Payment giant Mastercard launched a new service designed to automate machine-to-machine (M2M) payments between AI agents, software applications, and connected devices. The solution enables 24/7 micropayments worth less than one cent using payment cards, bank accounts, and stablecoins.
Mastercard announced the launch of Agent Pay for Machines (AP4M), a new platform for automated M2M payments between AI-powered software agents, services, and devices. The platform is designed to process large volumes of real-time micropayments without human involvement and will become part of the company’s global payments network.
According to Mastercard, advances in AI are driving a new digital economy in which software agents can independently purchase services, pay for resources, and interact with one another. Supporting such activity requires payment infrastructure capable of handling massive transaction volumes with minimal latency and strong security.
The new AP4M platform enables users to:
- identify and verify AI agents before transactions are executed;
- set spending limits and authorization rules;
- automatically process payments across different services and platforms;
- conduct guaranteed settlements using payment cards, bank accounts, and stablecoins.
Mastercard noted that, unlike traditional payments initiated by people, machine-to-machine transactions will occur continuously in the background. For example, an AI agent could independently build an online store by paying for domain registration, hosting, images, and payment services within a predefined budget. Another use case involves automatically paying for logistics services during cargo transportation.
The service expands on Mastercard’s Agent Pay program, introduced in 2025. While Agent Pay establishes the framework for trusted AI agents participating in the payments ecosystem, Agent Pay for Machines is designed to scale high-frequency micropayments between software applications and devices.
More than 30 companies from the payments, blockchain, and cloud services sectors joined the initiative. Early partners and ecosystem participants include:
- Stripe;
- Coinbase;
- OKX;
- Adyen;
- Cloudflare;
- Ripple;
- Polygon Labs;
- Solana Foundation;
- Ant International;
- Global Payments, among others.
Jorn Lambert, Chief Product Officer at Mastercard, said the technology could become a foundation for rapid growth in AI-driven business models. According to Lambert, machine-to-machine payments will differ from today’s transactions through significantly higher volumes, extremely low individual payment values, and near-instant processing speeds.
Mastercard believes the rise of autonomous commerce will create a new category of economic participants: AI agents capable of independently entering into transactions, paying for services, and interacting with digital infrastructure without direct human involvement. The company expects AP4M to become one of the core components of that emerging economy.
At the same time, Mastercard continues to work on integrating cryptocurrencies into existing financial infrastructure and expanding payment solutions that incorporate digital assets.
