Marcel van Oost

Founder/CEO 

Email for brand collaboration: bonjour @ marcelvanoost.nl 

About me:

What do I want to become when I grow up? That's a question I asked myself for a long time. My childhood dream, playing for Ajax, was soon out of the question (I wasn’t even close…). So what's next? 

I studied Communication & Media, dropped out, and started working at an Acquiring Bank.

After these first steps in the Payments Industry I founded a Payments consultancy business, followed by a Collecting Payment Service Provider, with an exit in 2017. 

Nowadays I'm back in (FinTech-) Media, and invest as an Angel Investor in FinTech startups on the side.

NO, I don't do any speaker gigs, podcasts, webinars etc. 

I DO share the latest FinTech Industry trends and news updates here on Linkedin, and in my daily newsletter. 👉 Get the most important FinTech news and analysis in a 5 minute daily briefing you’ll actually look forward to reading, by signing up here: https://www.connectingthedotsinfin.tech

Investor

This has to be one of the best ads ever made by a financial brand.

Simple. Clear. Memorable.

Mastercard absolutely nailed it.

What’s your favorite financial ad of all time? 

Would love to see some other great examples in the comments below👇

Revolut built a $75B bank in 10 years with zero branches.

HSBC took 160 years and 3,900 branches to get to $212B.

Will Revolut eventually overtake HSBC in valuation? If yes, when?

📷 Source: Jarsy Inc


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Nice story, Marcel. Next! [ 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 ]

🚨𝗝𝗨𝗦𝗧 𝗜𝗡: Revolut prepares Full-Scale Launch in Colombia 🇨🇴 for 2026.


Revolut is gearing up for a major entry into Colombia, positioning the country as a long-term strategic market and the first where it plans to launch its full product portfolio from day one.

In late 2025, Colombia’s financial regulator granted Revolut authorization to establish a local bank, clearing the first major regulatory hurdle. 

The company plans to invest roughly €32 million to launch Revolut Bank Colombia, and is now working toward its second and final regulatory step: the operating license, expected in the first half of 2026. 

In parallel, the company is rapidly building local teams and integrating Colombia-specific payment rails and infrastructure.

Unlike many neobanks that launch gradually, Revolut plans to offer a complete banking experience at launch, including:

👉 Everyday accounts and payments
👉 Instant transfers and bill payments
👉 Debit and credit cards optimized for international use
👉 Savings, investments, and loyalty programs
👉 Family and youth accounts focused on financial education

Colombia will be the first country where Revolut applies this “full-stack at launch” strategy. 

More about this in my newsletter!


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Let's start 2026 with an introduction to 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐏𝐚𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 

Behind every card transaction there is a coordinated set of players: 

Each with a unique role.

𝐈𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞𝐫𝐬:

Issuers are banks or financial institutions that provide cards directly to consumers.

► Key Functions:

→ Underwrite and approve new cardholders
→ Furnish credit, debit, or prepaid cards
→ Authorize and clear transactions in real-time

► How They Make Money:

From interchange fees, annual card fees, interest on revolving credit, and FX markups.

► Examples:

Citi, UBS, ING, TD, Deutsche Bank, Chase


𝐀𝐜𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐫𝐬 

Acquirers are responsible for enabling businesses to accept card payments.

► Key Functions:

→ Set up and manage merchant accounts
→ Process card transactions and settle funds to merchants
→ Manage chargebacks and fraud risk

► How They Make Money:

Through processing fees, gateway charges, and often value-added services (fraud protection, analytics)

► Examples:

 Checkout.com, Worldpay, Nuvei


𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬

Card networks serve as the central infrastructure layer between issuers and acquirers.

► Key Functions:

→ Route transaction requests between issuer and acquirer
→ Establish dispute resolution protocols
→ Set interchange and assessment fees
→ Manage card branding and acceptance standards

► How They Make Money:

Card networks earn scheme fees, cross-border fees, and fraud assessment charges

► Examples:

Visa, Mastercard, American Express


𝐏𝐚𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐆𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬

Gateways act as the secure portal through which card data travels from the consumer to the acquiring bank.

► Key Functions:
→ Route transactions to the appropriate processor
→ Offer tools for fraud prevention, 3DS, and retry logic
→ Provide dashboard and reconciliation interfaces to merchants

𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞: The tokenization process may be performed by 3rd Party vault VGS, Acquirer Checkout.com, Gateway DEUNA, and Merchant...

► How They Make Money:

Gateways charge monthly platform fees, per-transaction fees, and revenue-sharing arrangements

► Examples:

DEUNA, CellPoint Digital


𝐏𝐚𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐀𝐠𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬

Aggregators combine payment services into a single offering, especially for smaller merchants

► Key Functions:

→ Act as Merchant of Record (MoR), processing under their own MID
→ Aggregate transactions across merchants
→ Handle onboarding, settlement, and risk management

► How They Make Money:

Profit from higher per-transaction fees and managing float

► Examples:

 Paddle, Stripe, PayU

—

► Check out Edition 1: The Types of Cards: https://bit.ly/3N82j5i
► Check out my newsletter for more Payments News & Insight: https://bit.ly/4mdogfB


Source: Travel & Payments, and a BIG thanks to my mate Arthur Bedel for writing this piece 👌


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(It’s free, but means a lot to me 👍)

A new model in Payments is emerging: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐰𝐢𝐜𝐡 

Here's how it works: 

For decades, international payments have moved through a network of correspondent banks. 

Each transaction passed through multiple intermediaries, from local to international correspondents and back again, taking days and incurring fees at every step. 

This system worked, but it was slow, expensive, and opaque.

A new model is emerging — The Stablecoin Sandwich — where blockchain replaces those intermediary layers to enable direct, near-instant settlement.

Here’s how it works:

→ The sender initiates a transfer in fiat (for example, euros).
→ An on-ramp partner converts those euros into a stablecoin such as USDC.
→ The stablecoin moves across the blockchain, serving as the settlement medium.
→ An off-ramp partner converts the stablecoin into local currency (such as pesos or reais).
→ The recipient receives funds in their local account, often in under 30 minutes.
→ This hybrid flow combines the compliance and familiarity of traditional finance with the efficiency, transparency, and programmability of blockchain technology.

The scale of this transformation is already visible. 

Stablecoin transactions now exceed $7 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 annually, surpassing 50% of Visa’s global network volume: https://bit.ly/49aC07G

Stablecoins are becoming a fundamental layer for liquidity management, B2B settlement, and cross-border treasury flows.

An entire ecosystem is forming around this shift:

→ 𝐄𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞 & 𝐁2𝐁: BVNK, Bitwave, and Contact are helping global merchants manage stablecoin liquidity, compliance, and treasury operations.

→ 𝐁𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞: Polygon Labs, Aptos Labs, and Chainlink Labs are building the rails that connect traditional payment networks with blockchain-based settlement.

→ 𝐖𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐬 & 𝐂𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐬: Dfns and BitGo offer programmable, secure wallet solutions designed for enterprises managing large digital asset volumes.

→ 𝐏𝐚𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐬: Mural Pay, Fipto and Noah are integrating stablecoin rails into existing payment stacks, bridging traditional and digital commerce.

→ An exciting one, Breeze is reimagining the 𝐌𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝 (MoR) model with programmable, blockchain-enabled settlements that occur instantly.

What's happening is not a replacement of the financial system, but an upgrade.

Traditional bank accounts are evolving into wallets. Money movement is becoming programmable. Settlement is shifting from days to seconds.

The Stablecoin Sandwich represents a new layer of global financial infrastructure, one that merges the reliability of banks with the speed and transparency of blockchain. 


Source: Fipto, CB Insights, Dawn Capital, and kudos to Arthur Bedel for this great update! 👌


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The Public FinTech Companies ranking by Performance this week 📈📉 

Here are the big movers of the week: 

The FinTech leaderboard by market cap remains largely unchanged at the top. Visa (-0.72%), Mastercard (-3.09%) and American Express (-1.16%) continue to dominate. 

Further down the list, large consumer-facing platforms like Robinhood (-0.79%), Nubank (+7.44%) and Coinbase (-9.82%) remain sizable, but their weekly performance shows increasing volatility.

By performance:

This week’s strongest performers come from a very different corner of the market.

Wise (+20.45%) takes the top spot with a strong double-digit gain, followed by Payoneer (+14.47%) and KakaoBank (+12.22%). 

Strong follow-ups include Rasan (+11.88%), StoneCo (+9.63%) and PagSeguro(+8.38%). 

Meanwhile, many large-cap FinTech names remain flat or negative.

Want more of his? Sign up for 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘 for my weekly "𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝘀" newsletter that distills the most important financial and strategic developments in the FinTech sector into 5️⃣ clear, data-driven charts: https://lnkd.in/dsPKkb5p


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(It’s free, but means a lot to me 👍)

🚨𝗝𝗨𝗦𝗧 𝗜𝗡: Revolut Pay became one of the first EU payment methods compatible with Google’s Agent Payments Protocol (AP2).

AP2 provides a payment-agnostic framework that allows users, merchants, and payment providers to transact safely in conversational and automated shopping environments. 

Revolut has also contributed directly to the protocol by adapting AP2 flows for account-to-account payments, extending its applicability beyond cards.

The goal is clear: position Revolut Pay as a trusted, default payment rail for AI-driven commerce, combining speed, security, and zero-friction checkout. 

Transactions continue to run on Revolut’s infrastructure, including instant notifications and integrated fraud monitoring, while offering higher conversion potential for merchants.

According to Revolut, the future of shopping will be conversational rather than transactional, with AI assistants handling discovery, decision-making, and checkout. 

By supporting agentic payments early, Revolut is ensuring its core payment product is present where digital commerce is heading next, not just where it operates today.

💬 "The future of shopping isn't a website; it's a conversation. We aim to move beyond the click-and-pay model to a world where your AI assistant streamlines the checkout for you," said Alex Codina, General Manager of Acquiring at Revolut. 

"By enabling Revolut Pay for Agentic Commerce, we are aiming to make our customers’ favourite, most secure payment experience the standard for AI-driven transactions. This will ensure speed, trust, and absolute zero friction for the next generation of digital buying.”

More about this in my newsletter!


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The 𝗞𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗮 𝗠𝗮𝗳𝗶𝗮 has raised over $2.99B in total funding 🤯

For them Klarna wasn’t the endgame. It was the launchpad.

While the term "Mafia" generally carries a negative connotation, yet, as Accel coined it, the startup mafia refers to a vast network of second-generation startups, aka unicorn factories.

They grow worldwide because of strong personal connections, vast experience, and shared success stories gained after working in great companies. 

In the fast-paced (Fin-)Tech scene, few stories are as compelling as the emergence of the "𝗞𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗮 𝗠𝗮𝗳𝗶𝗮". 

Much like the famed PayPal Mafia that produced tech luminaries like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, Klarna's alumni have had and continue to make significant waves across the startup ecosystem.

Using Crustdata (YC F24)’s People Search API and Funding API, Chris Pisarski mapped some of the most funded companies founded or co-founded by former Klarna employees:

Anyfin - $641M - Mikael Hussain, Sven Perkmann, Filip Polhem
TrueML + Signifyd - $563M - Ohad Samet
MODIFI - $429M - Sven Brauer
Nelly Solutions - $287M - Niklas Radner, Rasmus Schults, Lukas Eicher
Finix - $200M - Sean Donovan
MAJORITY – $121M - Philip Mikal
Scratch Financial – $108M - John Keatley
Brite Payments – $77.2M - Lena Hackelöer
Basis Theory – $66.3M - Colin Luce, Brian Billingsley
Torii – $65M - Uri Nativ
RiseUp IL – $48.7M - Yuval Samet
Bits Technology – $48.4M - Robin Lantz
Ingrid ⚫️ - $38.2M - Patric Blixt
Insurello – $29.3M - Marcus Janback 
iyzico – $27M - Barbaros Ozbugutu 
Telness – $21.8M - Martina Klingvall
Sibill – $21M - Lorenzo Liguori
Lykon – $20.7M - Tobias Teuber
Depict – $19.9M - Oliver Edholm 
Browsi – $17M - Lior Fisher
Pocketlaw – $15.5M - Majid Garmaroudi
P.F.C. – $14.5M - Kevin Albrecht
Selpy – $13.5M - Michael Arnör, Philip Gunnstam
Flexspace – $13.1M - Eyal Lasker
Supernormal – $12M - Colin Treseler
PodX – $10.9M (>$30M) - Fredrik Said
Wingbits – $9.5M - Alex Lungu, Robin W.
Teemyco – $6.92M - Oleg Danylenko
ReCarber – $5.42M - Kristoffer Labuc
Lesslie – $5.18M - Oscar Viken
UnitPlus – $5.14M - Sebastien Segue
Checkin – $4.54M - Kristoffer Cassel
Neonomics – $4.52M - Christoffer Andvig
Markets EQ - $4.5M - Sean Austin
Zimpler – >$3.14M - Kristofer Ekman Sinclair
Briqpay – $3.03M - Mats Andersson, Björn Widerström, Sara Johansson
LEIA – $3.03M - Sandra Wirström
stoer Technologies – $2.18M - Pär Isaksson
Qlarifi – $1.8M - Alex Naughton
Aynis / Locaboo – $1.32M - Andreas Michel
Ledyer – $1.29M - Linus Sandberg
Gamifiera – $1.28M - Erik Estberg

Huge credit to the culture shaped at Klarna and to Sebastian Siemiatkowski for creating one of Europe’s strongest FinTech founder factories 👌

Anyone missing in this overview?


P.S. If this was useful, earlier posts on the 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝗳𝗶𝗮 (https://lnkd.in/dsC9rP5m), and the 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗽𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗳𝗶𝗮 (https://lnkd.in/dT46p7s8) are a must read!

👀 Mastercard delivers Australia's 🇦🇺 first authenticated agentic transactions on its network 👇

Agentic commerce – where AI-powered agents act on behalf of consumers to shop, manage subscriptions and complete everyday tasks – is poised to transform the way Australians shop online. 

Some research suggests that AI-powered, agentic commerce could influence more than half (55 per cent) of all Australian consumer transactions by 2030, worth up to A$670 billion in spending.

Mastercard is accelerating this future by completing Australia’s first fully authenticated agentic transactions on its network and expanding the company’s global Agent Pay solution to the Asia Pacific region. 

By enabling fully recognized and authenticated agentic transactions, Mastercard’s trusted agentic framework process brings AI agents into the payment flow as visible, governed participants – ensuring that every transaction is secure, transparent, and trusted.

Check the video below for more info and a DEMO 👇


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𝙎𝘾𝙊𝙊𝙋 👀: Nubank has received conditional approval from the OCC to establish a US 🇺🇸 national bank.

Once fully approved, the charter will allow Nubank to operate under a federal banking framework and launch:

• Deposit accounts
• Credit cards
• Lending
• Digital asset custody

All directly in the US market.

A few things stand out:

• De novo national bank – this is not an acquisition shortcut. Nubank is building from the ground up.

• Leadership on the ground – co-founder Cristina Junqueira has relocated to the US to lead the effort.

• Regulatory heavyweight – former Brazilian central bank president Roberto Campos Neto as board chair.

• Serious timeline – fully capitalized within 12 months, operational within 18 months (pending FDIC & Fed).

David Vélez framed it perfectly: this isn’t just expansion — it’s about proving that a digital-first, customer-centric bank can win globally… including in the most competitive banking market in the world.

With 127 million customers, a NYSE listing since 2021, and deep regulatory experience across LATAM, Nubank entering the US as a regulated national bank could quietly become one of the most important fintech moves of the decade.

Check out the interview with Cristina Junqueira below 👇, where she explains the thinking behind Nubank’s US bank charter application.

More about this in my newsletter!


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The basics of Tokenization. A crucial process in Payments👇

Let's dive in:

What are Tokens?

Tokens are unique, randomly generated strings of characters or symbols used to represent sensitive data, such as primary account numbers (PANs). 

Since tokens are nonconvertible, that is, they can't be reverse-engineered to reveal a customer's original PAN, they're an effective tool to protect sensitive data during storage, transmission and retrieval.

What is Payment Tokenization:

Payment tokenization is the process of replacing sensitive personal information with a surrogate value — a token — stored in a PCI-compliant token vault owned by the token creator, which can be an entity such as an acquirer, issuer, 3rd party token vault & network or payment processor.

To discover the PAN a token represents, a merchant would need to present that token to its creator; the creator would then look up the PAN within their highly secure token vault. 

When using payment tokens, the creator does not return the PAN to the merchant, but instead uses it to authorize a transaction. 

This way, the merchant is able to keep sensitive data out of their systems, so that hackers cannot gain access to it.

Tokens can vary in format but generally they fall into 3 categories:

1️⃣ Non-Format Preserving: 

The token doesn't look like the original data. For instance, a social security number could be represented as "T@%3N5."

2️⃣ Format Preserving: 

The token retains the format of the original data but scrambles the numbers.

3️⃣ Selective Masking: 

A hybrid approach, some original numbers are left unchanged for verification purposes, such as the last four digits of a credit card.

𝗦𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲-𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘃𝘀. 𝗠𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶-𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗧𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗻𝘀

Tokens can be transient or enduring. Single-use tokens expire after a single transaction, whereas multi-use tokens can be used for multiple transactions over an extended period.

𝗧𝘆𝗽𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝗮𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗧𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗻𝘀:

‣ 𝗔𝗰𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗻𝘀: Generated by transaction processors, usually restricted to specific merchants.

‣ 𝗜𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗻𝘀: Created by card issuers, like Visa or Mastercard, often for digital wallets such as Apple Pay or Google Pay.

‣ 𝗡𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗧𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗻𝘀: Produced by credit card networks themselves, not bound to specific issuers.

‣ 𝗣𝗮𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗧𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗻𝘀: A newer category generated on behalf of issuers and merchants, usable across multiple locations.

‣ 𝗠𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗧𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗻𝘀: Tailored for individual merchants, these can be integrated into a merchant's specific customer journey and can link to multiple other types of tokens.

Sources: Arthur Bedel - ACI Worldwide - Connecting the dots in Payments...


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Deconstructing the Crypto Payment Stack: Where is Value Actually Created?

Darren Fran mapped the ecosystem into a 4-layer stack:

Layer 1️⃣ — Infrastructure (Settlement Rails)

Blockchains and stablecoin issuers (e.g. Ethereum, Solana, Circle, Tether).
This layer sets cost, speed, and finality. It’s already in a winner-takes-most dynamic driven by liquidity and network effects.

Layer 2️⃣ — Core Services (Trust & Compliance)

Custody, compliance, and on/off-ramps (e.g. Fireblocks, Chainalysis, Stripe).
This is where regulatory moats are built. Control compliance, and you control value flow.

Layer 3️⃣ — Financial Value-Add (Capital Efficiency)

Yield, liquidity, and treasury optimization (e.g. Aave, MakerDAO).
Here crypto payments start to look like banking: yield on float becomes structural, not optional.

Layer 4️⃣ — Applications (Orchestration)

Wallets, cards, B2B settlement, enterprise flows.
The winners don’t own the stack — they orchestrate it and hide complexity from users.

I highly recommend following Darren Fan and checking it the original source piece on this topic to learn more: https://lnkd.in/dPQWjcZ9


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Revolut is officially launching home purchase mortgages in Lithuania 🇱🇹 

Moving beyond refinancing into full mortgage origination.

This is what stands out:

• End-to-end digital mortgage flow inside the app
• Real-time application tracking + dedicated mortgage manager
• Loans from €35k up to €1m, up to 30 years, from 15% down payment
• No penalties for early repayment or changing payment dates
• Extra discounts for energy-efficient homes (A+, A++)

In short:

Revolut is attacking one of the most complex, high-margin banking products, and doing it with UX, transparency, and flexibility at the core.

Lithuania is clearly a testing ground.

The bigger question is: which European markets are next?

Thoughts?

👀 Revolut has rolled out AI voice agents across the UK and Europe 👇

What do you think? 

Revolut has rolled out AI voice agents from ElevenLabs across the UK and Europe, and the numbers are hard to ignore:

• 8× faster time to ticket resolution
• 99.7% successful call completion
• 31+ languages, live, native-quality voice
• Instant, 24/7 support for 4M+ customers

Instead of outsourcing the brain, Revolut kept full control of orchestration, logic, and data, while plugging in best-in-class voice, latency, and compliance (PCI + zero retention).

AI agents are no longer just cost-cutting chatbots. They’re becoming front-line CX infrastructure; fast, multilingual, compliant, and deeply integrated with core systems.

At scale, voice is back, just powered by AI.

Source/more info: https://lnkd.in/d8gprQCB

What do you think about this feature? 


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Nubank is now 🇧🇷 Brazil’s largest private financial institution by customers (112M+ users) which makes it hard to believe that back in April 2014, the very first swipe of the purple card didn’t go as planned… 

#TBT: After rigorous development and testing, the first transaction with a Nubank card took place in April 2014. 

The initial attempts to complete the first card transaction were not without challenges. 

In the one-minute video below 👇, the moment is captured when David Vélez, Cristina Junqueira, and Edward Wible went to a store to perform the first transaction in Nubank's history.

When the founders tried to use the card at the local shop, the transaction failed several times. 

This situation was both frustrating and humorous, especially given the high stakes and anticipation. 

After several tries and adjustments, the transaction finally went through, marking the beginning of Nubank's journey in the financial world.

Today, Nubank has over 112 million customers, and is worth over $91 𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 🤯


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(It’s free, but means a lot to me 👍)

🚨 The Dutch bank-led ID service iDIN is being acquired by Belgium’s itsme®.

This is more than a local M&A deal.

It’s a strategic move toward a pan-European digital identity standard.

Why this matters:

• iDIN reaches ~13 million Dutch 🇳🇱 users via their bank apps
• itsme is used by 80%+ of Belgian 🇧🇪 adults and operates in 30 countries
• Together they align with the highest eIDAS trust level
• Integration starts in 2026, full migration by 2028

For years, iDIN was a national success, backed by Currence and banks like ING, Rabobank and ABN AMRO.

But digital identity is no longer a national game.

Scale, interoperability, and regulation are now European.

Big picture:

Just like payments (iDEAL → Wero), digital identity is consolidating across borders.

Local champions are merging to survive, and win, at EU scale.

More about this in my newsletter!


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OpenAI (𝐀𝐂𝐏) 🆚 Google (𝐔𝐂𝐏) 

Two visions for Agentic Commerce:

As AI agents move from recommendation to execution, checkout itself is being redesigned.

Both OpenAI and Google are introducing new commerce protocols that allow AI systems to discover, decide, and complete purchases, but they take very different approaches.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 (𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐲):

OpenAI — 𝐀𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐜𝐨𝐥 (𝐀𝐂𝐏)

ACP is an open, agent-initiated commerce protocol that allows AI agents to transact directly with merchants using delegated payment authority.

The agent acts on behalf of the user, following predefined mandates and policies, while merchants retain control of checkout, payments, and business rules.

Google — 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐜𝐨𝐥 (𝐔𝐂𝐏)

UCP is a Google-native commerce layer embedded across Search, Gemini, and other Google surfaces.

It enables purchases directly inside Google experiences, with checkout and payments largely hosted and orchestrated by Google.

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞:

At a high level, both aim to simplify buying in AI-driven interfaces — but the control point is very different.

𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
→ ACP: inside AI assistants and merchant flows
→ UCP: inside Google-owned surfaces

𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
→ ACP: agent-initiated, policy-driven
→ UCP: user-initiated within Google

𝐏𝐚𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥
→ ACP: delegated payment tokens, flexible credentials
→ UCP: Google Pay payloads (with more methods planned)

𝐌𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥
→ ACP: merchants keep full control of pricing, policies, and checkout logic
→ UCP: Google often acts as seller of record with hosted checkout


𝐌𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 — 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐬 & 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬:

𝐀𝐂𝐏 𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐜𝐨𝐥-𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭
Designed to be adopted by any AI platform and integrated into existing merchant infrastructure.
→ Pros: openness, merchant control, cross-platform reach
→ Cons: requires merchants and PSPs to adapt their stacks

𝐔𝐂𝐏 𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧-𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭
Built to maximize conversion inside Google’s ecosystem.
→ Pros: frictionless UX, instant scale
→ Cons: reduced merchant control, dependency on Google surfaces

In short:
→ ACP optimizes for openness and programmability
→ UCP optimizes for conversion within a closed environment


𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭:

Agentic commerce isn’t a single model, it’s a spectrum.

Some merchants will prioritize reach and simplicity through embedded platforms. 

Others will prioritize control, data ownership, and long-term flexibility through open protocols.

One thing is clear:

👉 Checkout is no longer just a page — it’s becoming a programmable interface between agents, merchants, and payment rails.

I highly recommend reading this complete source article on this topic by Checkout.com for more interesting info: https://bit.ly/3ZfChjo

And a big thanks to my mate Arthur Bedel for composing this piece 👌

Average 𝟯𝗗 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗲 success rates per card scheme 👇


Download Ravelin Technology's 46-page Global Payments Report 2026 for more interesting info & stats: https://lnkd.in/dt2ARCcT


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🚨𝗝𝗨𝗦𝗧 𝗜𝗡: Brazil 🇧🇷 just sent its first major FinTech IPO signal of 2026.

PicPay is officially back, and this time, it’s profitable.

According to newly filed US 🇺🇸 IPO paperwork, PicPay reported a sharp jump in performance:

• Revenue + financial income: R$7.26B (vs R$3.78B YoY)
• Profit (9M): R$313.8M (vs R$172M last year)
• Listing venue: Nasdaq
• Ticker: PICS

This is PicPay’s second attempt after pulling its IPO in 2021.

More about this in my newsletter!


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Payment Orchestration Platforms 👇

Key Players and Competitive Landscape: Analysis and Forecast to 2034:

The Payment Orchestration Platform Market is set for remarkable expansion, growing from USD 1.74 billion in 2024 to USD 15.74 billion by 2034, at an impressive CAGR of ~24.6% 

Read more below 👇

𝐏𝐚𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐎𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 — 𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐞:𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝟐𝟎𝟑𝟒

The Payment Orchestration Platform Market is set for remarkable expansion, growing from USD 1.74 billion in 2024 to USD 15.74 billion by 2034, at an impressive CAGR of ~24.6% 🚀. This growth reflects the critical role payment orchestration now plays in enabling seamless, secure, and scalable digital transactions across global markets.

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(𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗽𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝐌𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝐈𝐃 𝗥𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗦𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 & 𝗧𝗢𝗖)

Payment orchestration platforms unify multiple payment gateways, methods, and service providers into a single framework, helping businesses optimize transaction routing, reduce costs, and enhance customer experience 🌍. As e-commerce and digital commerce continue to scale, these platforms are becoming foundational to modern payment infrastructures.

In 2024, cloud-based solutions dominate the market with a 62% share, driven by scalability, flexibility, and cost efficiency ☁️. On-premise solutions still account for 38%, particularly among industries with stringent data security and compliance requirements 🔐. Leading players such as Stripe, Adyen, and PayPal continue to shape the competitive landscape through innovation and strategic expansion.

Recent developments highlight the market’s momentum:

Stripe’s partnership with a major European bank aims to streamline cross-border payments 🇪🇺

Adyen’s AI-driven upgrade enhances transaction routing and fraud detection 🤖

PayU and Finix’s merger strengthens global reach and payment method diversity 🤝

Rapyd’s compliance-driven adaptations address evolving Asia-Pacific regulations 📜

Checkout.com’s Middle East expansion targets fast-growing regional e-commerce markets 🌐

Market dynamics are increasingly influenced by digital payment adoption, regulatory complexity, and pricing models ranging from subscription-based to transaction-fee structures 💳. Strategic partnerships between fintechs and financial institutions are further accelerating innovation and global scalability.

Overall, the Payment Orchestration Platform Market is transitioning from a value-added service to a core digital commerce enabler, positioning it as a high-growth opportunity over the next decade 📈.

#PaymentOrchestration #DigitalPayments #Fintech #Ecommerce #PaymentPlatforms #MarketInsights #FutureOfPayments #AIinPayments #CrossBorderPayments

Innovation In Payments is an independent platform to learn about what to expect in the payments industry in the short and long-term. This group provides members the opportunity to start discussions on future developments and the elements that have an impact on these developments.

All kind of discussions on innovation in payments can be found here, form current new developments to ideas on the future, on how it could be in about 5-10 years. The group seeks to collect ideas for new developments, challenges for possible innovative solutions. Current hot trends are: mobile banking and effect of MIF on cards business, blockchain and bitcoin, FinTech and PSD2, Instant Payments, contactless and other NFC technology, internet of things (IoT).

Innovation In Payments is a network where information and ideas are shared with + 40,000 other members in order to become smarter as group!

Welcome to Innovation In Payments.

With over a decade of experience, currently serving as Consulting Partner at valantic FSA, contributing to corporate finance and financial market strategies. Previous roles include Managing Director at NowCM, where the focus was leading regional operations across DACH and CEE markets. Core competencies include corporate finance, banking, and financial markets, with a mission to empower organizations through collaborative, innovative financial solutions. Dedicated to driving growth and fostering impactful partnerships aligned with organizational goals and culture.

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Marcel van Oost

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