Mastercard: Cards Still Central Even as AI Agents and Stablecoins Emerge

On Mastercard's Q2 2026 earnings call (July 30), CEO Michael Miebach and CFO Sachin Mehra faced analyst questions on agentic commerce—purchases made by autonomous AI software—and stablecoins. Mastercard pushed back on the notion that AI agents will bypass traditional card networks, insisting cards remain central to that payment flow.