Visa has announced a range of new artificial intelligence, stablecoin and tokenization capabilities aimed at helping clients across Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa (CEMEA) adapt to the next generation of digital commerce.
Ahead of the Visa Payments Forum in Paris on 1 July, the company said advances in AI and stablecoins are reshaping both customer-facing payment experiences and the infrastructure underpinning money movement.
According to Visa, tokenized transactions in the CEMEA region have risen from 26% of transactions in 2023 to 70% in 2026, while stablecoin settlement volumes have grown nearly 60-fold since the company introduced the capability in the region a year ago.
Tareq Muhmood, Regional President for CEMEA at Visa, said commerce is becoming increasingly intelligent, programmable and embedded in everyday experiences, creating new opportunities for businesses while increasing the need for trusted and interoperable payment infrastructure.
Visa said that artificial intelligence is transforming how transactions are initiated, authorized, and managed, as AI agents increasingly handle tasks on behalf of consumers and businesses.
To support this shift, the company has expanded Visa Intelligent Commerce, its platform for agentic commerce, enabling AI agents to securely discover, initiate and complete transactions.
Visa has also introduced new tools designed to build trust in AI-enabled commerce. These include Agent Score, developed with New Generation, which helps merchants assess whether their websites are compatible with AI agents, and Agentic Directory, a verification system that identifies trusted merchants and AI agents participating in digital commerce.
Visa said the growth of tokenization has been a key driver of e-commerce across the CEMEA region by enhancing payment security and reducing fraud.
The company is strengthening payment tokens by incorporating additional transaction data, including information on how and where a token is being used and who is making the payment. It is also introducing a token assurance signal that evaluates each token throughout its lifecycle to reinforce trust in digital and AI-enabled transactions.
Visa also outlined progress in expanding stablecoin and blockchain-based settlement capabilities.
The company is developing Tokenized Deposits, a technology layer that would allow banks to convert traditional deposits into programmable digital money while keeping customer funds on their balance sheets.
Building on stablecoin settlement pilots launched in early 2025, Visa said it has processed billions of dollars in stablecoin transactions across VisaNet, reaching an annualized run rate of approximately $7 billion as of March 2026. The company is also working to expand seven-day settlement from issuing banks to acquiring banks, improving flexibility across the payments ecosystem.
Globally, Visa said more than 160 stablecoin-linked card programs are either live or under development, enabling consumers and businesses to spend stablecoin balances wherever Visa is accepted.
Visa also launched Visa Trip Intelligence in the CEMEA region, an AI-powered service designed to help banks anticipate customers’ travel needs before purchases are made.
The platform combines VisaNet transaction intelligence with third-party data to identify travel intent, generate personalized travel itineraries, and provide banks with insights that can support customer engagement before and during trips. According to the company, the service is designed to reduce payment friction while enabling banks to offer more relevant travel-related services and benefits.
