripple, and Solana, among others. It is also working with internet giants like Checkout.com and Cloudflare. 

"Agent Pay for Machines will create the conditions for a superbloom of AI business models," said Jorn Lambert, Mastercard’s chief product officer. "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."

The move comes as Mastercard continues to expand its crypto rails, including offering stablecoin-based card settlement with assets like USDC, PYUSD, and RLUSD, across its global payments network. The firm has been tapped by MetaMask, Bybit, Gemini, and others to support their crypto cards.

Mastercard has also launched an initiative with over 100 partners like Binance, Circle, Ripple, PayPal, Paxos, MetaMask, Gemini and Crypto.com, to integrate blockchain and stablecoin payments with traditional rails for cross-border transfers, B2B, payouts, and commerce. 

As of March, Mastercard has also agreed to acquire stablecoin startup BVNK. The firm was also recently granted a New York State BitLicense.