Visa and OpenAI Join Forces to Usher in a New Era of “Agent-Driven Commerce”
On June 10, 2026, global payments giant Visa announced a strategic partnership with OpenAI, a leader in the field of artificial intelligence, at the Payments Forum held in San Francisco.The core objective of this partnership is to advance the development of “agentic commerce”—where AI agents initiate and complete transactions on behalf of users, thereby delivering a smarter, more seamless shopping experience.
As part of this partnership, Visa will provide key services including its global payment network, security infrastructure, payment tokenization, authorization, agent identification, and fraud monitoring. These underlying technologies will ensure that AI-initiated transactions are both secure and trustworthy.Users will be able to maintain control over transactions through safeguards such as setting spending limits and approval thresholds. This initiative is a key component of Visa’s “Intelligent Commerce” program, which aims to extend secure payment capabilities to the ever-expanding digital landscape.
The Rise of USDC in Visa Settlements: Annual Volume Exceeds $7 Billion
As the outlook for AI payments becomes increasingly clear, stablecoins are also playing an increasingly important role in Visa’s settlement system.As of April 2026, the annualized run rate of Visa’s stablecoin settlement pilot program had reached $7 billion and had successfully expanded to nine different blockchain networks. This significant growth indicates that institutional demand for using stablecoins for cross-border payments and settlements is rapidly increasing.
Visa’s stablecoin settlement pilot program began in 2021, initially in partnership with Crypto.com on the Ethereum network. Subsequently, the program added support for the Solana network in 2023 and incorporated major merchant acquirers such as Worldpay and Nuvei.As a compliant stablecoin with transparent reserves, USDC is gradually becoming the preferred tool for institutions to facilitate fund transfers and settlements. Users can access related developments and market data on specialized financial information platforms such as Svmuu.
AI-Empowered Payments Industry: Future Trends and Challenges
Visa’s partnership with OpenAI, coupled with the rapid growth in stablecoin settlement volumes, points to an irreversible trend in the payments industry: the deep integration of artificial intelligence and blockchain technology will fundamentally transform the future payments ecosystem.
- Automation and Efficiency Improvements: AI agents can automate transaction processes—from product discovery to payment completion—significantly improving efficiency and reducing manual intervention.
- Enhanced Security: AI offers unique advantages in fraud detection and risk management, enabling real-time identification of anomalous transaction patterns and further safeguarding the security of funds.
- Personalized Experiences: AI can provide hyper-personalized payment recommendations and financial services based on user preferences and behavior.
- Multi-Front Expansion: In addition to Visa, other payment giants are also actively expanding their presence. For example, PayPal reached an agreement with OpenAI in October 2025 to embed its payment system into ChatGPT. Mastercard also announced in June 2026 that it would support settlement using regulated stablecoins.
Industry analysts estimate that the adoption of generative AI in the payments sector could generate hundreds of billions of dollars in value for financial institutions annually. While the era of AI-powered payments is full of opportunities, it also presents challenges such as data privacy, algorithmic bias, and the need to adapt regulatory frameworks.As the technology continues to mature and regulatory policies are gradually refined, the combination of AI and stablecoins is expected to bring a smarter, more convenient, and safer payment future to users worldwide.
