The Green Sheet Online Edition
December 22, 2025 • 25:12:02
Letter from the editor
As we close out the year, we want to thank you for reading, engaging with and supporting The Green Sheet throughout 2025. We wish you a happy and peaceful holiday season as we reflect on a year of extraordinary change. A new presidential administration often brings policy whiplash, and 2025 delivered more than the usual recalibration. As regulatory priorities shifted, payments innovation accelerated on nearly every front—from buy now, pay later and peer-to-peer payments to stablecoins, instant rails, and agentic artificial intelligence.
The result was a year marked by contradiction: consumer protections rolled back at the federal level even as states stepped in; Big Tech largely spared from oversight while banks faced renewed scrutiny; and digital payments growing more powerful and faster but also more vulnerable. This issue's lead article examines how those forces collided and what they reveal about where commerce and payments are headed. Our contributing writers are always looking toward where our industry is headed next.
Herein they cover different ways hemp/CBD restrictions and the long-awaited Visa-Mastercard settlement proposal are already rattling merchants, ISOs and sales teams; what's behind Lloyds’ acquisition of Curve and how it could reshape embedded credit, wallet strategy and customers' bank accounts; why payments professionals must rethink their origin stories, strategies and AI use to stay differentiated and human in an increasingly commoditized market; how Mastercard's MATCH Pro clarifies rules, timelines and thresholds to reshape how acquirers assess merchant risk and handle disputes; and ways in which businesses can navigate the increasingly tough alternative finance regulatory landscape.
As always, there's been plenty of news across our sphere. Highlights include shopping records set during the Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday weekend; a surge in small business credit card satisfaction; the FIDO Alliance's expansion of its mission beyond passwordless authentication to tackle digital identity; attorneys general from seven states that are scrutinizing the buy now, pay later market, raising concerns about consumer protections, fees and rising debt; a report warning that hotels must get AI-ready soon or risk falling behind; and The Federal Reserve's examining whether to reduce its scope of check services due largely to declining check usage.
We've also included updates, profiles and other resources to help you stay informed and inspired.
Thanks again for including us in your payments journey. Please email your comments to greensheet@greensheet.com; to share your news, just send a press release to press@greensheet.com. 
Notice to readers: These are archived articles. Contact information, links and other details may be out of date. We regret any inconvenience.
