Brickken CEO calls for stricter AI agent permissions following Mastercard’s AI payment pilot

Financial institutions must establish clear limits on what AI agents can do with customer accounts before allowing them to move money or trade tokenized securities, according to Edwin Mata, CEO and cofounder of tokenization platform Brickken. In market commentary shared with Crypto Briefing, Mata said banks and investment platforms need to distinguish between granting software access to financial information and authorizing it to execute transactions. “Permission to read a balance should not automatically allow an agent to transfer funds, buy an investment or commit a customer to an obligation,” Mata said. His comments follow Mastercard’s October 20 announcement opening early access to Agent Pay for Machines, a system designed to let AI agents purchase digital services within spending limits approved by businesses. The development also comes as major US banks move to restrict third party AI agents from accessing customer accounts amid concerns over security, liability and unauthorized transactions. Mata argued that while AI agents could eventually automate financial transactions, institutions must first establish controls to verify their authority, limit their activities and determ...