Alchemy and Visa launch AgentCard: AI agents get their own payment tools
The Alchemy platform, in partnership with Visa, has launched AgentCard — a flagship solution that endows artificial intelligence with full-fledged financial capabilities. Now, AI agents can make online purchases on behalf of the user, fully autonomously.
The integration with Visa Intelligent Commerce provides neural networks with a whole set of digital identifiers: a virtual Visa card, an email address, a phone number, and a cryptocurrency wallet. Developers can connect the agent to paying for goods and services through a single API in literally a minute. This radically simplifies the process of deploying autonomous trading bots.
AI agents based on OpenAI or Anthropic models gain the ability to book tickets, order groceries, and manage subscriptions — without human involvement in the checkout process. The system supports flexible spending limits, category restrictions, and customizable budgets. By default, transactions go through Visa tokens, preserving bank bonuses and credit lines. If the merchant accepts digital assets, the service switches to a crypto wallet.
"Every shift in technology has created new economic participants. AI agents are the next stage — they need access to the global economy," emphasized Alchemy CEO Nikhil Viswanathan. Visa representatives, in turn, guarantee the security and scalability of transactions through their infrastructure, while the AgentCard protocol automatically selects the optimal payment method based on merchant support.
This is not the industry's first step toward autonomous AI finance. Previously, MetaMask announced a wallet for the era of artificial intelligence, and Coinbase launched a service connecting an AI agent to a user's account for trading and payments within set limits. Estonia is also working on creating digital IDs for AI agents.
Expert opinion: AgentCard from Alchemy and Visa is not just a new product, but a fundamental shift in the payment paradigm. We are moving from a "human pays" model to an "agent pays" model. However, security and control remain key challenges: how to ensure that an autonomous agent does not exceed limits or fall victim to fraud? The solution with Visa tokens and built-in restrictions is a sensible first step, but the market will require more sophisticated risk management mechanisms.