Mastercard has opened early access to its Agent Pay for Machines platform, following successful pilots with several major companies, including Coinbase, Base, and Cloudflare. The initiative, first announced in June, aims to enable AI agents to make payments using card, bank account, and stablecoin options, with built-in spending controls. Developers are now invited to test the APIs and provide feedback, though the project remains in a pilot phase and is not yet commercially available.
During a demonstration at Cloudflare Connect, marketing agency Hype showcased an AI agent handling a campaign for a protein bar launch. The agent purchased social media research from AIsa and campaign images from Cloudflare AI Gateway, all within a predefined budget. The process involved nine payments, facilitated by the Coinbase-incubated x402 protocol, which allows for blockchain-based and traditional payment transactions.
The x402 standard, named after the HTTP 402 'Payment Required' status code, enables websites, APIs, and AI agents to request and receive payments. Merchants verified the agent's signed payment voucher before delivering services, with Mastercard noting that vouchers can be batched and redeemed later rather than settling each payment individually. Coinbase Developer Platform provided the wallet infrastructure, while Base served as the onchain settlement network.
BVNK, a stablecoin infrastructure provider acquired by Mastercard in August, acted as the agent wallet and used Mastercard's Global Money Platform to process payments and settlements in fiat or stablecoins. Sellers can receive payments in their preferred currency, token, or rail. Mastercard emphasized the need for AI agents to have a way to pay for services, stating, 'The web gave software a way to communicate. APIs gave software a way to use services. Now AI agents need a way to pay for them.'