The public at large hasn't been eagerly awaiting real-time payments, but leaders in the payments community have anticipated the arrival of real-time payments for years. Now, at last, they are a reality. With the groundwork done and The Clearing House's RPT running transactions in about three seconds, real-time payments are set to expand. And they won't be powered by just one company or network. This issue's lead article delves into this milestone moment for real-time payments, presenting the views and actions of players and networks involved, advantages to and likely impact of real-time payment implementation, and hurdles for financial institutions to overcome in deployment.
Additional advancements in the payments and fintech sphere are highlighted in our News Briefs section, which includes stories on IBM, Mastercard and Saudi Payments' instant commerce network; research indicating that touchless payments are here to stay; advanced approaches to security and compliance; and steps Visa and Mastercard are taking to support cryptocurrency transactions.
These and other breaking news stories can be found on our homepage, www.greensheet.com.
Industry experts contributing to this magazine have also addressed advancements in the industry by, for example, taking a look at how we've changed from selling equipment and payment processing into selling an uninterrupted experience for consumers and business owners alike, which has required technological innovation and new types of partnerships to pull off. Other topics addressed by our contributors include how to eliminate clear text cardholder data from your network by combining tokenization with encryption at every transaction point; rules to follow to ensure you are running a profitable merchant level salesperson business; and problems with traditional payment processing, including confusing pricing models, rogue agents and onboarding issues, that are contributing to the rise of payfacs.
You'll also find a question and answer in Readers Speak about payment processing for cannabis businesses, along with company and product profiles. Also included are short items in Industry Update on industry milestones including new guidelines, honors, rebrands, certifications, appointments, partnerships, acquisitions and research.
We hope you find plenty of helpful information within these pages. Our aim in creating each issue and maintaining our website is to provide resources and connections to help you flourish in your career. We'll be happy to receive your questions, suggestions and other feedback at any time at greensheet@greensheet.com. And we'll continue to post press releases you send to press@greensheet.com. 
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