Category Archives: Trust

Trust and Authentication in Financial Services

Genius Law – What to Expect?

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Yesterday President Trump signed the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act into law, clearing the path for dollar-backed stablecoins. As I’ve argued before, the future of money is a new model of trust, and this legislation provides the regulatory certainty needed for that trust. 

The GENIUS Act is a landmark piece of legislation. It establishes a dual charter system, enabling both federal and state-regulated stablecoin issuers. The key provisions are precisely what the industry needed: a mandate for 1:1 reserves with high-quality liquid assets like cash and short-term treasuries, a prohibition on reusing those reserves, and the designation of issuers as financial institutions under the Bank Secrecy Act. This isn’t just about compliance; it’s about building a foundation of trust that can be exported globally.

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Understanding Payments Data – How it Plays Today and the Near Term Future

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I thought it was time for a payment data update. Given Paypal’s Feb 2025 investor day, JPM’s “Retail Media Network” now re-labled Media Solutions and JPM’s lawsuit against Transunion/Argus. My perspective is formed from my 8 yrs as CEO/Founder of Commerce Signals. I’ll touch on signals, intent and agentic at the end. 

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Programmable Money – Coins and Cards

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Overview

Today we discuss programmable money, a concept that merges smart contract functionality with digital tokens operating on distributed ledger technology (DLT). We trace the historical development from open decentralized finance (DeFi) to the adoption of permissioned systems by leading financial institutions, analyze the technical distinctions between public and private blockchains, and emphasize the necessity of robust governance for scalable deployment. The paper further examines real-world use cases in high-value asset transactions and the growing relevance of programmable money in agentic commerce, highlighting the role of stablecoins and card networks in enabling trusted, logic-driven payments.

There is a payment geek battle of concepts in Agentic commerce. Conceptually, stablecoins and smart contracts provide a better technical architecture for agentic. However, it is my firm belief that these new technologies will be used by existing networks and stakeholders rather than a completely new set of participants and approaches. For example, Visa and Mastercard are likely to remain both the primary off ramp for Stablecoin (ie card merchant acceptance) AND ALSO retain their role in standards, governance, identity, economics and how programmability operates with regulated stakeholders.

I know many of my colleagues will disagree with my views here, that is OK as the dialog will help us all. As such, your comments are welcome.

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Scenario – Agentic Wallets and Federated Data

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Keeping up with the latest in agentic commerce, artificial intelligence (AI), payments, and data privacy is an ongoing challenge. Data and LLM are the key ingredients fueling the rapid advancements in AI and machine learning innovations. As a privacy advocate, I remain deeply concerned about the centralization of data. Once AI models are built to understand “you,” they no longer need continuous access to your data—just ongoing observation (see blogs on Data Centralization and Payments and the Observer Effect).

Do I think wallets will become “Agents”? No, but they will be the most important interface to all Agents, as they broker identity, authentication, authorization, permissions and highly secure data in the handset. My view is that Wallets enable many agents. This view of the the world is called the Agentic Mesh where specialized agents work together to achieve a result.

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Wallets and Privacy

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I’m on a brief vacation celebrating my 28th anniversary and deep in thought (pic below). What am I thinking of here on the beach? Wallets, Networks, Trust and Privacy.

The Case for Separating Wallets from Identity Providers

As digital identities continue to evolve, one of the most important debates centers around who controls and operates the wallet that holds these identities. Specifically, should wallets be separated from authorities that legally issue “identity”—commonly known as Identity Providers (IdPs)? This issue is particularly relevant in countries like India and Europe, where digital identity initiatives have made significant strides, yet their approaches raise important questions about privacy and control.

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Wallets and Networks: The Backbone of Digital Transactions

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Stimulating community discussion is the #1 reason I write this blog. The intersection of payments, banking, and technology is evolving rapidly, and I’m fortunate to engage with great minds like Dave Birch and new friends like Simon Taylor. Dave’s recent post on crypto predictions got me thinking about a topic I keep coming back to—wallets and networks.

As a former banker, I’m naturally more skeptical about FinTechs disrupting the core of banking. Consumer behavior is incredibly difficult to change, and financial services are among the most competitive industries in the world. If there’s one concept where my perspective diverges from many thought leaders, it’s the power of bank networks (read more). These networks are the foundation of financial transactions, and they continue to define the way money moves.

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Winning in Network of Networks: Collaboration

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My largest holdings are card networks, and I’m very keen on their continued growth and sustainability of competitive advantage. My confidence is based on five broad themes. 

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Bank Transformation – Actions for Banks to Succeed in the Storm of Disruption

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A Framework for Collaboration – Taking Part in Consumer Journeys

16 Page Blog – 3 Page Exec Summary 

Part 2 of Future of Retail Banking (2023). This blog has been sitting at 60% for 2 months now. Sorry for the delay.  A bull case for V/MA and service expansion.

A storm is brewing that will dwarf the impact the internet (V1/V2) had on established business models. There are multiple transformations occurring simultaneously: AI/ML, Web3, Digital ID, DLT, open mandates, FinTech, Wallets, ….etc. (see Web3 and Small Wins). While large orchestrators and big tech dominate today due to their virtuous cycles, new forces push for the “break up” of Big Tech and centralized data stores to make the internet more democratic and more privacy friendly.

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Paze Update – 4 Elements of the PAZE Wallet (70% confidence)

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© Starpoint LLP, 2022. No part of this site, blog.starpointllp.com, may be reproduced in whole or in part in any manner without the permission of the copyright owner.

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Over the last 5 yrs I’ve written 9 blogs on PAZE/SRC, and over 20 on the TCH’s 13 yr effort to own mobile payments. Today is my update and latest best guess at what they are building. This is a 70% confidence guess based upon my discussions with Merchants, Early Warning alumni, former bank execs, and previous releases (ex Authentify). 

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Separating Payment and Identity

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15 pages (summary is 4)

Follow blog from Payment Authorization – Under the Hood (ie working on a car engine), Trust Assertions – Identity will Define the Future of Payments and Role of Identity and Trust in eCommerce.

Today’s blog is one of my personal favorites, not only because of the topic but because of the leading experts in retail, identity, networks, and payments that collaborated and provided editing (thanks all). While I’m no longer the tech expert, I do have a unique view on the “inside baseball” incentives and realities of what is actually happening (behind the rules). Payments are not like a brand-new Ferrari operating to spec, they are a very messy business with complex rules, worn-out systems, unresponsive drivers and a broke racing team with no sponsor. This is a get-your-hands-dirty blog. Note that I’m open to feedback in case I’ve missed something

Outline

  1. Summary

  2. Survey of global identity initiatives

  3. How identity works in eCommerce today

  4. Technical example

  5. How identity improves CX and eCommerce payment flows

  6. Four future scenarios of identity and payments

  7. What should investors track

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