AP2 records spending authority, while x402 carries payment requests. Mastercard’s machine-payment pilot shows why a signed voucher and final settlement are different steps.

The stablecoin infrastructure firm Mastercard bought for up to $1.8 billion says the integration is live across its 130-plus markets, with more Stellar-native assets to follow.

The pilot, whose first participants are Infinia, Walapay and Koywe, will test whether compliance checks performed once at origination can be relied on across Borderless.xyz's network of stablecoin payment providers.

Ripple released the XRPL AI Starter Kit on Wednesday, giving developers tools to build AI-agent payment applications on the XRP Ledger using XRP and RLUSD. The launch lands alongside Mastercard naming Ripple as a partner in Agent Pay for Machines, its agentic-commerce network.

Mastercard launched Agent Pay for Machines (AP4M) Wednesday, extending its payments network to autonomous AI agents with 30-plus crypto and fintech launch partners including Coinbase, Ripple, Solana Foundation, Polygon, Aave Labs and Stellar.

Issuers and acquirers can now clear card transactions in regulated stablecoins on Arbitrum, Base, Canton, Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, Tempo and XRPL, with ARQ, CBW Bank, Cross River, Lead Bank and Nuvei lined up as the first adopters in the US and Latin America.

The payments giant, which processed nearly $11 trillion in volume last year, secured one of the US's most demanding state crypto licenses as it moves to settle transactions in digital assets.

The move aims to integrate BVNK's infra into Mastercard's network to bridge on-chain payments and existing fiat rails.

The initiative brings together a broad spectrum of well-known, global crypto firms and blockchain projects including Circle, Solana, Binance, Polygon, and Ava Labs.

Verifiable Intent creates a tamper-resistant, cryptographic record of what a user authorized when an AI agent acts on their behalf.