Mastercard launches Agent Connect for AI shopping

Mastercard has launched Agent Connect to give merchants one integration for product discovery, cart creation and customer-approved payments across AI shopping platforms.

Mastercard Agent Connect reduces separate merchant integrations

Mastercard said in a Sep. 9 announcement that Agent Connect allows merchants to participate in AI-assisted shopping without building a separate technical connection for every AI platform.

Through the service, an AI agent can search a participating merchant’s products, assemble a cart, and move the customer toward payment. A purchase can proceed after the customer gives authorization, keeping the final spending decision under the buyer’s control.

Instead of sending shoppers through several disconnected systems, the integration links merchants with AI agents, digital platforms and payment companies. Mastercard said businesses can use their existing catalogs to supply current prices, product descriptions, and stock information.

Keeping catalog data current matters because an AI agent may make a recommendation or prepare an order without the shopper visiting a conventional product page. Agent Connect gives the merchant a direct role in supplying the information used during that process.

Merchants also retain control over their branding, prices, and customer relationships, according to Mastercard. The payment company designed the service to keep businesses involved from the first product search through the completed transaction, rather than limiting their role to order fulfillment.

Such control may become more important as product searches move from merchant websites and search engines into conversational interfaces. For retailers, inaccurate prices or inventory details presented by an outside agent could lead to failed transactions, refunds, or customer complaints.

Agent Connect sits within Mastercard’s Agent Suite for Merchants, which brings AI shopping and payment services into the same commerce system. Businesses can use the suite within their own digital channels, allowing customers to search for products, compare options, receive recommendations, and complete checkout.

Mastercard adds Anthropic tools to its merchant suite

Working with Anthropic, Mastercard is also giving businesses access to a commerce agent blueprint that combines Claude models with Mastercard’s payment capabilities. Merchants can use the framework to develop shopping agents while retaining control over their digital storefronts.

Rather than focusing only on product discovery, the updated suite supports tasks that arise after payment. Mastercard said merchants can deploy AI agents to help customers monitor orders, request refunds, and process returns.

The partnership connects Anthropic’s models with the payment and authorization layers needed to move from a recommendation to a purchase. Consumer approval remains part of the process, while merchants continue to set product information and commercial terms.

Mastercard Chief Product Officer Jorn Lambert said changes in online shopping will place AI agents between many businesses and their customers.

“AI agents will change the buying interface again,” Lambert said.

Mastercard wants merchants to maintain control as that interface changes, according to the executive. The Agent Suite is structured to let businesses offer AI-supported services inside channels they manage rather than surrendering the entire shopping experience to outside platforms.

Mastercard’s work on Agent Connect follows its June rollout of an AI payment network supported by Ripple, Coinbase, Stripe, Adyen, Cloudflare, OKX, the Solana Foundation and other companies. As crypto.news reported at the time, more than 30 payment, blockchain, and technology firms backed the initiative.

Called Agent Pay for Machines, the system was designed for large numbers of small transactions initiated by autonomous software. Mastercard said users could set spending limits, authorization requirements and settlement conditions, while transactions could move through standard payment networks or stablecoin rails.

Agent Pay verifies customer authority before purchases

Mastercard Agent Pay provides the payment controls behind transactions initiated by AI agents. When a customer allows an agent to make a purchase, the system records that authority through a tokenized permission.

The token helps confirm that the agent has permission to act, separating an authorized purchase from an agent action that falls outside the customer’s instructions. Mastercard’s approach places identity, consent and payment credentials within the transaction process instead of treating the agent like an ordinary cardholder.

Customer authorization remains important when software compares products or prepares a cart based on a general request. An instruction to find a product within a budget, for example, does not necessarily give an agent unlimited authority to complete every related transaction.

With tokenized permissions, payment providers and merchants can receive information showing that an agent acted under a defined instruction. Mastercard said Agent Pay applies its existing security and payment infrastructure to transactions in which software acts for a consumer or business.

Stablecoins are also part of the company’s work on agent-led commerce. In May, MoonPay introduced a Mastercard stablecoin card that lets users authorize AI agents to spend assets held in on-chain wallets.

The MoonAgents Card converts crypto into fiat at checkout and works at merchants that accept Mastercard. According to MoonPay, agents can initiate payments without requiring users to preload a separate balance or first transfer their funds off-chain.

Combining card acceptance with stablecoin balances gives developers another route for building automated payment tools. Mastercard’s own systems can also support card or stablecoin settlement, depending on the product and participating payment provider.

Mastercard supports payments between software and machines

Agent Pay for Machines extends the authorization model beyond consumer shopping by allowing software applications and connected machines to transact with each other. Mastercard designed the service for repeated, low-value payments that may occur too frequently for manual approval each time.

Possible transactions could involve software paying for digital resources or machines purchasing services under preset conditions. Mastercard said the system can process payments through card networks or stablecoins, while owners retain control through spending and authorization rules.

More than 30 companies have joined Mastercard’s machine-payment initiative. Participants include Stripe, Coinbase, Adyen, Checkout.com, Cloudflare, OKX and Global Payments, bringing together payment processors, crypto companies and internet infrastructure providers.

Ripple and Coinbase previously linked stablecoins and blockchain infrastructure to the need for quick, programmable settlement between autonomous agents. During the June launch, RippleX Senior Vice President Markus Infanger said the XRP Ledger and RLUSD could provide fast settlement, predictable costs, programmable compliance and an audit trail.

Coinbase Head of Stablecoin Business Development Nina Coughlin said the exchange was working with Mastercard on an open and interoperable system for agent-led payments. The companies are combining established payment networks with programmable dollars and standards such as x402, according to her comments at the launch.

For U.S. merchants and payment companies, Mastercard’s regulated digital-asset operations provide another relevant layer. Its American subsidiary received a New York BitLicense in May, allowing it to conduct virtual-currency business in the state.

New York’s Department of Financial Services requires BitLicense holders to follow rules covering capitalization, cybersecurity, anti-money laundering controls, sanctions screening and consumer protection. Mastercard said the approval would support work involving stablecoins and tokenized bank deposits under the compliance standards used across its payment network.