Visa Eyes Growth Through World Cup and Agentic AI After Strong Earnings

Visa is expanding beyond its role as a credit and debit card transaction network into value-added merchant services, focusing on agentic AI, stablecoins and digital assets. The shift could determine whether Visa can reduce its reliance on card-processing fees as payment methods rapidly evolve, while generating revenue from fraud prevention, data analytics and new settlement tools.

Visa executives recently said the company is advancing agentic commerce, in which AI agents can independently search, shop and make payments. It is also using AI to detect and block payment fraud such as romance scams while developing stablecoin applications. Reports did not provide investment figures, a formal launch date or projected new revenue, and Visa has yet to disclose a specific timetable.

AI agents are evolving from providing recommendations to searching, making decisions and paying on consumers’ behalf. The shift requires the payments industry to address authorization, identity verification, risk controls and consumer control. Building on Visa Intelligent Commerce, Visa Agentic Ready allows issuers to test agentic transactions over existing card networks, moving the concept into controlled, real-world payment flows.

Visa launched the program in Europe on March 17, 2026, with 21 issuers participating, including Barclays, HSBC UK and Revolut. It expanded to Latin America and the Caribbean on April 29, followed by 10 Asia-Pacific markets with more than 50 partners on April 30. Taiwan’s initial group includes nine issuers, among them Cathay United Bank, CTBC Bank and E.SUN Bank. Visa did not disclose an investment amount.