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Agent Payments

How agents pay with your real card, within limits you control.
Card Delegation uses your real credit or debit card, not a separate prepaid balance. At enrollment, the card number is tokenized by a PCI-compliant vault. Nevermined never sees or stores the raw PAN. What the agent receives is a scoped credential that encodes identity, spending limits, and merchant restrictions. The actual charge still runs on existing card rails, so it appears on your normal statement. No prefunding, no separate balance to manage.
The transaction is rejected instantly before it reaches the payment processor. Mandates are enforced server-side on every request, with no client-side honor system. The agent receives a clear 402 error explaining which limit was hit (amount cap, transaction count, or time window), so it can adapt its behavior or notify the user.
Yes. Any software that can make an HTTP request can use x402 payments. That includes OpenAI Assistants, Anthropic Claude, LangChain, CrewAI, Strands, MCP tool servers, and custom agents. Nevermined also provides TypeScript and Python SDKs, a CLI, and an MCP server for convenience, but none are required.
One click in the dashboard or one API call. Revocation is immediate: no grace period, no cached tokens, and no pending window. The agent loses payment capability the instant you revoke, and any in-flight requests using that mandate will fail.
From the agent’s perspective, nothing changes. It sends the same x402 payment header either way. The difference is in how the payment settles under the hood:
  • Stripe path - Your card is tokenized by Stripe, and the payment settles through Stripe’s network. The merchant connects their Stripe account when they enroll with Nevermined.
  • Visa path - Your card is tokenized by Visa Token Service (VTS), and each payment generates a one-time VIC cryptogram that settles through standard Visa acquiring rails. The merchant doesn’t need Stripe; they enroll with Nevermined and receive payments through their existing acquirer.
In both cases, merchants enroll with Nevermined to accept payments from AI agents. Nevermined handles the x402 protocol, agent authentication, and settlement on their behalf.
Card data is captured via a PCI-compliant vault (VGS) and tokenized before it enters the system. Nevermined holds ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II certifications and operates at PCI SAQ-D level. Strong Customer Authentication (3DS or FIDO2 passkeys) is enforced at enrollment. Every transaction is logged with agent ID, amount, merchant, and timestamp for full auditability.

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Mandate Selection

How agents pick which mandate or delegation to charge.
There are three ways the system resolves which mandate to charge, from simplest to most explicit:
  1. Automatic - If your API key has access to exactly one active mandate, it is selected automatically. Just pass your API key and go. If there are zero or multiple mandates, you get a clear error asking you to be more specific.
  2. Key-linked - Link a specific mandate to a specific API key, either when you create the mandate or afterwards. The system always routes that key to its linked mandate, even if you have multiple mandates active. Only the linked key can use that mandate.
  3. Explicit mandate ID - Pass the mandate ID directly in your API request for full control. Useful when one agent works with multiple cards or mandates and needs to pick per-request.
See Mandate Selection for the full resolution algorithm.
The automatic selection will fail because the system can’t determine which mandate to charge. Your agent receives a 402 error explaining that multiple mandates are available. You can resolve this by either linking your API key to a specific mandate, or passing the mandate ID explicitly in the request.
Yes. API keys are provider-agnostic. The same key works for both Visa mandates and Stripe delegations. However, key-to-mandate linking is per-provider. If you link a key to a Visa mandate, that linking does not affect Stripe delegations, and vice versa.
On the enrollment page, click Update on the mandate and use the API Key dropdown to assign or reassign the key. You can also set it to “None” to unlink. For Stripe delegations, use the Edit button on the delegation card.

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Stripe

Settlement through Stripe’s network.
When you enroll a card via Stripe, Stripe tokenizes the card number into a platform token. When your agent makes a payment, Nevermined uses this token to create a charge through Stripe’s network. The payment is wrapped in the x402 protocol, so the merchant (or a facilitator) triggers the flow by responding with a 402 status code.
The merchant enrolls with Nevermined and connects their Stripe account. Once enrolled, they can receive payments from AI agents via the x402 protocol. The merchant needs an active Stripe account since the Stripe path settles through Stripe’s network. Nevermined handles agent authentication, mandate enforcement, and the x402 flow on the merchant’s behalf.
Stripe supports most Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover cards. Both credit and debit cards are eligible. The card is tokenized at enrollment and charges appear on your normal statement.

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Visa Virtual Cards

Settlement through production Visa infrastructure.
Production. Nevermined is live on Visa Token Service (VTS) and Visa Intelligent Commerce (VIC), the same infrastructure behind billions of real-world transactions. Your enrolled card is tokenized by Visa into a virtual card token (DPAN), and every agent payment generates a one-time virtual card credential that is settled through real acquiring banks.
At enrollment, your real card number (PAN) is sent directly from a PCI-compliant form (VGS) to Visa. It never passes through or is stored by Nevermined. Visa replaces it with a virtual card token (DPAN) that is bound specifically to Nevermined as a token requestor. Even if the DPAN were compromised, it can’t be used outside of the Nevermined ecosystem, and Visa can revoke it instantly.
Visa Intelligent Commerce (VIC) is the programmable layer on top of tokenization. When your agent needs to pay, VIC generates a one-time payment credential that authorizes exactly one transaction, then it’s gone. This means even if an agent is compromised, there’s no reusable payment credential to steal. It’s purpose-built for the kind of high-frequency, autonomous micropayments that AI agents make.
The merchant enrolls with Nevermined to start receiving agent payments. They don’t need a Stripe account. The Visa path settles through standard Visa acquiring rails, so payments arrive through the merchant’s existing acquirer as normal Visa transactions. Nevermined handles agent authentication, mandate enforcement, and the x402 flow on their behalf.
During the pilot, Visa virtual cards can be issued for Visa cards from a limited number of US issuers (excluding Chase, Citi). Most corporate and prepaid cards are not eligible.

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Limits & Merchant Onboarding

Pilot ceilings, increased limits, and accepting agent payments.
During the pilot, each enrolled card has a $10.00 cumulative ceiling across all active mandates. This applies to both Stripe and Visa paths independently. Individual mandate amounts are validated against the remaining ceiling at creation and update time.
Yes. The $10 ceiling is a pilot default. Contact the Nevermined team to request increased limits for your account.
Contact the Nevermined team to schedule a merchant onboarding call. Once enrolled, your business can accept payments from AI agents via the x402 protocol with no changes to your existing payment infrastructure. Nevermined handles agent authentication, mandate enforcement, and the settlement flow on your behalf.