Visa's Big Week: One Headline Was Noise, One Kept Me Up at Night
- J. Michael Bradley
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
As many of you know, I keep a close eye on Visa’s strategic signals and market machinations. Like many investor relations narratives, you learn to separate the wheat from the chaff, the sizzle from the steak (sorry for all the Western U.S. alliterations or maybe we should say “ 淘沙得金 (Táo shā dé jīn)”
Sizzle, Sand & Chaff
Visa trumpets about using AI usage for internal applications and network:
As of April 2026, Visa (V) is experiencing a massive surge in AI token usage, nearly doubling to approximately 2 trillion AI tokens per month from 1 trillion in February, according to reports. Visa is actively integrating these AI technologies into its core payment infrastructure to secure and accelerate "agentic commerce"—purchases initiated by AI agents on behalf of users.
Bradley’s Corner Verdict
Definitely Sizzle & Sand:
Using AI for internal applications and productivity is like shouting to the world you’re using desktop workstations or email in 1995. Am sure the PR team will be excited by newswire pick ups, but that isn’t meaningful to Visa’s strategic direction. Using AI in April 2026 to increase your productivity is as expected as badging into a building.
Steak, Wheat, and Gold.
Yesterday, Visa (NYSE: V) announced that it is adding five blockchains to its global stablecoin settlement pilot, expanding how issuers and acquirers can settle with the network. As stablecoins move into mainstream payment flows, Visa’s stablecoin settlement pilot now supports nine blockchains and has reached a $7 billion annualized stablecoin settlement run rate, up 50% since last quarter.
Bradley’s Corner Verdict
Not Wagyu, but this is definitely prime filet with some gold plating
If you’re a Visa exec, you must occasionally wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, having a “Kodak moment”. Kodak, for those of you born only in the last 30 years, was an iconic global leader in all things photography and film. One day it was a must-have in every stockholder’s portfolio. Next, it was completely irrelevant as digitization of the world and smartphones essentially wiped out a 100-year-old company, erasing 96% of its market capitalization since 1980. Visa MUST adopt blockchain and stablecoin ecosystems or risk having its own Kodak moment. It’s encouraging to see Visa’s leadership doubling down on blockchain and the stablecoin ecosystem. Just keep it going.
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