Visa’s Current Momentum: A Fiat-Fueled Surge
Payments giant Visa is experiencing its most rapid growth in years, yet surprisingly, this surge isn’t primarily driven by its cutting-edge forays into digital currencies or agentic AI. The company reported a robust 17% year-on-year increase in net revenue, reaching $11.2 billion in the second quarter of 2026—a pace not seen since 2022.
Chris Suh, Visa’s Chief Financial Officer, attributes this impressive performance largely to the company’s enduring strength in the traditional financial ecosystem. “If you look at our business today, the vast majority of it has nothing to do with those things,” Suh tells Fortune, referring to stablecoins and AI commerce. Instead, the growth stems from significant jumps in global payments volume (up 9%), cross-border payments (up 11%), and total processed transactions (up 9%). “The state of our businesses in cross-border, domestic, debit and credit is incredibly good across all regions,” Suh affirms, highlighting the resilience of the “mature fiat world” in which Visa has long thrived.
The Long Game: Stablecoins and Agentic AI
Despite the current revenue drivers, Visa is making substantial, strategic investments in the future of payments. These include stablecoin settlements and agentic commerce, where AI agents are empowered to execute payments autonomously. While these innovations currently represent a mere fraction of Visa’s overall transaction volume—just $7 billion in annual crypto settlements compared to a staggering $14 trillion overall—executives view them as crucial for long-term expansion.
Stablecoins: Bridging Crypto to Commerce
Visa has been actively integrating stablecoins into its network, initiating stablecoin settlements in 2023. Today, it boasts 130 stablecoin-linked card issuing programs spanning 40 countries. Visa CEO Ryan McInerney emphasized the growing utility of stablecoins during the Q2 earnings call: “In many countries around the world, especially in emerging markets, consumers and businesses are increasingly using stablecoins as a store of value…we are providing on-ramps and off-ramps with stablecoin-linked Visa cards.” This indicates a clear strategy to position stablecoins as a viable option for global transactions as regulatory environments mature.
Agentic Commerce: AI Takes the Wheel
Beyond digital currencies, Visa is at the forefront of agentic commerce. This involves enabling AI agents to conduct transactions on behalf of users, a concept Visa first unveiled with its Intelligent Commerce push in April 2025. By late 2025, pilot programs had expanded across Europe, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific. Stephen Karpin, Visa’s Asia-Pacific head, highlighted the significance of this development: “One of the things missing from the current state of a LLM-powered chatbot is the ability to make payment via an agent.” This innovation aims to seamlessly integrate payment capabilities into the evolving landscape of AI-powered interactions.
CFO’s Calculated Caution vs. Executive Optimism
While the CEO and APAC head express clear optimism, CFO Chris Suh maintains a more measured, yet ultimately positive, outlook. He acknowledges that stablecoins and agentic commerce are not immediate revenue generators. “I’m hesitant to lean into the stablecoin and agentic commerce narratives too much,” Suh admits. However, he sees them as vital for future market expansion: “Agentic commerce and stablecoins are businesses Visa doesn’t monetize very well today, and that could be brand new TAM for us to go after.” His perspective boils down to a patient, long-term investment strategy: “Both agentic commerce and stablecoins are important investments that today don’t have immediate ROI… They won’t pay off in the next six months, but could over the next six years.”
Asia: The Innovation Crucible
Asia-Pacific stands out as a critical region for Visa, contributing approximately 14% of its payments volume and growing at 6.5% year-on-year. Beyond its growth figures, Suh identifies Asia as a crucial “test bed” for Visa’s latest innovations. The region’s diverse markets, from mature economies like Japan with its high cash usage to emerging markets with burgeoning digital wallet adoption, offer a unique landscape for product development and customization. “We see more digital wallets per capita in this region than anywhere else in the world,” Suh notes. An example of Asia-born innovation is the Visa Flex Credential, launched in 2023 with Sumitomo Mitsui Card Company in Japan, which allows users to consolidate up to five cards into a single credential—a service later expanded globally. This regional focus underscores Visa’s commitment to localized solutions and leveraging global insights.
The Future of Payments: A Patient Play
Visa’s strategy is clear: while its traditional business continues to deliver robust results, the company is laying foundational groundwork for the next generation of payments. The investments in stablecoins and agentic AI are not quick wins but rather strategic bets designed to unlock new markets and revenue streams over the coming years. As Suh aptly summarizes, these are investments in the future that demand patience but promise significant returns in the long run.
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