Agentic Commerce is the emerging future of payments, where AI agents — not humans — initiate and complete purchases. These autonomous systems act on behalf of consumers, leveraging tokenized credentials to securely perform transactionsTransactions transactions Interactions where value is exchanged for goods or services..
Global players like VisaVisa visa A leading global payment technology company connecting consumers, businesses, and banks., MastercardMasterCard mastercard A global payments network enabling electronic transactions between banks, merchants, and cardholders., and PayPal are now building agentic payment infrastructure, empowering smart devices, apps, and voice assistants to become economic actors.
🔍 What Is Agentic Commerce?
Agentic commerce allows AI agents (apps, wearables, smart devices) to:
- Access payment credentials
- Initiate purchases
- Follow predefined user preferences and limits
Instead of a user pressing “Buy Now,” the agent acts intelligently and independently — while ensuring securitySecurity security Measures used to protect transaction data from fraud and cyber threats. and transparency.
🧠 Why It Matters
Recent breakthroughs in AI (LLMs, voice AI) have made intelligent automation real. The challenge is secure payment delegation. How do you:
- Authorize a non-human buyer?
- Prevent misuse or fraudFraud fraud Criminal deception involving unauthorized payments or use of financial credentials.?
- Ensure transaction traceability?
Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal are solving this through agent-specific tokenization.
🔐 How Agentic Tokenization Works
| Feature | Traditional Card-on-File | Agentic Token (Visa/Mastercard) |
|---|---|---|
| Linked to user’s card | ✅ | ✅ |
| Issued to an AI agent | ❌ | ✅ |
| MerchantMerchant merchant An individual or business that accepts payments in exchange for goods or services.-specific | ✅ | ✅ |
| Use/spend restrictions | ❌ | ✅ (e.g., $30/week limit) |
| Can be revoked independently | ❌ | ✅ |
Visa and Mastercard issue unique 16-digit tokens to AI agents with transactional boundaries, so agents can only buy what they’re authorized for.
🔧 Industry Initiatives
🏦 Visa
- Tech: Delegated Credentials + Visa Token Service
- Use Cases: Voice assistants, car tolls, smart fridges
- Overview: Visa is building infrastructure where each AI agent has its own credential linked to a primary Visa card.
- URL: Visa’s Tokenization for Agentic Commerce
💳 Mastercard
- Tech: Digital Transaction Insights + AI Agent Tokens
- Focus: IssuerIssuer issuer A bank or financial institution that issues payment cards to consumers. Responsible for authorizations and chargebacks.-acquirerAcquirer acquirer A financial institution or payment processor that manages the merchant account, enabling businesses to accept card payments. Acquirers receive all transactions from the merchant and route them to the appropriate issuing bank. coordination for autonomous agents
- Overview: Mastercard aims to standardize token issuance for agentic systems, defining data governance, limits, and fraud rules.
- URL: Mastercard Agentic Credentialing
💼 PayPal
- Tech: Agent WalletsWallets wallets See Digital Wallets. + AI Payment Router
- Use Case: LLM apps (e.g., trip planners) complete bookings and payments
- Overview: PayPal’s architecture gives API-accessible wallets to agents with user-approved parameters.
- URL: PayPal Developer Blog
📈 Use Cases Across Sectors
| Sector | Example Agent Purchase | Requires Agentic Token |
|---|---|---|
| Smart Homes | Fridge reorders groceries | ✅ |
| Automotive | EV car pays for charging & tolls | ✅ |
| Health Tech | Smartwatch subscribes to monthly wellness app | ✅ |
| Retail Voice | Voice AI reorders daily-use items | ✅ |
| Travel & AI | LLM agent books multi-leg travel on behalf of user | ✅ |
🧩 Challenges and Open Questions
- Security: Detecting and preventing unauthorized agent behavior
- Governance: Defining accountability for AI transactions
- UX: Educating users to set granular spending preferences
- Standards: Cross-network interoperability for agentic tokens
- Legal: Who is liable for agentic errors — issuer, network, or AI developer?
🔮 From One-Click to Zero-Click
Agentic commerce is shifting the consumer journey from clicks to intents.
Imagine a future where your fridge knows your preferences, uses a Visa-issued token, and restocks milk — without you doing a thing.
Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal are creating the secure rails to make that future real.
🔗 Learn More
- Visa Agentic Commerce Token Blog
- Mastercard Tokenized Credentials
- PayPal Developer AI Commerce
- PaymentsPedia – AI & Tokenization Hub
Vibhu is a global payments leader and PhD researcher in real-time payments, dedicated to making payments simpler, smarter, and more inclusive. With 20 years of payments experience across Citibank, Adyen, IKEA, Snapdeal, iPayLinks — and markets spanning India, China, Southeast Asia, Europe, and Australia— he brings a truly global perspective to the future of money. Vibhu is also the founder of PaymentsPedia.com, a knowledge hub where he shares insights on cards, crypto, cross-border flows, and real-time rails.📧 vibhu@paymentspedia.com | LinkedIn