Mastercard and Crossmint's AI-agent payment layer, Lobster.cash, announced a partnership on Thursday to enable consumers to safely authorize AI agents to make purchases using their existing Mastercard payment cards. The integration, part of Mastercard's Agent Pay and Verifiable Intent systems, allows transactions to be governed by issuer controls, authenticated through Mastercard's network, and cryptographically linked to a user's explicit intent, according to a joint statement.
The system is designed to address security concerns by eliminating the need for users to share sensitive card credentials directly with AI systems. Instead, permissions act as the control layer. At its core is the Verifiable Intent protocol, built in collaboration with Google, which creates a cryptographic record of user approval—showing who authorized a transaction, what rules were set, and whether they were followed. This allows issuers and merchants to independently verify each payment.
The integration will initially launch through early access on the open-source platform OpenClaw before a wider rollout. Lobster.cash, which is powered by Solana, Circle, Visa, Mastercard, Basis Theory, and Stytch, serves as a shared payment layer across multiple AI agent platforms, including Claude Code, Devin, Hermes, and Zo Computer. It allows users to program financial behavior for their agents, setting limits on where funds can be spent, transaction frequency, and allowed payment methods.
"As agentic commerce grows, secure and accountable AI-enabled payments have become essential," the companies stated. "Mastercard Agent Pay enables consumers to delegate purchasing to AI agents without sharing sensitive credentials, while preserving issuer oversight, network controls, and traceability."
Mastercard's Chief Digital Officer, Pablo Fourez, emphasized the extension of trusted infrastructure: "By integrating with Lobster.cash, we're extending Mastercard’s trusted payments network and infrastructure." Crossmint co-founder Alfonso Gómez-Jordana Mañas noted the user-friendly approach: "Bringing it to lobster.cash means agent users don’t need a new wallet or a new card."
The move follows Visa's introduction last year of its Trusted Agent Protocol, a framework for AI-driven commerce, highlighting a broader industry trend. Mastercard Agent Pay is already used by banks including Santander, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, DBS, and UOB. Crossmint, an enterprise-grade payments company leveraging crypto rails, raised $23.6 million in a funding round led by Ribbit Capital last year.
