Visa: Stablecoins Core to AI Agent Economy Payments

Visa believes stablecoins will be a core payment tool in the age of artificial intelligence agents. The company, in a report with blockchain analytics firm Artemis, states stablecoins will play a central role in micropayments for the AI agent economy. This economy has two categories: macro commerce and micro commerce. Macro commerce handles routine transactions like bookings. Micro commerce involves frequent transactions under one dollar, such as API calls. Visa is focused on micro commerce, where traditional card networks face challenges due to their fee structure. Stablecoins offer a practical alternative here because they can significantly reduce transaction costs. Visa suggests the AI agent economy will use a hybrid payment structure. Card payments would handle authentication and consumer payments within existing networks. Stablecoins would be used for real-time settlement between AI agents. Visa sees cards and stablecoins as different components of a single system, aiming for interoperability. This matters because it shows how new payment technologies are adapting to the rise of AI.