Adyen has introduced Visa Payment Passkey (VPP) through Authenticate, a module within Adyen Uplift, its AI-based payment optimisation suite. The integration allows eligible consumers to authenticate online payments using the method they already use to unlock their device. The service will first be available in the UK, and the company plans further developments and a global expansion in 2027.
The rollout extends Adyen’s approach of treating authentication as part of the wider payment experience rather than a separate security step. It also adds a Visa-developed method to the range of authentication options available to Adyen merchants.
Reducing friction at the authentication stage
Authentication is required to secure online payments, but each additional step can create friction at a critical point in the customer journey. Visa Payment Passkey is intended to simplify that step while providing stronger protection against fraud and phishing attacks.
The solution works for both first-time purchases and returning customers. Once a cardholder’s bank has verified their identity and the cardholder has created a passkey, they can authenticate eligible future purchases using their device unlock method, including device biometrics. Under this model, the issuer handles identity verification at enrolment, while later transactions rely on the cardholder’s device.
Rahul Hampole, SVP Product for Payments at Adyen, said authentication should not disrupt the customer experience. The official added that the integration gives merchants a way to protect customers against fraud while making checkout faster through familiar device biometrics. In addition, Dan Sanford, SVP Global Product and Initiatives at Visa, said the company aims to embed authentication directly into the payment experience, which reduces friction for consumers, strengthens security, and improves outcomes for merchants.
Adyen describes Authenticate as an intelligence layer that sits on top of an increasingly fragmented authentication landscape. As a core module of Adyen Uplift, which uses AI to optimise the full payment funnel, Authenticate applies machine learning to three decisions for each transaction. It determines whether to authenticate the transaction, which method is likely to perform best, and what data to share with the issuer.
Visa Payment Passkey becomes one of the several routes Authenticate can select. As a result, merchants can access new authentication methods as they launch without building a separate integration for each one.
Implications for merchants and the ecosystem
For merchants, the arrangement places the choice of authentication path within Adyen’s machine learning models rather than requiring a new technical integration whenever a method becomes available. This reflects a broader shift in which the growing number of authentication options is managed at the payment platform level.
For Visa, distribution through a payment platform’s optimisation layer gives Visa Payment Passkey access to the platform’s merchant base through a single integration. The initial UK rollout serves as the first market deployment, with the planned 2027 global expansion setting the timeline for wider availability through Adyen.
