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Mastercard will support a range of regulated stablecoins rather than depend on a single digital currency as it expands its blockchain payment services. CEO Michael Miebach said stablecoins and payments made by AI agents are two major areas of focus for the second half of 2026.
The payments company reported second-quarter revenue of $9.28 billion, 14% higher than a year earlier. Adjusted earnings reached $5.04 per share, beating analysts’ estimate of $4.77.
Mastercard Adds USDC, PYUSD, and RLUSD Support
Mastercard expects stablecoins, tokenized deposits and traditional currencies to operate alongside each other. Its network will support assets including Circle’s USDC, PayPal USD, Ripple USD, and Paxos-issued stablecoins across blockchains such as Ethereum, Solana, Base, Polygon and the XRP Ledger. Miebach said:
“We believe stablecoins have great potential, but to work, there are a few essential principles for them to scale: reliability, security, and interoperability.”
Mastercard plans to act as the connection between different coins, blockchains, and traditional payment systems rather than issue one dominant stablecoin of its own. The company expects to complete its acquisition of stablecoin infrastructure provider BVNK before the end of 2026, subject to regulatory approval and other closing conditions. The deal, worth up to $1.8 billion, will add tools for sending, receiving, storing and converting stablecoins and fiat currencies.
AI Agents Open New Payment Use Case
Mastercard is also preparing for AI agents that can buy products and services on behalf of users. Its Agent Pay service uses tokenization, payment controls and dispute protections to support purchases made by approved AI systems.
The company has also introduced Agent Pay for Machines for automated payments between software systems. It is designed for fast, low-value purchases involving services such as computing power, data, content, and application programming interfaces.
Mastercard said more than 30 companies are involved in the launch network, including Coinbase, Cloudflare, Adyen, OKX, and BVNK. Agent Pay for Machines can support automated payments across multiple payment types, from cards to stablecoins.
Mastercard Expects Cards to Remain Central
Miebach said cards will remain important in AI-driven commerce because they already offer global acceptance, fraud protection and chargeback systems. Mastercard’s Verifiable Intent technology is designed to confirm that an AI agent acted within the instructions given by its user.
The company sees stablecoins as particularly useful for business payments, transfers, and settlement. Its second-half strategy will focus on connecting those new payment methods to Mastercard’s existing network rather than replacing card and bank payment systems.
