Visa is moving deeper into the race to power AI-led commerce, rolling out a new infrastructure layer that allows autonomous agents to handle payments on behalf of users.
Summary
- Visa has launched Intelligent Commerce Connect to enable AI agents to browse, select, and complete payments on behalf of users.
- The platform integrates payment initiation, tokenization, authentication, and spend controls through a single connection on Visa’s network.
- The system is in pilot with select partners, while integrations with x402 have already enabled AI agents to transact digital goods autonomously.
The company on Wednesday introduced Intelligent Commerce Connect, a network and protocol described as a “token vault-agnostic ‘on-ramp’” for developers and merchants building agentic AI use cases.
The platform allows AI agents to browse, select, and complete payments on behalf of users through a single integration.
“Through a single integration via the Visa Acceptance Platform, Intelligent Commerce Connect enables secure payment initiation, tokenization, spend controls, and authentication,” the company stated.
According to Visa, Intelligent Commerce Connect supports both Visa and non-Visa payments and is compatible with major AI agent protocols.
Further, the platform makes merchant catalogs discoverable within AI platforms and lets businesses handle tokenization, authentication, and compliance, all through one integration.
The platform is currently in pilot with select partners, with a full rollout planned for later this year.
The launch comes as crypto networks such as Ethereum, Tron, and Solana position themselves as rails for machine-driven transactions. Visa’s system supports both Visa and non-Visa card payments and works with major AI agent protocols.
Visa’s AI push
The move builds on Visa’s earlier experiment with “Visa CLI,” announced in March, which allowed AI agents to execute same-day payments.
In a parallel development, AI fintech firm Nevermined integrated the system using Coinbase’s x402 protocol, enabling AI agents to purchase digital goods and services without manual input.
Users can link their Visa cards and set spending rules, while agents transact within those limits, and merchants receive payments through existing processors.
“x402 gives agents an open standard to request payment programmatically, and this launch demonstrates how that can work alongside secure card infrastructure to enable real commercial transactions between AI agents and merchants,” said Erik Reppel.
Data from the protocol’s website shows x402 has processed $24 million in transaction volume over the past 30 days.
