Helping businesses optimize network costs with the Visa Digital Commerce Authentication Program (DCAP) (opens in new tab)
Visa’s Digital Commerce Authentication Program (DCAP) rewards US businesses for sharing richer transaction data with issuers during authentication, offering a five-basis-point net interchange reduction on qualifying transactions. However, businesses must balance savings against integration complexity, latency, fraud risk, and authorization rates. Stripe addresses this with transaction-level decisions about when to use Data Only 3DS. ## DCAP’s Opportunity and Complexity - DCAP is designed to reduce card-not-present fraud and improve authorization rates. - Businesses can share data such as: - Device ID - Billing address - IP address - Customer email - Participation requires sending the required cardholder data through frictionless authentication. - Issuers may interpret newer data signals differently, creating uncertainty around performance and latency. - Businesses must evaluate whether interchange savings improve overall transaction economics without reducing conversions. ## Stripe’s Transaction-Level Optimization - Stripe worked with Visa on readiness testing before rolling out DCAP. - Stripe Authorization Boost determines which transactions should use Data Only 3DS. - Data Only 3DS sends additional risk information through the card network to issuers without adding unnecessary customer friction. - Instead of static rules, Authorization Boost evaluates each transaction based on: - Potential cost savings - Conversion impact - Fraud risk - Authorization performance ## Results and Eligibility - Since April 18, Stripe has helped businesses generate $18.4 million in annualized network cost savings. - Collecting and passing the required data increased DCAP-eligible transactions eightfold. - Stripe continues working with Visa to expand eligibility. ## How to Participate - Businesses using Authorization Boost and collecting the required data already receive the optimizations automatically. - Businesses using standalone 3DS can participate by setting `flow_preference[type]` to `data_share` and ensuring all required fields are populated. Businesses should adopt DCAP with transaction-level optimization rather than applying it indiscriminately, maximizing interchange savings while protecting authorization rates and customer conversion.