Mastercard demonstrated a system allowing AI agents to pay for digital services within a preapproved budget without human confirmation for each transaction.

Test scenario

In a pilot, an AI agent assembled an advertising campaign and executed multiple purchases under one approved budget without individual human approvals.

The agent paid for social media research and commissioned creative work, including 8 images, via multiple supplier invoices during the test.

Overall the system executed 9 payments to 2 suppliers while relying on a single initial budget authorization from a human operator.

Settlement infrastructure

For settlements Mastercard used the Base blockchain, enabling transactions in both traditional fiat and various stablecoins within the same workflow.

Developer access and integration

Developers were granted early access to the platform to test integrations and adapt agent logic to payment and compliance flows.

The demonstration highlights automated execution of approved budgets while preserving human involvement at the authorization stage and compliance checkpoints as required.

Next steps

Mastercard opened early access to developers to enable further testing and integration of agent-driven payment workflows before broader rollout.