Visa and Akamai Partner to Secure AI Agentic Commerce

On December 17, 2025, Visa Inc. and Akamai Technologies, Inc. announced a strategic collaboration to secure agentic commerce, a system where autonomous AI agents conduct online shopping for human consumers. The partnership integrates Visa's Trusted Agent Protocol, first introduced in October, with Akamai's edge-based behavioral intelligence and bot protection services.

This security layer addresses the dual-identity challenge by verifying both the identity of the AI agent and the specific human user it represents. The system is designed to protect payment interactions and identify agent intent across 175 million Visa-accepting merchant locations. The collaboration comes as Akamai reports a 300% surge in malicious bot traffic over the past year, necessitating a way to distinguish legitimate AI agents from harmful bots.

Visa leadership characterized the shift toward agentic commerce as a transformation rivaling the historical impact of mobile devices and online shopping. By combining user recognition and threat intelligence, the companies aim to transform AI agents into trusted economic actors, providing merchants with the real-time intelligence required to support AI-driven experiences without introducing new security risks.