Visa and Mastercard push AI and crypto products ahead of Q3 earnings

Visa and Mastercard have both rolled out AI- and blockchain-related services in recent days, just as they head into third quarter earnings next week. For investors, the relevant question is not whether these brands can process more card volume; it is how much revenue they can pull from value-added non-payment services.

1. Visa has been busy on two fronts: agentic commerce and digital assets. This week it introduced new corporate payments tools, including SESA 2.0, which uses AI to analyze spend and identify supplier opportunities, plus Visa Commercial Fraud Solutions for validating suppliers, authenticating virtual-card payment activity, and applying controls before payment approval.
2. Visa also launched a live pilot with Billtrust that lets trusted AI agents initiate and help complete approved invoice payments through supplier portals using Visa Intelligent Commerce and Visa’s Trusted Agent Protocol. Darren Parslow, global head of Visa Commercial Solutions, described the goal as building “the ecosystem for agentic commerce,” with the pilot covering both buyer and supplier sides of the payment flow.
3. On the digital asset side, Visa moved its Visa Direct stablecoin project out of pilot testing. In the initial deployment, Inyo Global, a Visa Direct processor with banks, fintechs and payment companies among its clients, is supporting stablecoin processing for Visa Direct clients and partners. Those businesses can now prefund cross-border payouts through Visa Direct with USDC in near real time instead of relying only on traditional funding windows.
4. Visa’s digital asset strategy drew extra attention after rumors of a potential $2.5 billion acquisition of cryptocurrency technology firm Fireblocks. Visa said it does not comment on rumors or speculation, while Fireblocks did not return a request for comment. Fireblocks denied Visa talks in crypto site Coindesk.
5. Mastercard is also in the same race to sell into AI and digital-asset demand from card-issuing banks, which are under pressure to build strategies for agentic commerce and digital assets. The earnings call next week should give investors a read on how much both companies can turn those themes into non-payment revenue.