Alchemy expands blockchain infrastructure for institutional finance. New services target tokenization and enterprise blockchain adoption. Reading Time: 3 mins read Alchemy has introduced a series of infrastructure upgrades and strategic network integrations aimed at strengthening its position as a provider of blockchain services for institutional finance and real-world asset applications. The latest developments include the launch of Validator-as-a-Service for the permissioned Canton network, an expanded operational role on the Stellar blockchain, and performance enhancements across its multi-chain infrastructure supporting more than 100 blockchain networks. The company's latest initiatives reflect a broader strategy to simplify blockchain adoption for financial institutions while improving the reliability and scalability of decentralized infrastructure. Alchemy has launched Validator-as-a-Service for the Canton network, allowing institutions to participate in tokenized financial markets without building and maintaining their own blockchain infrastructure. Canton integration simplifies institutional operations. The newly introduced Validator-as-a-Service offering manages the provisioning, operation, maintenance, and software upgrades of participant and validator nodes on the Canton network. In addition, the service handles network fee payments on behalf of clients, allowing institutions to pay fees in U.S. dollars while retaining full custody of their cryptographic keys. The solution is designed to support financial institutions engaging in transactions involving tokenized U.S. Treasuries, digital deposit tokens, and repurchase agreement settlements. By outsourcing blockchain infrastructure management, organizations can participate in permissioned blockchain networks without establishing dedicated operational teams. The Canton service is integrated into the same Alchemy dashboard already used to manage applications on Ethereum, Solana, Base, and other supported blockchain networks. Consolidating these services into a single management interface is intended to reduce operational complexity while minimizing challenges related to custody, balance sheet management, and blockchain tooling. If institutional adoption of tokenized financial products on Canton continues to grow, the managed validator service could provide Alchemy with a recurring source of enterprise revenue. Expanded role on Stellar network. Alchemy has also strengthened its involvement with the Stellar blockchain by becoming a tier-one validator, joining a limited group of organizations responsible for maintaining the network's stability, security, and continuous operation. The company pointed to Stellar's expanding real-world adoption, noting that the network currently supports approximately $2 billion in on-chain real-world assets while facilitating production payment services used by organizations such as MoneyGram and PayPal. In addition to its validator responsibilities, Alchemy has expanded its Stellar developer services by introducing three indexed application programming interfaces (APIs). These tools provide access to transfer histories, consolidated token balance information through a single request, and non-fungible token holdings spanning both traditional Stellar assets and Soroban-based assets. Alchemy has expanded its Stellar infrastructure by becoming a tier-one validator and introducing new indexed APIs that simplify blockchain data access for developers while reducing the need to operate independent indexing systems. These services complement the company's existing remote procedure call (RPC), WebSocket connectivity, and high-availability infrastructure, enabling developers to build applications with reduced operational overhead. Performance improvements across multi-chain infrastructure. Alongside the network expansions, Alchemy highlighted continued investment in infrastructure performance across its broader blockchain platform. The company said it has enhanced internal technologies, including Edge Proxy, Cortex proximity-based routing, and predictive scaling systems, to improve response times and maintain reliability during periods of heavy network demand. According to Alchemy, these technologies enable its infrastructure to process traffic spikes of up to 30,000 requests per second while ensuring blockchain nodes remain synchronized with network activity. The company also reported maintaining 99.99% uptime and average response times below 50 milliseconds across its supported blockchain ecosystem. The latest infrastructure upgrades are designed to improve scalability, reduce latency, and strengthen reliability across more than 100 blockchain networks, reinforcing Alchemy's focus on enterprise-grade blockchain services. Collectively, the week's announcements demonstrate Alchemy's continued emphasis on supporting institutional tokenization, real-world payment applications, and multi-chain blockchain infrastructure. By combining managed validator services, enhanced developer tools, and performance-focused engineering, the company is positioning its platform to support growing demand for enterprise blockchain applications across both permissioned and public networks.

Alchemy unveils AgentCard: virtual Visa cards for AI agent transactions. Quick overview. Table of Contents * Alchemy introduces AgentCard, providing AI agents with Visa payment capabilities. * The solution connects AI agents to Visa infrastructure, cryptocurrency payments, and spending management. * Developers gain transaction limits and identity verification tools for autonomous AI commerce. * AgentCard offers developers unified API access for agent credentials and payment processing. * Alchemy positions itself in the agentic commerce space with Visa-powered AgentCard technology. Artificial intelligence agents can now access mainstream e-commerce through Alchemy's recently unveiled AgentCard. This virtual Visa card solution provides agents with verified identity, transaction capabilities, and spending oversight via a streamlined integration. The release positions Alchemy strategically within the rapidly expanding agentic payments sector. AgentCard bridges AI agents to Visa payment infrastructure. Alchemy developed AgentCard by partnering with Visa Intelligent Commerce, Visa's comprehensive framework for AI-driven payment solutions. The platform provides developers with virtual Visa payment tokens specifically designed for agents executing online purchases. Additionally, it provisions a unique email address, phone number, and cryptocurrency wallet through a single API endpoint. AgentCard utilizes Visa-issued tokens as its primary payment mechanism, enabling agents to transact across established card networks. Nevertheless, the platform also accommodates cryptocurrency transactions when merchants support digital assets. It further integrates with next-generation agent payment protocols, including x402 and Stripe's Machine Payments Protocol. The solution addresses developers creating agents requiring practical spending capabilities. Common applications include API subscription payments, digital service purchases, delivery orders, and automated marketing expenditure management. Alchemy anticipates AgentCard will facilitate prediction market participation and other continuous digital operations. Alchemy implements safeguards for autonomous transactions. Alchemy engineered AgentCard with comprehensive spending safeguards that grant users precise control over agent activity. Developers can establish merchant restrictions, transaction thresholds, prepaid funding amounts, and budget constraints before agents execute payments. These protections minimize financial exposure while enabling agents to fulfill designated responsibilities. AgentCard incorporates live transaction monitoring, allowing developers to observe agent expenditures in real time. Consequently, organizations can audit payments, identify anomalous patterns, and modify restrictions without overhauling the entire infrastructure. The platform maintains payment discipline while facilitating increased automation. The company indicated AgentCard can adapt payment methods as merchant acceptance evolves. For instance, the system may leverage cryptocurrency or agent-specific protocols when accessible. This flexibility allows developers to incorporate additional payment alternatives without comprehensive agent reconfiguration. Agentic commerce accelerates throughout payment industry. AgentCard emerges as leading payment processors and blockchain companies develop infrastructure for agentic commerce. Visa introduced Intelligent Commerce in 2025 to enable tokenized authentication for automated purchasing and payment processing. Similarly, Mastercard unveiled its Agent Pay for Machines program targeting high-frequency machine-to-machine transactions. Additional cryptocurrency platforms have entered this domain with wallet and card offerings. Oobit released virtual corporate Visa cards linked to USDT holdings for automated users. MetaMask also debuted Agent Wallet, providing bots with Ethereum-based service access. Alchemy advances into this marketplace with extensive web3 infrastructure expertise and an established developer community. The company currently supports prominent onchain applications, making AgentCard a natural extension beyond blockchain connectivity. Through this launch, Alchemy unifies agent identity verification, Visa payment processing, cryptocurrency infrastructure, and expenditure management within a single offering.