Visa is making bold moves into the future of payments, unveiling two major initiatives this week: agentic commerce technology and an expanded stablecoin strategy, positioning itself at the forefront of AI-driven transactions and blockchain-enabled finance.
At its global product showcase, Visa introduced Visa Intelligent Commerce, a new framework designed to let AI agents browse, shop, and pay on behalf of consumers. Partnering with major tech firms including Anthropic, IBM, Microsoft, Mistral AI, OpenAI, Perplexity, Samsung, and Stripe, Visa is laying the groundwork for what it calls the next evolution in commerce.
Jack Forestell, Visa’s chief product and strategy officer, explained:
“Soon people will have AI agents browse, select, purchase and manage on their behalf. These agents will need to be trusted with payments, not only by users, but by banks and sellers as well. Just like the shift from physical shopping to online, and from online to mobile, Visa is setting a new standard for a new era of commerce.”
Visa Intelligent Commerce will feature:
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AI-ready cards that use tokenised digital credentials.
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AI-personalised spending based on user-approved transaction data.
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Agent-controlled payments where consumers can set limits and rules for automated shopping bots.
Visa’s announcement comes in the same week that Mastercard and PayPal revealed similar agentic commerce strategies, highlighting a growing race among payment giants to define the AI-commerce era.
In parallel, Visa also unveiled its stablecoin-linked card initiative, partnering with Bridge, a Stripe-owned platform, to bring stablecoin capabilities to global fintech developers. Through a single API integration, fintechs can now issue Visa cards that let users spend stablecoin balances at any merchant that accepts Visa.
“We’re focused on integrating stablecoins into Visa’s existing network and products in a frictionless and secure way,” said Forestell. “Partnering with Bridge represents a significant move in helping to make stablecoins usable in everyday life.”
Visa also revealed a partnership with biometric ID company Worldcoin, known for its eyeball-scanning Orb devices, to support a crypto-to-fiat debit card, adding another bridge between blockchain and traditional finance.