21 dec 2022

Artificial Intelligence, Member Exclusive, Payments

How agentic commerce is making execution, intent, and credit actionable inside payments

• Agentic commerce is narrowing the gap between execution, intent, and credit within payments.
• Across the payments stack, companies like Stripe, American Express, and Affirm are applying agentic AI to smooth the path from intent to execution.

Payments

What Block’s $200 billion credit operation teaches banks about first-party data

• Block has extended over $200 billion in credit globally by underwriting customers with first-party data from Cash App and Square, bypassing the bureau feeds that leave 100 million Americans invisible to traditional lenders
• The same risk philosophy runs across all three products: maximize access, reduce cognitive burden on repayment, and reinvest efficiency gains back into expanding credit

Banking as a service, Business of Fintech

The infrastructure layer is still up for grabs as firms compete to establish its architecture

• Fintechs are moving from partners to principals — applying for charters, building proprietary rails, and underwriting from their own data
• The sponsor bank model isn't dead, but it's under pressure as firms like Affirm and SoFi bet that owning the infrastructure beats renting it

Banking, Partner

The cost of standing still: Why core banking modernization has become a competitive imperative

• Modernization needs to be viewed as a strategic growth driver rather than just an IT cost.
• Will Moroney, CRO at Temenos discussed the firm’s recent trends report that shows how banks are falling behind by clinging to legacy infrastructure, and why closing the AI readiness gap is becoming the defining competitive challenge of the moment.

10-Q, Member Exclusive

Can Robinhood build sustainable revenue streams that are not tied to how often people trade?

• In 2026, Robinhood’s strategy has been about expanding what surrounds its core trading engine.
• The actual question is: Can episodic trading behavior be converted into persistent reliance on Robinhood?