From Agent Pay to Stablecoin Payments, Mastercard Announces a Slew of Strategic Initiatives

It’s been a busy week for Mastercard. The payment card services corporation has unveiled four strategic programs over the last two days intended to harness the company’s innovative practices to drive value for partners and customers.

On April 28, Mastercard announced a new initiative with Sam’s Club to boost the membership-based store’s Sam’s Cash Bonus Offers Program. Under the arrangement, Sam’s Club will leverage Mastercard’s proprietary personalization technology to enhance its ability to extend offers to customers at opportune times.

The collaboration will amplify the value of the bonus program and allow Sam’s Club to strengthen relationships with members, according to a press release announcing the union. 

Mastercard’s personalization technology combines data-driven insights with machine learning which Sam’s Club can use to increase the relevancy of offers it extends to its members.

Retailers stand to benefit by communicating personalized offers because they can create a sense of community between a business and its customers, increasing customer loyalty and driving sales. 

Finding ways to provide more value to customers can be the difference between a successful quarter and a disappointing one. And using personalized offers is one way a business can gain a step on its competitors in an age where the internet provides consumers with more options than ever before to suit their shopping needs.

Mastercard leverages data-driven insights and machine learning to power its personalization technology.

“Consumers today demand relevant, convenient, and engaging experiences across channels,” Marie Elizabeth Aloisi, Executive Vice President, U.S. Market Development, Mastercard, said in a press release detailing the program.

“We’re excited to collaborate with Sam’s Club to expand the Sam’s Cash Bonus Offers Program, leveraging our long-standing expertise in personalization and loyalty,” Aloisi added. 

Sam’s Club members residing in the U.S. or Puerto Rico can enroll in the Sam’s Cash Bonus Offers Program for free. Members can link their credit or debit cards to their Sam’s Club account and access exclusive offers without codes or coupons by using their linked cards to make qualifying purchases. 

Mastercard also announced deals with cryptocurrency exchange OKX and payments company Nuvei on April 28. The partnerships aim to advance stablecoin acceptance and facilitate the creation of a seamless stablecoin payment ecosystem.

Stablecoins are an increasingly popular topic of conversation in payments circles in 2025. President Donald Trump has said he wants to turn the U.S. into the “crypto capital of the world”, and companies have been racing to develop plans that align with growing political support of the cryptocurrency market.

Mastercard has already established relationships with cryptocurrency companies including Crypto.com and Kraken. Those partnerships enable consumers to make payments with the stablecoins in their digital wallets through traditional cards. Consumers can transact with stablecoins at more than 150 locations that accept Mastercard around the world.

Mastercard and OKX will launch the OKX card as a result of their teamwork. The card will provide consumers with an outlet to access their funds. The two companies intend to “explore new opportunities to help people meaningfully engage with digital assets”, according to a press release announcing the partnerships.

Jorn Lambert, Chief Product Officer at Mastercard, said in the release that Mastercard needs to make it easy for consumers to use stablecoins and for merchants to accept stablecoin payments. 

“We believe in the potential of stablecoins to streamline payments and commerce across the value chain,” Lambert said. “Unlocking this is core to how we navigate the rapidly changing world, giving people and businesses the freedom they want by providing the choices they deserve.”

Mastercard’s collaboration with Nuvei includes the support of fintech outfit Circle. The companies are working together to provide merchants with the option to receive payments in stablecoins, including Circle’s regulated stablecoin, USDC.

The effort will enable merchants to accept payments in stablecoins regardless of the payment method a customer uses.

Philip Fayer, Nuvei’s Chief Executive Officer, said in the release revealing the collaborations that they will “allow us to offer innovative solutions that bridge traditional and digital finance, helping our merchants grow and thrive in today’s fast-evolving global market.”

“By partnering with Mastercard and Circle, we’re embracing cutting-edge technologies to enhance how our merchants handle payments and settlements,” Fayer continued.

On April 29, Mastercard announced that it’s deepening its partnership with payments company Corpay to expand cross-border payments capabilities for corporations. Corpay’s network and payments platform allows its customers to process mass payments at scale and work with more than 160 currencies worldwide.

The expanded collaboration between the two companies will position Corpay as the exclusive provider of currency risk management and large-ticket, integrated cross-border payments solutions for financial institution customers of Mastercard. 

Corpay will also exclusively offer Mastercard’s virtual card solutions to customers as a result of the strengthened partnership. Virtual cards come with a variety of benefits, including their ability to safeguard transactions by assigning a unique card number to every purchase.

Virtual card features can make payments more secure.

Companies can also access custom controls with Mastercard’s virtual cards, making them ideal for businesses that need to occasionally adjust employee purchasing power and define where workers can use the cards. 

The terms of the agreement between the two companies dictate that Mastercard will invest $300 million in Corpay to become a minority investor in the company’s cross-border business.

Raj Seshadri, Mastercard’s Chief Commercial Payments Officer, said in a press release that the enhanced partnership “represents the natural extension of our commercial cross-border solutions.”

“Our work with Corpay expands our reach into the large and growing cross-border B2B payments space helping our financial institution partners deliver on the non-carded needs of their commercial customers, simply and efficiently,” Seshadri added.

As you may have guessed, one of Mastercard’s announcements this week involves a solution powered by artificial intelligence (AI). On April 29, the company introduced Mastercard Agent Pay, which integrates with agentic AI.

Agent Pay aims to “enhance generative AI conversations for people and businesses alike by integrating trusted, seamless payments experiences into the tailored recommendations and insights already provided on conversational platforms,” according to Mastercard’s press release announcing the solution.

Artificial intelligence is still a relatively new technology, and, as with many new tools, people may misunderstand its capabilities until they have a chance to experience them for themselves.

Perhaps anticipating the confusion that the public may have over Agent Pay’s capabilities, Mastercard included illustrations in its press release of how the tool can help improve your life. 

For example, the company said that a woman planning a birthday party can talk with an AI agent to come up with outfit options to wear for the party — sourced from local shops and online outlets — based on her personal style, the party venue’s ambience, and anticipated weather conditions.

The intelligent agent can then use the woman’s feedback and preferences to procure the items and recommend payment options. Businesses can also use the tool to manage logistics and optimize payment terms.

Mastercard will collaborate with Microsoft to bring its AI technologies to Mastercard’s payment solutions, improving the potential of agentic commerce. 

“Mastercard is transforming the way the world pays for the better by anticipating consumer needs on the horizon,” Lambert said in the release. “The launch of Mastercard Agent Pay marks our initial steps in redefining commerce in the AI era.”

The speed of business moves briskly in 2025, but Mastercard is doing its part to empower payments stakeholders to keep pace. The company said in an April 28 release that it “will continue to work with its wide range of partners to pioneer the next generation of payments, enabling new ways to transact and fortifying trust across all forms and flows.”