Page 5 - gs260701

Letter from the editor

ike many of you, I find myself both fascinated
by and cautious about the rapid emergence of
agentic AI. Every week seems to bring another
L announcement of AI agents shopping, making
decisions or even completing payments on consumers'
behalf. The technology is advancing quickly, but as our
lead story by Patti Murphy reminds us, widespread
adoption will depend on much more than clever soft-
ware. Success will require trust, security, sound infra-
structure and practical solutions to the questions busi-
nesses and consumers are only beginning to ask. While
agentic commerce may not yet be ready for prime time,
it is clearly reshaping conversations throughout the
payments ecosystem—and creating opportunities that
extend well beyond the checkout.
Our contributors examine that transformation from
multiple perspectives. Viktoria Soltesz explores the
governance and accountability challenges of agentic
payments, while Thomas Gillan explains how major
sporting events like the FIFA World Cup test payment
performance under real-world pressure. Vadzim
Smatrayeu examines SoftPOS as payment acceptance
evolves beyond dedicated hardware, and Dale Laszig
traces the industry's journey from purpose-built devices
to AI-powered capabilities. Serhii Zakharov highlights
the hidden operational debt that can slow growing
payment providers, while Kate Knudsen pays tribute to
the often-overlooked back-office professionals who keep
payment systems running. Jaki Kackert offers practical
ideas for building stronger merchant relationships
through digital marketing, and Jessica Walsh analyzes
what the latest Visa-Mastercard litigation settlement
could mean for merchants in practice.

Elsewhere in this issue, our News Briefs keep you up to
date on developments shaping the payments landscape,
from the proposed Visa-Mastercard interchange
settlement and Visa's collaboration with OpenAI to the
European Union's digital euro initiative, Illinois' new buy
now, pay later law, EMVCo's work on digital payment
credentials and a major Department of Justice settlement
involving Alibaba and a U.S. payment processor.

You'll also find updates on recent industry milestones,
product and innovator profiles, and other trends
affecting merchant acquiring and payments. Whether
your focus is sales, technology, operations, compliance
or strategy, our goal is to help you stay informed about
the trends, ideas and decisions influencing your business
today while you prepare it for the future. As always, we
welcome your questions, comments and story ideas at
greensheet@greensheet.com, and your press releases at
press@greensheet.com. Thank you for making The Green
Sheet part of your professional reading. We appreciate
the opportunity to serve this remarkable industry.
5