The Green Sheet Online Edition
July 13, 2026 • 26:07:01
Letter from the editor
Like many of you, I find myself both fascinated by and cautious about the rapid emergence of agentic AI. Every week seems to bring another 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 software. Success will require trust, security, sound infrastructure and practical solutions to the questions businesses 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. 
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