Visa and blockchain analytics firm Artemis have released a joint research report titled Agentic Payments from the Ground Up, examining how AI agents could independently initiate and complete transactions. According to the report, the rise of agentic commerce will create two distinct payment needs - traditional card networks for consumer purchases and stablecoins for machine-native micropayments. The partnership represents a significant collaboration between traditional payment networks and blockchain technology companies in anticipating the future of AI-driven commerce.
The report divides the emerging market into macro-commerce and micro-commerce segments. Macro-commerce covers consumer-sized purchases such as travel booking and subscription management, where AI agents act on behalf of people. Micro-commerce involves repeated sub-dollar transactions between software services, including API requests and payments for computing resources. As reported by Visa and Artemis, traditional payment rails remain well suited for larger consumer purchases, but fixed processing costs make very small payments uneconomical. Newer blockchain networks have reduced settlement costs to fractions of a cent, making stablecoins a more efficient option for machine-native micropayments. Digital services increasingly communicate through API calls and share computational resources, frequently demanding ongoing micro-transactions during automated processes.
According to the joint report, both payment technologies are expected to operate together rather than compete. Visa stated that cards are suited to purchases within today's merchant networks, while stablecoins better match machine-native micropayments. The company envisions future agentic commerce combining both payment methods within a single workflow, where AI agents could use card networks for consumer-facing purchases before relying on stablecoins to settle repeated low-value transactions between software services. The research emphasizes that AI agents will dynamically select the appropriate payment channel based on transaction characteristics, with consumer transactions persisting on established card networks since merchants have already integrated these systems. Stablecoins will process recurring software payments requiring minimal execution costs, with each payment technology addressing distinct operational requirements within automated commerce environments.
Despite payment advances, Visa identified trust as one of the biggest obstacles to agentic commerce because existing legal and payment systems assume human purchasing decisions. As reported in the research, current laws do not clearly define responsibility when AI agents complete transactions independently, while chargeback rules and dispute processes were built for human-paced commerce rather than automated systems capable of completing thousands of transactions every hour. The company emphasized that its long-term approach combines card-based authorization and security with blockchain-based settlement while allowing both systems to interoperate. Contemporary dispute resolution mechanisms also reflect human-centric payment patterns, with chargeback infrastructure unable to efficiently process thousands of automated micro-transactions occurring continuously.
The findings build on Visa's recent AI-powered commerce initiatives, including the introduction of Visa Intelligent Commerce with Agentic Directory and Agent Score tools designed to support trusted AI-driven payments. Earlier this year, Visa announced a partnership with OpenAI to enable secure Visa payments inside agentic commerce experiences. In July, Visa joined Mastercard, Coinbase, and more than 140 businesses to launch the Open Standard consortium, planning to issue the Open USD stablecoin for business payments and settlements. The company also partnered with HashKey Exchange and Shanghai Commercial Bank to launch a co-branded credit card in Hong Kong that allows users to convert card rewards into vouchers for cryptocurrency purchases. Visa has reinforced its stablecoin commitment through multiple industry collaborations, becoming a founding member of the Open Standard consortium and enhancing blockchain settlement offerings while driving stablecoin integration via card programs and strategic alliances.
