Ant International, Visa, and Mastercard have partnered to develop common standards to identify AI agent during payment transactions.
The framework will help merchants verify which agent requests a payment and whether the customer authorized it.
The companies will develop an interoperable “Know Your Agent” system to connect each agent with a verified entity.
The system will also help payment providers assess agent behavior and track activity across payment networks.
The companies want AI agents to keep their verified identities across different payment providers.
Ant chief innovation officer Jiang-Ming Yang said agents registered with Ant would not need separate registration with Visa or Mastercard.
Mastercard chief digital officer Pablo Fourez said compatible verification systems could help agentic commerce operate across payment platforms.
The framework would give merchants a consistent method for checking agent identities and transaction authority.
The partnership targets AI agents that can search for products, place orders, and initiate payments for consumers and businesses.
McKinsey estimates that AI agents could handle between $3 trillion and $5 trillion in consumer commerce by 2030.
However, Ant said AI systems can produce incorrect information or make payments outside user instructions.
The proposed framework would help payment providers check an agent before processing its requested transaction.
Payment Giants Expand Infrastructure for AI Agent Payments
Mastercard launched Agent Connect on Wednesday to help merchants handle AI-driven shopping and payments.
The system gives merchants one integration for product discovery, cart creation, and customer-approved payments across AI shopping platforms.
Mastercard connects Agent Connect with Agent Pay, which records customer permissions through tokenized payment controls.
Merchants can use those permissions to determine whether an AI agent follows the customer’s spending instructions.
Visa introduced Intelligent Commerce Connect in April to let AI agents initiate payments through its payment infrastructure.
The system combines payment initiation, tokenization, authentication, and spending controls for AI agents.
Visa expanded its AI payment work in June with stablecoin capabilities and a partnership with OpenAI.
Mastercard introduced Agent Pay for Machines in June with support from more than 30 technology, payment and blockchain companies.
The network supports transactions from autonomous software through traditional payment networks and stablecoin rails.
Its partners include Ripple, Coinbase, Stripe, Adyen and the Solana Foundation. Users can set spending limits, approval requirements and settlement conditions before agents initiate payments.
Visa has also tested AI agent payments through its Agentic Ready program.
Wirex joined the program to test AI-driven stablecoin payments for software subscriptions, marketing expenses and procurement.
The tests examine how agents can initiate payments while keeping customer authorization and security controls in place.
Ant Links Digital Wallets With Automated Commerce
Ant International adds Alipay+ and its digital wallet network to the development of AI-driven payment systems.
Alipay+ connects more than 50 electronic wallets across international markets.
Worldpay data cited by the companies shows that digital wallets accounted for 56% of global e-commerce value in 2025.
Digital wallets also accounted for 33% of global point-of-sale transaction value that year.
Consumers spent more than $13 trillion through digital wallets worldwide in 2025, according to Worldpay data.
The large wallet market gives AI agents another route for completing payments beyond traditional card networks.
