Visa has projected that stablecoins will play a central role in powering micro-commerce transactions in an AI-driven agentic economy. The payments giant said it expects agentic commerce to integrate a hybrid flow that combines both card and stablecoin rails at different stages of a task.
As AI agents become capable of performing tasks on behalf of users—such as booking services, purchasing goods, or managing subscriptions—they require payment infrastructure that can handle high volumes of low-value transactions efficiently. Stablecoins, with their low transaction costs and programmability, are well-suited for this purpose.
Visa envisions a future where AI agents use stablecoins for micropayments between systems, while traditional card networks handle larger consumer-facing transactions. This hybrid approach would allow the payment ecosystem to serve both machine-to-machine and human-to-business payment flows.
The company has been actively exploring the intersection of blockchain technology and payment processing. Its research indicates that the agentic economy could generate billions of micro-transactions daily, far exceeding the capacity of traditional payment rails designed primarily for human-initiated payments.
The x402 protocol, which allows websites to accept stablecoin payments for access to content or services, represents an early example of the infrastructure Visa describes. Cloudflare recently integrated x402, enabling websites to monetize data for AI agents via direct crypto payments, with Bitcoin and Lightning Network also positioned as options.
Visa’s analysis suggests that roughly 4,000 wallets drive about 90% of x402 spending activity, with Coinbase’s Base network accounting for the bulk of transaction volume. The company continues to develop infrastructure to support these emerging payment patterns.
This article was adapted from The Block. Read the original here.
