Mastercard Partners With Alchemy to Launch Virtual Card Payments for AI Agents

Mastercard is preparing to launch an agentic payment option for AI agents in partnership with Alchemy, a startup that makes virtual cards for AI agents in e-commerce. Alchemy has confirmed the reports.

“The checkout button is dying,” Alchemy wrote in a post on X. “AI agents will discover, compare, and buy products on behalf of their users.” Under the plan, cardholders will be able to pre-authorize AI agents to make purchases independently, from ordering food to booking travel, within defined parameters such as a price range. Visa already has a partnership with Alchemy.

Alchemy said in a press release that developers can set up AgentCard in under a minute through a single CLI, giving an agent a dedicated email address, phone number, stablecoin wallet, and one-time-use Mastercard payment credentials.

Greg Ulrich, Mastercard’s chief AI and data officer, said earlier in 2026 that the company built risk rules to stop bots from transacting but now needs to enable them to transact, requiring a change to its risk framework. In September 2026, Mastercard, Visa and Ant International announced they are working together to develop common standards for verifying trusted AI agents in online purchases.

The report also noted industry concerns about AI agent safety despite the companies’ assurances that the venture will be safe and consumer-led.