Category Archives: eCommerce

Stripe Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP)

Posted on by
2

The best, and perhaps only, operable protocol that can solve agent payment issues today.

Stripe’s Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP), co-developed with OpenAI, is a functional leap forward in enabling agentic commerce. While its open-source nature invites broad adoption, Stripe is uniquely able to “make it work” by leveraging its existing fraud-fighting assets. Another less reported benefit of ACP is payment rail agnostic operation. ACP will work for paybybank, PIX, EFTPOS, Swish, Bizum or anything else. Anywhere that Stipe’s device graph and Radar (Risk/Fraud) are effective. Stripe’s secure payment token plus risk signals allow merchants to operate the way they do today (no operational change).

ACP may only have a limited 2-3 yr runway as more advanced authentication methods become mainstream, and network rule sets/services advance to serve all agent providers (leveling the playing field).

Continue reading →

X402 Foundation

Posted on by
Reply

Short Blog

The x402 Foundation was publicly announced last week on September 23, 2025, as a joint initiative between Coinbase and Cloudflare. This effort aims to solve the governance issue in agentic. The design COULD SOLVE the governance issues outlined in Governance in Payments as well as last month’s Agentic Commerce Economics and Governance. As a refresh, my position is that monetization/governance is the Gordian knot preventing AI from moving to next stage of growth. 

While Google’s AP2 suffers from a dependency on settlement governance and the inability to expand trust beyond their own domain (see AP2 blog), x402 is just a standard that handles payment terms negotiations between two APIs (both price and method). The foundation turns x402 into a “network) with an operational model, active governance and economics. My example is that an existing customer would have payment managed with a current card on file and the merchant owning risk, whereas a new customer (or new machine request) could agree on a non-refundable stablecoin payment.  

Continue reading →

Pay by Bank Double Whammy

Posted on by
Reply

I’ve never been a fan of “Pay by Bank.” It’s a solution in search of a problem, especially when compared to the efficiency of debit cards and the global reach of Visa Direct. Now, two major developments have dealt a significant blow to the already weak business case for this payment method.

Continue reading →

The Shakeup PayPal Needs

Posted on by
2

Rumors are that a substantial organizational change at PayPal is in progress. Frankly, it’s overdue. For any global payments company to succeed, its leaders must possess a deep, almost intuitive, understanding of the global payments ecosystem. This is where PayPal is currently failing.

We have a CEO, Alex Chriss, known as a product specialist. While he may be excellent at getting products out the door, this is not the problem PayPal faces. Unfortunately, the team can’t see the forest fire given their conspicuously poor payment background. For example, look at Diego Scotti as EVP and GM of the consumer group. His experience comes from Verizon, and his chief credential is that he is the husband of Janey Whiteside, one of Alex’s closest payment advisors. When growth doesn’t happen and targets get missed, investors begin to look for the reasons and the resumes of those running the ship.

You need to be logged in to view the rest of the content. Please . Not a Member? Join Us

2025 Tech Tsunami will Expand Network Role (and VAS)

Posted on by
Reply

A snarky blog. My views on why the role of card networks will grow in the midst of this change (along with Network VAS).

Buckle up buttercups, because the commerce, banking, and payments world is getting a facelift so extreme, it’ll make a Kardashian look like a Luddite. If you thought Web 3.0 and its decentralized pipe dreams were the next big thing, bless your heart. AI and Agentic Commerce are the actual party, and they’re about to flip the table.

Continue reading →

Could Stripe Drive eCom Stablecoin Adoption? (A: Maybe, but they wouldn’t do it)

Posted on by
Reply

Following up on yesterday’s discussion about the potential for US Banks to issue stablecoins, the fintech world is abuzz after Stripe’s Sessions announcements covering AI and stablecoin. Given Stripe’s massive influence,  any move they make warrants attention. The question on many payment strategy executives’ minds: Is Stripe about to unleash stablecoins to circumvent traditional card rails for consumer payments? While the crypto-evangelists might be shouting “yes!”, a more pragmatic and skeptical view suggests this is highly unlikely, at least for the core retail checkout experience.

Continue reading →

Commercial Models for AI Agents

Posted on by
1

Short Blog.. but core to a new series that will attempt to address this strategic question

I find it hard to believe that anyone could keep up with the daily technical updates in AI, the pace of innovation is truly astounding. Given the completion of my recent agentic commerce survey, I thought I’d provide a few of my thoughts on the uncertainties surrounding the economics associated with AI agentic architectures.  While the technology is fascinating, the market operation of AI and Agents is nascent. How is value measured? How will it be monetized?  Who has the pricing power?  How will this impact existing markets, systems and participants? My perspective here is based upon my experience in networked businesses, but even more so in measurement (as CEO/Founder of Commerce Signals).

You need to be logged in to view the rest of the content. Please . Not a Member? Join Us

Understanding Merchants – Cards on FIle

Posted on by
Reply

Why merchants prefer cards they control. Implications for Agentic, Pay By Bank and beyond… 

Short Blog. My last blogs on the topic were Acceptance Hurdles (2022) and the more technical list of 14 core processing activities in Acceptance Part 1 (2016). 

You need to be logged in to view the rest of the content. Please . Not a Member? Join Us