Artificial intelligence (AI) agents are posing a challenge to the incumbent global card payments infrastructure that is struggling to process high-frequency micropayments, according to a joint report released by payments giant Visa and investment thesis platform Artemis.
The joint report published Wednesday found that traditional cards were built for human commerce with low-frequency transactions, which is insufficient for AI agents, which need infrastructure with near-zero fees and faster settlement to make agentic micropayments commercially viable.
New infrastructure is increasingly necessary since AI agents crossed a key capability threshold in mid-2025, enabling them to discover unfamiliar APIs, evaluate prices and decide on autonomous payments.
The report found that AI agents are initiating a foundational change in commerce, but the current infrastructure gaps are limiting their mainstream adoption.
Australian crypto exchange Swyftx earlier this week said that AI-enabled microbusinesses could drive an additional $262 billion in stablecoin volume by 2033, via AI-native payments settled in stablecoins, based on an assumed adoption rate of about 33%.
Machine-native micropayment requirements. Source: Artemis, Visa
Some agentic payment standards are already showing signs of user adoption, such as the x402 payment protocol developed by Coinbase.
The x402 processed $15 million in adjusted volume across over 109 million adjusted transactions since it was launched in May 2025. It saw a sharp acceleration in October 2025, when the monthly transaction count rose from 40,000 to 3.8 million, leading to 38 million transactions processed in October alone.
Cumulative adjusted volume on x402 payment protocol. Source: Artemis, Visa
Stablecoins could stoke machine-native micropayments growth
A single machine-payments framework could support both stablecoin and traditional card transactions, Visa and Artemis said, adding:
“The trajectory points toward convergence rather than competition: cards for proxy purchases inside existing merchant networks, stablecoins for machine-native micropayments, and hybrid flows where both are used within the same workflow.”
Related: Stripe, Advent offer $53B to acquire PayPal: Report
The report said that a single machine payment framework can support both stablecoin-based flows and card transactions, creating a path into agentic payment flows for card networks.
It added that Tempo’s Machine Payment Protocol (MPP) now spans both onchain crypto payments and fiat payments via shared payment tokens. Visa said its Card Specification SDK was designed to extend the protocol into card-based agent commerce.
Visa’s crypto division and Stripe-backed Tempo both launched AI tools in March. Visa’s allows AI agents to make same-day payments. That month, Tempo debuted its Machine Payments Protocol, designed to make it easier for AI actors to send and receive money.
Magazine: AI’s power crunch turns Bitcoin miners’ grid access into an asset
