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CoverStory

Stablecoins gain traction concerns about scams are growing. And Harris Poll found
that 28 percent of Americans it surveyed had lost money
Stablecoins, cryptocurrencies pegged to assets like the as a result of an AI-related scam; better than one in five
dollar or gold, have captured the imagination of mer- reported losing $5,000 or more.
chants, consumers, fintechs and lawmakers. The Guiding
and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins One scam that is growing uses AI to impersonate someone
(GENIUS) Act was signed into law in July, sparking a flur- close to a victim (an adult child, for example) who is in
ry of issuance activity. trouble and the only way out is for the victim to deposit
cash into a crypto ATM. The funds then get transferred to
The law creates a federal regulatory framework for stable- the scammers digital wallet and can't be clawed back.
coins. For example, issuers are required to have 100 per-
cent liquid reserves backing their stablecoins and provide "As fraudsters' use of AI accelerates, the scope and scale of
regular disclosures. They are subject to a tiered system of authorized payment scams edge close to a tipping point
licensing, strict KYC/AML rules and various consumer that threatens to upend the trust relationship across the
protections requirements. whole financial system," said Trace Fooshee, strategic ad-
visor at Datos Insights.
The list of issuing companies and volume of stablecoins
in circulation continues to grow. According to the World This year has seen a payments ecosystem transforming in
Economic Forum 12 billion stablecoins were in circulation high gear, regulators struggling to keep up, and trust, re-
in 2020; this year the total is expected to hit 208 billion. silience and adaptability defining competitive advantage.
One new issuer is Fiserv, which issued its own U.S. dollar-
backed stablecoin and entered into initiatives with several
other companies including PayPal and Mastercard for is-
suance initiatives. Patti Murphy is senior editor at The Green Sheet, president of ProScribes
Ink (www.proscribes.net) and self-described payments maven of the
Agentic AI makes big waves fourth estate. Her Today in Payments reports are a regular feature of the
Merchant Sales Podcast.
AI, especially agentic AI, hit warp speed this year. With
agentic AI, bots can make decisions that help consumers
find the shoes or other products they want at their ideal
price point. Agentic AI is far more sophisticated than that
example suggests, however. Leading payments compa- Payments is our Business
nies, for example, are using the technology for risk vetting
and merchant onboarding.
• Expert Witness Consulting Testimony
And major payments brands, like Visa, Mastercard and • Experience in Criminal & Civil cases
PayPal, are all-in with agentic AI. "Agentic commerce is • Payment Facilitation
more disruptive than anything we've seen in 30-plus • RFP services
years," Richard Crone of Crone Consulting LLC told The
Green Sheet. • Integrated Payments
• Least Cost Routing
McKinsey & Co. explained in a report that agentic shifts • Card Network Rules
AI from being a reactive helper to a proactive agent for • Payment Gateways
shopping, payments and investing. And that has been
playing out as consumers shop for the year-end holidays. • Processor Selection
• 'Hard to Place Merchants'
Salesforce reported that during the shopping period from
Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday the share of Let us demonstrate how our our Experience
global and U.S. online shopping traffic coming from third- and Knowledge can work for you!
party AI agent channels tripled compared to the same pe-
riod last year.
Napa Payments and Consulting
Retailers with their own branded shopping agents saw
three times greater online sales growth over the weekend (707)601-7656
than those that didn't (8 percent versus 2.6 percent), Sales-
force reported.
kenm@napapaymentsandconsulting.com
But there is a downside to AI. A 2024 poll of consumers by
the cloud security firm Upwind found 87 percent worry napapaymentsandconsulting.com
that AI is helping scammers. Fifty-five percent said their

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