On Mastercard's third-quarter call, CEO Michael Miebach said that putting a one-time virtual card number into an AI agent's purchase is a processor's decision and a bridge toward fully tokenized transactions, "not a long-term solution that we will support." Mastercard wants agents to pay with tokenized versions of the card the consumer chose, so that the card's rewards and controls stay in place.
Miebach said Agent Pay, which uses tokenization and confirms that the buyer authorized the agent, is used by Shopify's Shop Pay to protect credentials. He added that a new agreement with OpenAI includes Agent Pay, and said he expects consumers' use of agents to grow over the holiday season. Net revenue rose 14% to $9.8 billion.
Visa sounded more cautious on its own call earlier that week. CEO Ryan McInerney called agentic commerce nascent and said dispute resolution, clear rules and secure operation worldwide still need work.