Visa has unveiled its plans for two of the next big things in payments: agentic commerce and stablecoins.
At its global product drop this week, the firm has launched Visa Intelligent Commerce, its technology for enabling AI to find and buy. The likes of Anthropic, IBM, Microsoft, Mistral AI, OpenAI, Perplexity, Samsung, Stripe have all been signed up as partners.
Visa chief product and strategy officer Jack Forestell says: “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. Now, with Visa Intelligent Commerce, AI agents can find, shop and buy for consumers based on their pre-selected preferences. Each consumer sets the limits, and Visa helps manage the rest.”
The new offering includes AI-ready cards that replace card details with tokenised digital credentials; AI-powered personalisation that is based on spending data that the shopper agrees to share; and AI payments where shoppers set spending limits and conditions for the agents.
Visa's announcement comes in the same week that Mastercard and PayPal unveiled their plans for agentic commerce, as the big payments players gear up for what they expect to be one of the biggest growth opportunities of the next few years.
Also at the product drop, Visa has revealed a partnership with Stripe-owned Bridge to help bring stablecoin-linked cards to more people in more places.
The new issuing product will help fintech developers using Bridge offer stablecoin-linked Visa cards to their end customers in multiple countries through a single API integration. These cardholders will then be able to make everyday purchases from a stablecoin balance at any merchant location that accepts Visa.
Says Forestell: "We’re focused on integrating stablecoins into Visa’s existing network and products in a frictionless and secure way. Partnering with Bridge represents a significant move in helping to make stablecoins usable in everyday life, giving consumers more choice in how they manage and spend their money."
Separately, Via has also teamed up with World, the biometric ID company best known for its eyeball-scanning Orb devices, for the launch crypto-to-fiat debit card.