Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Like other international payments networks, Mastercard Inc. is wrestling with the impact of the conflict in the Middle East while at the same time adjusting to the ripple effects of agentic commerce and digital currency. Early Thursday, the company’s top executives took pains to assure the financial community that they’re dealing with it.
“2026 is off to an excellent start,” said Michael Miebach, Mastercard’s chief executive, during a session held to discuss the network’s March-quarter results. But aside from the standard measurements, such as transaction volume and acceptance points, it was data that Miebach was focused on. “The more data that flows through [the network], the more valuable it is,” he stressed.
Mastercard has been busy multiplying the sources of that data, particularly with initiatives in digital assets, which Miebach sees as running parallel with the company’s traditional efforts in cards and account-to-account capabilities. In particular, stablecoins have taken on a dramatically higher profile in recent months since Mastercard’s announcement in March of its $1.8 billion deal for BVNK, a London-based stablecoin platform that “holds hard-to-get licenses,” according to Miebach.
That deal, Miebach cautioned, “hasn’t closed yet.” But once the company is in Mastercard’s fold, he said, it will “put us in position for stablecoins and tokenized deposits, and sets us apart.”
While Mastercard sees potential volume in digital currency alone, it’s also figuring on synergistic effects from processing stablecoin transactions. “Spend growth” on stablecoins continues to grow, Miebach said, but “we see clear potential for stablecoin technology, especially when paired with our network” as “another rail” to go with traditional fiat-money movement.
Still, as with its other ventures, Mastercard is looking for heavier transaction activity. “For now, volume is our most pressing need” in stablecoins, he said. As activity accelerates, he added, the digital currency would be “a significant net growth opportunity for us. We want to be a central network for that.” Mastercard and other payments players are also counting on passage of the Clarity Act, which sets out national rules for stablecoins. It passed the House of Representatives in July and is in the hands of the Senate.
Agentic commerce, an AI-driven service which Mastercard began backing a year ago with Agent Pay, remains a work in progress for the network. “We’re still in the early stages,” Miebach said, with respect to transaction volume. The service will likely unfold with commercial clients first, he added. In March, Mastercard added verifiable intent, a new layer of security for agentic transactions.
For the quarter, Mastercard reported processing $795 billion in credit and debit card volume in the U.S. market, up 4% year-over-year. Its volume for the rest of the world totaled $1.9 trillion, up 9%. It reported $8.4 billion in net revenue, a 12% rise.
