Leaders In Payments and FinTech - The EDC Podcast

The payments industry is on the cusp of a major transformation as stablecoins emerge as alternatives to traditional payment rails. Stablecoins promise to revolutionize cross-border payments and micropayments through blockchain's native interoperability, but they face challenges around demonstrating clear advantages over existing instant payment networks and avoiding market fragmentation. This episode explores how stablecoins differ from volatile cryptocurrencies and CBDCs, examines real-world use cases from remittances to tokenized assets, and discusses where they're most likely to gain traction in a rapidly evolving regulatory landscape shaped by frameworks like Europe's MiCA.

 

In this episode of the Leaders in Payments and Fintech podcast, host Mark Beresford sits down with Diederick Langstraat and Thibault Pelé from Worldline, alongside Samee Zafar, CEO of Edgar, Dunn & Company, to explore the emerging world of stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). They discuss how stablecoins differ from volatile cryptocurrencies and traditional payment rails, and examine real-world use cases from cross-border payments to tokenized assets. 

 

The conversation covers blockchain's role in enabling native interoperability between payment systems, the regulatory frameworks shaping adoption like Europe's MiCA, and whether stablecoins offer genuine advantages over existing instant payment networks. They also explore emerging applications in gaming micropayments, social commerce, and agentic commerce.

 

In this episode: 

What stablecoins are and how they solve crypto's volatility problem by pegging to fiat currencies 

Why blockchain enables cheaper, near-instant transactions by reducing intermediaries 

Real-world use cases: cross-border payments, remittances, B2B trade, and tokenized assets 

The challenge stablecoins face competing with existing 5-minute remittance services 

How Europe's MiCA regulation is creating a framework for stablecoin adoption 

Potential applications in gaming micropayments, social commerce, and agent-to-agent payments 

Why industry consolidation and transparency are essential to avoid market fragmentation

Resources:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/diederick-langstraat-212861/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thibaultpele/ 

Website: https://worldline.com/

The payments industry is on the cusp of a major transformation as AI agents evolve from helpful assistants to autonomous shoppers. Agentic commerce—where AI independently finds, compares, negotiates, and purchases products on behalf of consumers—promises to revolutionize e-commerce, but it also introduces complex challenges around fraud, authentication, and customer identity in a highly regulated industry. This episode explores how the industry is racing to establish standards and protocols to make agentic commerce both secure and seamless.

 

In this episode of the Leaders in Payments and Fintech podcast, host Mark Beresford sits down with Adam Davies, Payment Partnerships Lead at Forter, to explore how agentic commerce is coming to market and what it means for merchants, payment providers, and consumers. They discuss the shift from AI as a supportive tool to AI as an autonomous actor capable of completing entire shopping journeys without human intervention. Adam breaks down the three types of AI shopping flows—referral, hybrid, and fully autonomous—and explains why the past six months have seen a flurry of protocol announcements from major players like Google, OpenAI, Stripe, Visa, and Mastercard.

 

The conversation covers both sides of the agentic commerce coin: the risks fraudsters can exploit with scalable, untraceable AI-powered attacks, and the opportunities for merchants to serve customers in entirely new ways. They also tackle the shift from traditional SEO to GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) and share practical advice for merchants preparing for this new reality.

In this episode: 

How agentic commerce differs from traditional AI assistance and why it’s happening now

The three categories of AI shopping flows: referral, hybrid, and fully autonomous

Why fraudsters see AI as “fraud university” and how they’re exploiting scalable, untraceable attacks

What protocols like MCP, AP2, ACP, and TAP are designed to solve for secure agent payments

How passkeys and network tokens enable authentication without breaking the user experience

The shift from SEO to GEO as agents replace traditional search for product discovery

Three steps merchants should take today: audit bot traffic, consult risk vendors, and engage with PSPs​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

 

Resources:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamrdavies  

Website: https://www.forter.com/

Each year, our Advanced Payments and Fintech Report provides a comprehensive view of the latest trends defining the payments landscape. Now in its 18th edition, the report examines 14 themes across four domains, highlighting how innovation, evolving business models, and shifting consumer expectations are driving rapid industry change. In 2025, AI, digital identity, embedded finance, and emerging infrastructure are shaping how money moves, how businesses operate, and how consumers interact with financial services.

In this episode of the EDC Podcast, host Davide sits down with Tue To, head of Edgar, Dunn & Company’s Fintech practice, to explore the 18th edition of the Advanced Payments and Fintech Report. They dive into the trends reshaping payments and fintech, from AI-driven orchestration and agentic AI to subscription BNPL, connected car payments, and embedded finance. Tue explains how these innovations are making payments faster, smarter, and more seamless, and why consumer trust and convenience are now essential for business success.

They also unpack the big numbers behind these trends, including $6 trillion in retail stablecoin transactions and the $5.7 trillion SME financing gap, and what these mean for businesses and consumers. Tue shares how AI, biometrics, and digital IDs are transforming onboarding and fraud prevention, why collaboration between fintechs and banks is key, and how payments are evolving from a back-office utility into a strategic growth engine. Tune in for a forward-looking conversation on the future of payments and the trends shaping 2026.

In this episode: 

How AI is turning payment systems into smart, self-optimizing tools

Why agentic AI, BNPL, and connected car payments are no longer just experiments

How biometrics and digital IDs are making onboarding faster and safer

Why fintechs and banks need to collaborate or risk falling behind

The growing role of stablecoins and digital currencies in everyday payments

Trust and convenience are now make-or-break for businesses​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Resources:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tue-to-541a214 

Website: http://www.edgardunn.com/ 

Report: https://www.edgardunn.com/reports/advanced-payments-and-fintech-report

In this episode, Samee Zafar from Edgar, Dunn & Company speaks with Amir Wain, CEO of i2c, about the transformative role of AI in financial services and payments. They discuss the definition of agentic AI versus generative AI, its benefits for businesses, and the importance of focusing on business objectives over technology. Amir shares insights on founding i2c to address complexity in financial platforms through a single customer-centric solution. The conversation also explores practical applications such as AI-powered customer service, the significance of tokenization for agentic commerce, and the potential of digital assistants.

Show Notes:

In this episode, Samee Zafar of Edgar, Dunn & Company talks with Amir Wain, CEO and founder of i2c, about how AI is reshaping financial services and what businesses should actually do about it. From customer service automation to agentic commerce, Amir explains why AI is both an existential threat and a massive opportunity—and how to focus on the latter by starting with business objectives, not technology.

 

They also explore how agentic AI goes beyond chatbots to take real actions, why legacy infrastructure often holds back AI implementation, and how digital assistants will change the way we shop and manage daily tasks. Amir shares how AI enables smaller players to compete with giants through 24/7 service and personalized experiences, and why tokenization is the right foundation for agentic commerce.

 

Join us as we explore the evolution from generative to agentic AI, practical applications in payments and commerce, and why the dust will settle on digital assistants just like it did with mobile operating systems—with AI becoming core infrastructure rather than standalone products.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

In this episode: 

 

Why AI is both an existential threat and a great equalizer for businesses

How to approach AI by focusing on business objectives: differentiation and efficiency

The evolution from generative AI to agentic AI and the four key components

How AI-powered customer service enables first-call resolution and 24/7 scalability

The potential of digital assistants to consolidate commerce and boost productivity

Why legacy infrastructure holds back AI implementation in financial services

The role of tokenization in enabling secure agentic commerce

How AI democratizes data analytics and enables true personalization at scale​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Resources:

 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirwain 

Website: https://www.i2cinc.com

In this episode, Davide Villa speaks with John Lunn, CEO of Gr4vy, about the transformative role of payment orchestration in the payments industry. They discuss the definition of payment orchestration, its benefits for merchants, and the importance of flexibility in payment systems. John shares insights on founding Gravy to address industry frustrations, the significance of tokenization, and the critiques surrounding payment orchestration. The conversation also explores future trends such as stable coins and agentic commerce, emphasizing the evolving role of payments in business.

Show Notes:

In this episode, Davide Villa of Edgar, Dunn & Company talks with John Lunn, CEO and founder of Gr4vy, about how payment orchestration is redefining the way merchants manage payments. From redundancy and scalability to tokenization and network tokens, John explains why orchestration is no longer just an optimization tool but a critical part of merchants’ infrastructure.

 

They also explore how global payment rails—from Brazil’s Pix to India’s UPI—are reshaping commerce, and why orchestration enables merchants to adapt quickly, test new methods, and negotiate better terms with PSPs. John shares how orchestration eliminates single points of failure, boosts flexibility, and even turns payments into a competitive advantage.

 

Join us as we explore how orchestration, new payment models, and emerging technologies like stablecoins and agentic commerce are transforming financial services worldwide.

In this episode: 

 

Why payment orchestration is becoming essential for merchants

How orchestration boosts redundancy, scalability, and flexibility

The role of tokenization and network tokens in reducing fraud and improving customer experience

How merchants can negotiate better PSP terms with orchestration

The cost savings of routing debit payments to the right networks

Why payments can be a competitive advantage, not just a utility

The rise of new payment rails like Pix, UPI, and FedNow

How orchestration enables merchants to test and switch payment methods quickly

The potential of stablecoins in remittances and high-value transactions

Opportunities and risks of agentic commerce powered by AI agents

Resources:

 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnclunn 

Website: https://gr4vy.com