Visa announces the start of a new era of AI-driven commerce

At the global product launch event, Visa Global Product Drop, the company showcased its vision for the future of commerce. Advanced AI-powered technologies were presented, enabling consumers to discover and purchase products using intelligent tools, alongside new strategic partnerships and innovative products.

Visa stated that AI and digital commerce are radically changing consumer behavior: in the future, AI agents will make purchases and manage orders on behalf of users. To make this possible, it is crucial to build trust in payments among all participants. Visa is launching the Intelligent Commerce initiative, opening access to its payment network to AI commerce developers. The company also announced partnerships in the stablecoin space, the expansion of the Flex Credential platform, and new payment products.

To develop AI-driven commerce at the necessary speed and scale, the company is collaborating with AI platforms and brands favored by both consumers and merchants, including Anthropic, IBM, Microsoft, Mistral AI, OpenAI, Perplexity, Stripe, and Samsung.

For over five years, Visa has facilitated cryptocurrency transactions and is now expanding the use of stablecoins by introducing stablecoin-linked cards, settlements, and programmable money. In partnership with Bridge, a subsidiary of Stripe, Visa is developing a new card product that will allow FinTech developers to issue stablecoin-linked Visa cards in multiple countries through a single API integration.

In 2024, Visa reimagined the concept of payment cards by introducing Flex Credential—a next-generation card capable of seamlessly switching between different payment methods: debit, credit, and BNPL. Today, millions of people worldwide are using this technology, and Visa plans to diversify its applications by expanding access to credit lines, investment accounts, rewards, commercial cards, and other features.

Visa and Klarna have announced a partnership to introduce Flex Credential in the United States and to be the first in Europe to offer the use of the BNPL model with a debit card, giving consumers more flexibility in choosing payment methods. Further details are expected later this year.

Visa also announced new capabilities for making and receiving payments for consumers, merchants, and partners worldwide:

— Visa Pay is a new service ensuring compatibility between digital wallets connected to the Visa network and local and international merchants accepting Visa cards, both in physical stores and online. A beta launch of Visa Pay is being prepared in some countries in Asia, Europe, and Latin America.

— Visa Accept is a new solution for micro-entrepreneurs, enabling them to accept payments to a qualifying Visa debit card from any NFC-enabled smartphone with just a few clicks, linking a single card in the wallet to billions of payment accounts. The beta launch of Visa Accept will begin in July in Latin America and Asia.