Build, Own, Scale.
Don't Rent.

The infrastructure map to power any regulated company that moves money — merchants, SaaS, fintechs, banks

When you outgrow Stripe or Adyen, you face a maze of 200+ providers across 21 layers. STACKS maps who does what, what it costs, and what you actually own. V33: fiat and crypto have merged — the schemes launched their own stablecoin, MiCA is enforced, GENIUS rules land July 18. New suppliers, agents and workflows every day. Built from 8+ years operating inside the stack—not from vendor decks.

Issues to Tackle → 21 Building Blocks Find Your Profile
WHO BUILDS ON THE STACK
Merchant
E-com · Retail
Platform
Marketplace · SaaS
Fintech
Neobank · Wallet
Enterprise
B2B · Treasury
↓ Relies On
21 BUILDING BLOCKS
0 3 4 6 7 9 10 11 12 13
Acquiring · Vault · Route · Stablecoin · Agentic · Credit · Insurance
↓ Managed By
ADMIN BLOCKS
📊 Data
Analytics · BI
⚙️ Ops
Refunds · Disputes
🔄 Recon
Settlement · Ledger
⚡ V33 — The Merge: Fiat × Crypto × Agents Is One Stack Now

The argument is over. Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Coinbase and BlackRock launched a consortium stablecoin (OUSD, Jun 30). MiCA is enforced — 244 licensed CASPs survived, ~83% of the old register is gone. GENIUS final rules land Jul 18: stablecoin issuance becomes a chartered banking category. Google UCP won agent-commerce round one. 30+ MCP servers across every layer. One regulated stack — look for the 🤖 MCP badge.

30+ MCP servers live
~$1B Stripe buys Metronome — billing consolidates
UCP won round 1 — Shopify · Walmart · Stripe
140+ companies in the OUSD consortium
$320B stablecoin supply — record
Fiat × Crypto merged — 244 CASPs standing
📼 The Tape — what moved, and the read
DATED FACTS · NO VENDOR SPIN · UPDATED JUL 10
JUL 18GENIUS final rules land. Stablecoin issuance becomes a chartered banking category. → Stop asking which crypto company to trust; ask which of your banks will issue.
JUL 1MiCA grandfathering ends: 244 CASPs licensed, ~83% of the register gone. → Audit every crypto vendor for a license this week (L10.5).
JUN 30OUSD: Stripe, Visa, MC, Coinbase, BlackRock + 140 launch a consortium stablecoin. Circle −17%. → The neutral-issuer premium is dead; design every flow multi-issuer.
JUN 17Shopify makes UCP self-serve; Adyen ships a protocol translator. → The protocol war ends in translation — expose UCP first, translate the rest.
JUN 11Nuvei buys Payoneer ($2.75B). Acquiring + payouts, one counterparty. → Reprice your concentration risk; keep disburse multi-vendor.
JUNBilling consolidation completes: Stripe×Metronome (~$1B), Adyen×Orb ($335M), Salesforce×m3ter. → Your processor now meters your margins. Self-host (Lago) or accept it knowingly.
MAY 27SoFiUSD live to 15M retail users. First national-bank stablecoin at consumer scale. → The bank-issued wave is here; L10.1 is filling with charters, not startups.
🎯 Issues to Tackle

What Are You Trying To Solve?

Pick your issue. We'll highlight the building blocks that matter.

💰
Improve Margins
Move from ~2.9% to IC++ (~1.2%)
L4 → L5 → L6
📊
Own Your Data
Raw auth codes, proprietary models
L3 → L5 → L8
🔐
Own Your Tokens
No PSP lock-in, portable PANs
L4 → L6
🏦
Own Financial Products
Cards, wallets, accounts, stablecoins
L7 → L10.1
📒
Own Your Ledger
Real-time balances, multi-currency, crypto
L7 → L10
🛡️
Own Your Compliance
MiCA enforced, GENIUS, DORA, PSD3
L3 → L10.5 → Backbone
📜
Get Licensed
Agent → EMI → PI → Bank
L3 → L5 → L7
🚀
New Rails Readiness
A2A, stablecoins, 24/7 settlement
L2 → L10.3
🤖
Sell to Agents
UCP/ACP endpoints, agent trust, KYA
L3.4 → L11.1 → L11.4
🔌
MCP Providers
30+ agent-ready APIs across the stack
L2 → L3 → L6 → L7 → L9 → L10
🧾
Monetize & Bill Right
Metering got bought: Stripe, Adyen, Salesforce
L0.1 → L8
⚠️
Survive Your Vendors
Parker, Synapse, Treezor — exit plans
L7 → L10.2 → L10.5
🔄
Show All Layers
Reset filter
📦 21 Building Blocks

The Complete Payment Stack

Click any block to explore providers. From bundled PSPs to agentic commerce.

MATURE Production-ready GROWING Rapid adoption 2025 Major updates AT TABLE In protocol working groups
Surface Layer — The Bundled Starting Points
L0
Full-Stack PSP
All-in-one bundled
AllShow all
E-commerceOnline only
OmnichannelOnline + POS
MarketplaceMulti-seller
Convenience
vs control
Stripe $159B 🤖 MCP
MCP (23 tools). ACP author, UCP adopter, OUSD founding partner (Jun '26). Owns Bridge + Privy + Tempo stake. Every rail hedged.
Adyen 2026 🤖 PILOT
Adyen Agentic (Jun '26): one API speaks UCP+ACP+AP2+Meta. Talon.One acq = loyalty data play. Q1'26 €382B (+21%).
Checkout.com
US bank charter approved (Georgia MALPB, Jan '26). Blue EMI acquired. $300B vol, profitable. The quiet comeback.
PayPal / Braintree 🤖 MCP
MCP LIVE. PYUSD in 70 markets (Mar '26), $4B mcap — 5x in 12mo. Stripe acq rumors. Fastlane via Adyen.
Mollie EU
EU-focused. SMB e-commerce. Fast onboarding.
Square MCP
SMB. Strong POS hardware. Online + in-store. AI ordering.
Worldline
EU leader. Enterprise omnichannel. Strong retail.
Nexi
Italy, Nordics, DACH. Post-Nets merger. Strong retail.
Clover (Fiserv)
SMB platform. POS + acquiring. US dominant.
Dojo EU
UK SMB acquirer. Paymentsense rebrand. Fast growth.
myPOS EU
EU SMB. Integrated POS + acquiring. Fast onboarding.
HiPay EU
France/EU mid-market. Omnichannel. Gaming strong.
PayPlug EU
France SMB. E-commerce focused. BPCE Group.
Mangopay EU
Marketplace-native. Escrow + wallets. €80B+ processed.
Lemonway EU
EU regulated escrow. Marketplace splits. PSD2 licensed.
Hyperwallet (PayPal)
Mass payouts + marketplace. Gig economy. Uber, Airbnb.
L0.1
MOR, PayFac & Cross-Border
Full liability outsource
AllShow all
MORMerchant of Record
Cross-BorderInternational DTC
PayFacEmbedded
Zero Liability
they own risk
Paddle 🤖 MCP
MCP Server LIVE. Full billing API: subscriptions, pricing, invoices, refunds, revenue metrics. MOR for SaaS. Global VAT.
FastSpring
MOR for software, games. Global tax compliance.
Digital River ☠️ DEAD
Chapter 7 bankruptcy May '25. Former enterprise MOR. Clients migrating to FastSpring, Paddle.
2Checkout / Verifone
MOR + subscription billing.
LemonSqueezy
MOR for creators, indie devs. Simple.
Global-e HOT
Cross-border DTC. Duties, taxes, localized checkout. Powers Adidas, LVMH.
Zonos
Landed cost calculator. Duties + taxes at checkout.
Flow Commerce
Cross-border platform. Shopify Plus partner.
Stripe Connect
Marketplace PayFac. Stripe Tax for compliance. 40+ countries.
Alipay+ HOT
Ant Group PayFac. 1B+ users. Cross-border APAC + EU.
Nuvei $2.75B
Acquiring Payoneer (Jun '26): PayFac + acquiring + payouts, full lifecycle. ~$500B combined volume.
Shift4
PayFac. Strong hospitality, restaurants.
Rapyd
$4.5B val. Fintech-as-a-service. PayFac + BaaS. PayU GPO acquisition funded.
Finix
PayFac infrastructure. SaaS becomes PayFac.
L0.2
Acquirers
Direct processing relationship
AllShow all
GlobalMulti-region
EuropeEU/UK strength
EmergingLatAm, Asia
Direct Rates
IC++ possible
Worldpay MCP
$2.3T TPV. Largest processor. 52B txn/year.
Worldline
EU leader by revenue. Enterprise omnichannel.
Fiserv
US giant. Owns Clover. Mastercard Agent Pay integration — network token requestor. Visa + MC agentic protocols adopted.
Global Payments MERGED
Worldpay closed Jan 9 '26 ($24.3B). Pure-play commerce. 6M+ merchants, $3.7T vol, 175 countries. FIS bought Issuer Solutions ($13.5B).
J.P. Morgan Payments
#1 CNP acquirer in EU. Bank-grade.
Nexi EU
Italy, Nordics, DACH. Post-Nets merger.
PayPlug EU
France SMB. BPCE Group. Growing fast.
Revolut Business NEW
EU acquiring live. Fast onboarding. Growing merchant base.
SumUp
SMB acquiring + terminals. 4M+ merchants.
Dojo EU
UK SMB acquirer. Paymentsense rebrand. Fast growth.
myPOS EU
EU SMB. Instant settlement. Integrated terminals.
HiPay EU
France/EU mid-market. Omnichannel. Gaming strong.
Clover (Fiserv)
SMB platform. POS + acquiring. US dominant.
dLocal
LatAm & Africa specialist. Emerging markets.
Mercado Pago
LatAm dominant. 50M+ users.
Razorpay
India leader. $7.5B valuation.
Alipay / WeChat Pay
China. 1B+ users combined.
Core Stack — Build Your Own
L1
Capture
Customer touchpoint
AllShow all
OnlineCheckout
POS SoftwareOmnichannel
HardwareTerminals
Pay-at-TableHospitality
UX Control
own experience
Build in-house
Full checkout control. Max flexibility.
Bold Commerce
Headless checkout. Shopify Plus partner.
Fast (Affirm)
One-click checkout. Acquired by Affirm.
Bolt
One-click checkout network. 80M shoppers.
Nepting EU
Multi-acquirer POS. Nexo standard. EU leader.
FreedomPay
Enterprise POS. Hospitality, retail.
ACI Worldwide
Omnichannel. Real-time payments.
Lightspeed
SMB POS platform. Retail + hospitality.
PAX Technology
Android terminals. Global #2 in hardware.
Ingenico
AXIUM terminals. Enterprise grade.
Verifone
Terminals + cloud software.
Castles Technology
Android terminals. Asia + EU presence.
Tap to Pay (Apple/Google)
SoftPOS. Phone becomes terminal.
Dejamobile
SoftPOS SDK. White-label tap-to-pay.
Sunday HOT
Pay-at-table leader. 10K+ restaurants.
Obypay EU
France. QR order + pay.
QikServe
UK. Acquired by Access Group.
Vita Mojo
UK. Order & pay platform.
L2
Accept
Payment methods
AllShow all
Local APMsiDEAL, BLIK, etc.
BNPLBuy Now Pay Later
A2A / Open BankingBank transfers
CryptoStablecoin accept
Coverage
local methods
PPRO
175+ local APMs. Global coverage.
iDEAL (NL)
Netherlands. 70%+ online share. Bank redirect.
BLIK (PL)
Poland. 80M+ txn/month. Mobile-first.
Bancontact (BE)
Belgium. 85% card market. Payconiq merger.
Bizum (ES)
Spain. 28M users. Bank consortium P2P.
MB Way (PT)
Portugal. 5M users. Mobile payments.
Swish (SE)
Sweden. 8M users. Bank consortium.
Klarna HOT
NYSE: KLAR. Q1'26: $1.01B rev (+44%), first op profit. 119M users. KlarnaUSD on Tempo. Stock $16 vs $40 IPO.
Affirm
Q1 FY26: $10.8B GMV (+42%). 24.1M active. In-store card +187%. Affirm + Klarna both on Apple Pay in-store.
Afterpay (Block)
APAC/US BNPL. Acquired by Block $29B.
Alma EU
France BNPL leader. €490M raised.
Scalapay EU
Southern EU. Fashion focus. €700M+ raised.
Oney (BPCE)
France. Bank-backed BNPL. Retail partnerships.
Billie EU
B2B BNPL. Germany. €100M+ raised.
Mondu EU
DE B2B BNPL. Metro AG partnership '26 — trade credit inside wholesale ordering. Consolidation candidate with Billie.
Two EU
Nordic/UK B2B BNPL. Instant net terms at checkout. B2B GMV market: $80B → $180B by 2030.
Kriya EU
UK B2B payments + trade credit (ex-MarketFinance). Embedded PayLater for merchants.
Defacto EU
FR B2B credit API — instant SMB lending for marketplaces & procurement. France's lane in B2B BNPL.
Hokodo ☠️ DEAD
Closed Nov '25, final txn processed. Was a pan-EU B2B BNPL leader. Lesson: trade credit without a cheap balance sheet is a burn rate.
Wero / EPI HOT
45M+ users. E-commerce live Germany. Luxembourg June '26. iDEAL migration. Expanding FR/BE.
Token.io
A2A payments. Open banking connectivity.
TrueLayer
UK/EU open banking. VRP support.
Tink (Visa)
€100M+ daily txn volume. Open banking platform. Visa-owned. 509+ banking institutions.
Plaid IPO '26
$575M Series E ext. $6.1B valuation. IPO projected mid-late '26. 12K FIs.
GoCardless 🤖 MCP
MCP LIVE (Feb '26): bank payments via natural language. SEPA, BACS, ACH. Instant Bank Pay.
Bridge HOT
Stripe's $1.1B. OCC charter (conditional). Issues KlarnaUSD. Stablecoin financial accounts, 101 countries.
BVNK
Mastercard acquiring for up to $1.8B (pending). $30B annual vol. Multi-rail: stablecoin + fiat.
MoonPay
Crypto on-ramp. Let users buy to pay.
L3
Risk, Identity & Compliance
Fraud, Auth, KYC, Disputes
AllShow all
FraudML + guarantee
IdentityAuth + verification
KYC / KYBOnboarding
DisputesChargebacks
AMLSanctions
Own Risk
or outsource
Sardine $660M
$70M Series C Feb '25. AI agents automate fraud ops. 2.2B devices profiled. 130% YoY ARR growth.
Stripe Radar
ML fraud built into Stripe. 38% less fraud on average. Custom rules.
Ravelin
ML fraud. 3DS optimization. UK-based.
Sift
Digital trust platform. Account protection.
Signifyd
100% chargeback guarantee. E-commerce.
Forter TACP 🤖 MCP
MCP server LIVE + TACP protocol (open-source). 18,510% agentic traffic spike. Agent identity verification. OAuth for MCP. AWS Marketplace.
Riskified 2026 🤖 MCP
AI Agent Approve MCP (AWS Marketplace). Supply+demand side fraud for agent txns. Policy Builder. HUMAN Security partnership.
Feedzai $2B
$75M Series E. $2B valuation. Digital Euro fraud prevention. Bank-grade ML.
Marble OSS
Open-source fraud & AML decisioning. Hexa portfolio (Spendesk, Aircall). 100+ clients. No-code rules. Self-hosted or SaaS.
Oscilar AGENTIC
Agentic risk platform — AI agents run detection, decisions, resolution across fraud, credit, AML. Neha Narkhede (Kafka/Confluent). Barte win Mar '26.
Taktile $54M
Series B (Balderton), $79M total. Decision platform: risk teams change logic without engineering. Credit + fraud + AML flows.
Seon
Digital footprint fraud signals — email, phone, IP enrichment. Fast integration, strong on fintech onboarding.
Unit21
No-code fraud & AML ops. Case management + transaction monitoring for fintech compliance teams.
Stytch HOT
Passwordless auth. Passkeys. B2B auth. $1B+ valuation.
Passage (1Password)
Passkeys-first. Acquired by 1Password.
Auth0 (Okta)
Identity platform. Enterprise SSO. MFA.
Plaid Identity
Bank account verification. Income + identity.
Stripe Identity
Document + selfie verification. Built into Stripe.
Persona
KYC/KYB flows. Identity verification.
Alloy
Identity decisioning. Bank onboarding.
Onfido
Document + biometric verification.
Chargebacks911
Chargeback prevention + management. ROI guarantee.
Midigator
Dispute management platform. Analytics.
Verifi (Visa)
Order Insight. CDRN alerts. Compelling Evidence 3.0.
Ethoca (Mastercard)
Consumer Clarity. Real-time alerts. Prevention.
Chainalysis
Blockchain analytics incumbent. Reactor + KYT. Full crypto-compliance stack → L10.5.
ComplyAdvantage
AML data. Sanctions screening.
Flagright $4.3M
AI-native AML compliance. Frontline Ventures seed. Free year 1 for startups. London, NY, SF.
Fingerprint NEW 🤖 MCP
Industry-first fraud MCP (Mar '26). Device intelligence for AI agents. Works through incognito + VPN.
TRM Labs $1B+
Unicorn Feb '26 ($70M C — Goldman, Citi). Best-in-class stablecoin tracing. Full stack → L10.5.
Sardine vs Forter in Agentic: Sardine = AI agents automate YOUR fraud ops (internal). Forter TACP = authenticate EXTERNAL AI shopping agents. Different problems, both L3.
L3.4
Agentic Trust & Security V26+
Trust the agent as a transacting entity
AllShow all
Agent TrustAuthentication
Agent SecurityBot discrimination
Agent Trust
new primitive
Forter TACP OPEN 🤖 MCP
Trusted Agentic Commerce Protocol. Open-source (GitHub). Agent identity verification. OAuth for MCP. 18,510% traffic spike.
Riskified Agent Approve 🤖 MCP
Supply+demand MCP for agent fraud. AI Agent Intelligence dashboard. Policy Builder. AWS Marketplace.
VGS Agent Toolkit 🤖 MCP
Tokenized card autofill for agents. PCI-compliant credential handling. Network Tokens. Visa + MC partners.
HUMAN Security NEW
Riskified partner. Distinguishing trusted AI shopping agents from malicious bots. Merchant security framework.
Vouched KYA
KYA pioneer — verifies the agent AND the human behind it. Identity, authentication, authorization scope.
Trulioo KYA
Authored the Know Your Agent framework: is the agent authorized to act, for whom, within what scope.
Experian Agent Trust MAY '26
Human-to-agent binding: verified human identity tied to the agents acting on their behalf. Bureau-grade entry into KYA.
Skyfire KYAPay LIVE
Signed-JWT agent identity + payment protocol. Agent Checkout processing thousands of txns daily. Also on L11.3.
KYA is now a vendor category: L3.4 is about trusting the AGENT as a buyer; L3 protects YOU from fraud — different problems. The stack has three jobs: agent identity (Vouched, Trulioo, Skyfire), human-to-agent binding (Experian Agent Trust), and API-key hygiene is NOT enough — keys prove access, not authorization. Forter TACP ≠ Forter fraud. VGS Agent Toolkit ≠ VGS vault.
L4
Route
Orchestration
AllShow all
OrchestrationMulti-PSP routing
Resilience
+ lower costs
ProcessOut
Smart routing. Analytics. 45+ connections.
Spreedly
$45B+ volume. Universal vault + routing. 100+ countries.
Primer
$75M raised. Drag-and-drop payment flows.
Payrails
Workflow engine. Rule-based routing.
Gr4vy AGENTIC
Cloud-native orchestration. Agentic MVP Sept '25. MCP + AP2 integration. Agent-specific rules.
Yuno
LatAm focused. Local payment routing.
Deuna
LatAm orchestration. Checkout + routing.
APEXX Global $10M
$10M Feb '26. Multi-acquirer orchestration. Enterprise payment optimization.
L5
Process
Direct acquiring
AllShow all
Direct-to-SchemeIC++ pricing
Acquirer EUEurope
Acquirer US/GlobalAmericas
Sponsor BankBIN sponsorship
Best Economics
IC++ = 40% savings
Silverflow HOT
Cloud-native. Direct-to-scheme. Raw data access.
Estreem EU
BNP+BPCE JV. 17B txn. EU direct acquiring.
Paymenture
Direct-to-scheme. IC++ for enterprise.
BNP Paribas EU
EU bank acquirer. €300B+ TPV. Enterprise.
Santander EU
EU/LatAm acquirer. Getnet subsidiary.
Barclays
UK acquirer. Enterprise merchants.
Crédit Agricole EU
France acquirer. Retail banking network.
JPMorgan Payments
US bank acquirer. $10T+ annual volume.
Worldpay MCP
$2.3T TPV. Largest processor. 52B txn/year.
Global Payments MERGED
Worldpay closed Jan 9 '26 ($24.3B). Pure-play commerce. 6M+ merchants, $3.7T vol, 175 countries. FIS bought Issuer Solutions ($13.5B).
Fiserv
US giant. First Data. Global processing.
FIS
Issuer + acquirer processing. Global.
BPCE / PPS EU
EU sponsor bank. PayPlug parent.
Banking Circle EU FIAT×CRYPTO
The settlement bank behind EU PSPs. CASP license Apr '26 → fiat↔stablecoin (USDC, USDG, EURI) from core treasury. Luxembourg CSSF.
ClearBank EU FIAT×CRYPTO
UK clearing bank for fintechs. First Dutch bank MiCA-cleared (Apr '26): EURC/USDC + SEPA Instant, joining Circle CPN.
Elavon
Sponsor bank + acquirer. US Bank subsidiary.
Wells Fargo
US sponsor bank. ISO/PayFac programs.
L6
Vault
Token ownership
AllShow all
PAN VaultOwn your tokens
Data PrivacyPII protection
Portability
no PSP lock-in
VGS HOT 🤖 MCP
Agentic Commerce Toolkit: tokenized card autofill for agents, MCP server, Network Tokens. 4B+ tokens. Visa + MC agentic partners.
Basis Theory $33M
$33M Series B Oct '25. Developer-first tokenization. Agentic commerce focus. PCI L1.
Skyflow
Data privacy vault. PII + PCI in one.
TokenEx
Enterprise tokenization. 15+ years.
Evervault
Encryption infrastructure. Developer SDK.
Stripe Forward NEW
Stripe vault + forwarding API. Tokenize in Stripe, forward to any PSP. Multi-processor data custody.
L7
Ledger, Accounts & Cards
Own the financial products
AllShow all
LedgerSource of truth
BaaS / AccountsIBANs, wallets
Card IssuingDebit, credit
Own Products
wallets, cards, data
Formance OSS
$21M Series A (PayPal Ventures). Open-source ledger. Numscript DSL. Own your stack.
Mambu
Cloud core banking. SaaS model.
Thought Machine
Cloud-native core. Vault platform. Tier 1 banks.
10x Banking
Cloud-native core. UK-based. Westpac client.
Stripe Treasury
Embedded banking. FDIC-insured accounts via Stripe.
Swan EU
EU BaaS. French IBANs. EMI licensed.
Unit
US BaaS. Survived Synapse. Daily reconciliation.
Treezor EU
SocGen → Shares sale STILL not closed (6 months). 8M+ cards. €130B+ flows. Your license partner is in escrow.
Solaris EU
German BaaS. Full banking license. Samsung partner.
Stripe Issuing
Card issuing via Stripe. Virtual + physical. Spending controls.
Marqeta M&A 🤖 MCP
MCP LIVE (read+write). ~$84B/qtr processed. Mastercard Crypto Partner Program. EU patchy — Enfuce/Thredd for pan-EU.
Lithic $120M 🤖 MCP
MCP Server LIVE (read-only). Transactions, accounts, balances. Safety-first: no write ops. $60M Series C. Stablecoin card partnership.
Highnote $750M+
$90M Series B. $750M+ valuation. Unified pay-in/pay-out + issuing. Single general ledger.
Thredd (ex-GPS)
EU issuer processor. Revolut backend.
Galileo
US issuing. Powers SoFi, Chime. SoFi owned.
Rails ≠ License: EMI/PI license doesn't mean automatic IBAN issuance. You need: SEPA direct access + BIC code + IBAN range. Most fintechs use sponsor banks (Swan, Treezor) even with their own license.
L8
Data & Billing
Measure & monetize
AllShow all
Payment AnalyticsIntelligence, data
Usage BillingMetered, consumption
SubscriptionRecurring revenue
Intelligence
& monetization
Pagos
Payment intelligence. Auth optimization.
Plaid 🤖 MCP
MCP Server LIVE. Account mgmt, real-time balances, transaction sync, link tokens. Open banking backbone.
via Silverflow
Raw scheme data. Direct access to auth codes.
Stripe Billing
Subscription + invoicing. Usage billing. Revenue Recovery.
Lago OSS LAST INDEPENDENT
The escape hatch: open-source, self-hosted, no per-txn fees. Lago AI agents + MCP server shipping. Own your meter.
Orb → Adyen $335M ACQ
Adyen acquisition announced Jun '26, closing ~Jul 1. Developer-first usage billing, SQL metrics, real-time tracking.
m3ter → Salesforce ACQ
Salesforce acquisition (Jun '26). UK usage metering for B2B SaaS scale-ups. Billing meets CRM.
Metronome → Stripe ~$1B ACQ
Acquired by Stripe Jan 14 '26. Was the AI-billing standard: OpenAI, Anthropic, Databricks, NVIDIA. Billions of events/month.
Zuora
Enterprise subscription. Public company.
Chargebee 🤖 MCP
AgentKit MCP LIVE. Billing + subscription via Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf. B2B SaaS.
Recurly
Subscription billing. Dunning, retention.
RevenueCat
Mobile subscriptions. In-app purchases.
The metering category died in six months: Stripe→Metronome (~$1B, Jan), Salesforce→m3ter (Jun), Adyen→Orb ($335M, Jun). Usage billing is now a feature of your processor or your CRM. If pricing is your moat, that's a conflict of interest — self-host (Lago) or build on your own meter. Your billing vendor now knows your margins AND processes your payments.
L9
Money Movement
Splits, payouts, cross-border
AllShow all
PayoutsGlobal FX
CapitalLending API
Distribution
your economics
Wise Business
Best FX rates. 80+ countries. Real mid-market.
Airwallex
$8B val — $330M Series G (Dec '25). Paynuri acq (Korea). APAC-licensed infra. Multi-currency accounts.
Payoneer 2026
Being acquired by Nuvei ($2.75B, Jun '26). PAYO Digital Bank filed. 190+ countries. Lock your terms pre-close.
Tipalti
AP automation. Supplier payouts. Tax compliance.
Thunes $150M
Series D Apr '25. US 50-state licenses. 130 countries, 550 direct integrations. Profitable.
Nium
APAC real-time. 100+ countries. Licensed globally.
Modern Treasury HOT 🤖 MCP
Full PSP since Feb '26: fiat + USDC/USDG/USDP, one API, KYC built in. MCP LIVE. Beam acquired. Live in days.
Sivo HOT
"Stripe for Debt." Debt-as-a-Service API. $100M capital.
Embedded Finance — Credit & Insurance
L12
Credit & Funding FIAT × CRYPTO
Lending, capital, treasury — now with on-chain credit
AllShow all
Lending-as-a-ServiceEmbed credit
Credit DecisioningUnderwriting
Funding SourceCapital providers
On-Chain CreditDeFi rails, regulated money
Credit Stack
invisible but complex
Sivo HOT
Debt-as-a-Service. Embed lending in 30 days.
Morpho $13B FIAT×CRYPTO
The on-chain credit backend: $13B deposits, $4.5B active loans. Powers Coinbase crypto-backed loans ($2B originated). SocGen — first regulated bank lending on it (USDCV/EURCV markets). V2: fixed rate, fixed term.
Maple Finance $4B AUM
Institutional on-chain credit: $20B+ originated since 2019. syrupUSDC $3B. #2 BTC-backed lender behind Figure. ~6% borrow cost, tri-party custody — no rehypothecation.
Figure NASDAQ: FIGR
Largest BTC-backed lender. HELOCs on Provenance blockchain — public company proving on-chain credit at consumer scale.
Aave Horizon
Aave's institutional RWA arm. Permissioned markets for regulated collateral on the largest DeFi liquidity base.
Lendflow
Embedded lending platform. SMB focus.
Rutter
Commerce data for lenders. Underwriting API.
Pipe
Revenue-based financing. SaaS companies.
Alloy
Identity + credit decisioning platform.
Inscribe
AI document verification. Fraud detection.
Experian API
Credit bureau data. Traditional scoring.
Plaid Income
Income + employment verification.
Codat
Financial data sync for lenders.
Arc
Revenue-based financing. Startup capital.
Credit Stack Pattern: Funding Source (who provides capital) → Decisioning (who underwrites) → Servicing (who manages loans). Each requires different suppliers. The 2026 twist: the funding source can now be a lending protocol — Coinbase fronts the UX, Morpho is the balance sheet. SocGen proved a regulated bank can do the same. On-chain credit isn't a crypto product anymore; it's a cheaper capital rail with programmable collateral.
L13
Embedded Insurance
Platform + Underwriter
AllShow all
PlatformDistribution/UX
UnderwriterRisk carrier
Coverage
always find both
Cover Genius HOT
Global embedded insurance. APIs for any product.
Qover EU
EU embedded insurance. E-commerce, mobility.
Boost Insurance
US insurtech. White-label products.
Hakuna EU
Embedded warranty. E-commerce focus.
bolttech
Global. Device protection, travel, shipping.
Lloyd's
Global specialty market. Capacity provider.
Munich Re
Reinsurance giant. Backs many insurtechs.
Wakam EU
EU risk carrier. API-first underwriting.
Insurance Pattern: Platform (distribution + UX) ≠ Underwriter (risk carrier). Always identify both. Platform takes commission, underwriter takes premium.
Stablecoin Infrastructure — GENIUS Act + MiCA REGULATED 2026 FIAT × CRYPTO MERGED
L10.1
Stablecoin Issuance
GENIUS Act (US) + MiCA (EU)
AllShow all
Use ExistingUSDC, USDT, PYUSD
White-LabelIssue your own
Yield-BearingTokenized MMFs
Digital $
$320B supply
Open Standard (OUSD) JUN 30
Consortium coin: Stripe, Visa, MC, Coinbase, BlackRock + 140 partners. Announced, not live. Killed the neutral-issuer premium overnight.
Circle NYSE: CRCL 🤖 MCP
USDC + EURC (41% of € market post-MiCA). OCC trust charter. OUSD squeeze: CRCL ~70% off peak. MCP + x402 LIVE.
Paxos HOT
Powers PYUSD. OCC trust charter (conditional, Dec '25). USDG network. Fordefi acq (MPC wallets).
Tether
USDT $185B (~58% share). USA₮ for the regulated US. Deliberately forfeits the EU — MiCA non-compliant.
SoFiUSD 🟢 LIVE
Live to 15M retail users (May '26), Ethereum + Solana. First national-bank stablecoin. White-label for banks.
Bridge Open Issuance HOT
Stripe. Any business launches stablecoins. Visa card issuing partnership. KlarnaUSD via Bridge.
Hashnote (Circle) NEW
USYC tokenized MMF. $1.5B AUM. Acquired by Circle Jan '25.
BlackRock BUIDL $2.5B+
Tokenized T-bill MMF across 6 chains, BNY custody. Where corporate treasuries park digital dollars at 4-5% yield.
Ondo Finance $3.8B TVL
USDY yield-bearing dollar (~$740M, ~4.65% APY) + OUSG treasuries. 70%+ of tokenized equities. The RWA distribution leader.
Stablecore $20M
Bank infrastructure only. Community/regional banks issue own stablecoins. Not merchant-facing.
Breeze
Stablecoin-as-a-Service. White-label issuance.
Fidelity FIDD FEB '26
USD stablecoin on Ethereum. 1:1 Treasury-backed. GENIUS Act compliant. Launched Feb 4, 2026.
Dakota NEW
B2B stablecoin infra. Modular APIs for programmable money movement. MSB registered US. Pursuing EU EMI/CASP.
Who can use what: SoFiUSD + Bridge = fintechs/merchants can directly use or white-label. Stablecore = bank infrastructure only (plugs into Jack Henry, FIS cores). Merchants go through the bank, not direct API.
L10.2
Wallet Infrastructure
Embedded wallets, key management, custody
AllShow all
Embedded WalletsIn-app wallets
Enterprise CustodyInstitutional grade
175M+ wallets
Stripe + Fireblocks consolidating
Turnkey $52M
Ex-Coinbase Custody. 50M+ wallets. TEE-based. Bridge, Polymarket, Magic Eden, Alchemy.
Privy → Stripe ACQ JUN '25
75M+ accounts. One-click wallet creation. Hyperliquid, OpenSea, Blackbird.
Dynamic → Fireblocks ACQ OCT '25
~$90M deal. 50M accounts. Kraken, zerohash, Magic Eden, Ondo Finance.
Crossmint $24M
40+ blockchains. Agentic commerce toolkit. 40K devs. 1,100% revenue growth.
DFNS
API-first wallet infra. MPC. For fintechs building wallets.
Fireblocks $5T+
Acquired TRES Finance ($130M) + Dynamic (~$90M). 2400+ clients. $5T+ annual. Custody-to-consumer.
BitGo IPO
First crypto IPO '26. NYSE: BTGO. $2.08B valuation. Multi-sig custody. $100B+ assets.
Anchorage $4.2B
$100M Tether investment. $4.2B valuation. OCC-chartered. IPO planned '26.
2025 Consolidation: Stripe owns Bridge (stablecoin) + Privy (wallets) = full crypto stack. Fireblocks owns Dynamic (wallets) = custody-to-consumer. Turnkey = last major independent embedded wallet infra.
L10.3
On/Off-Ramp & Card Issuing
Fiat↔crypto + spend stablecoins
AllShow all
On/Off-RampFiat ↔ Crypto
Crypto Card IssuingStablecoin spend
Accept CryptoMerchant payments
Spend USDC
at 150M+ merchants
Rain $1.95B
$250M Series C. Unicorn. 200+ partners (Western Union, Nuvei). $3B+ annualized txns. 30x card growth.
Baanx FCA
Self-custody cards. MetaMask Card, Ledger CL Card, Exodus Card. 1inch. EMI licensed.
Immersve
Mastercard issuing-as-a-service. Bitget Wallet (80M users). UK/EU/LATAM.
MoonPay $3B
160+ countries. Acquired Meso (Sept '25). MetaMask, Uniswap, OpenSea. Full ramp stack.
Transak 6 US MTLs
MetaMask mUSD partner. First wire-to-crypto. 64 countries. Ledger, Trust Wallet.
Ramp Network
150+ countries. FCA + FinCEN. GameStop, MetaMask, Ledger. Open Banking KYC.
Bridge (Stripe) $1.1B FIAT×CRYPTO
101 countries. USDB + USDC. Stablecoin Financial Accounts. Visa card issuing. Open Issuance for white-label stablecoins.
BVNK $750M FIAT×CRYPTO
Mastercard acquisition up to $1.8B (Mar '26, pending close). $30B annual stablecoin vol. The schemes are buying the rails.
Zero Hash FIAT×CRYPTO
Crypto-as-a-Service B2B2C. Powers Interactive Brokers, Stripe, MoneyLion. Combined fiat+crypto settlement.
Modern Treasury PSP 🟢 FEB '26 FIAT×CRYPTO
Full PSP (Feb '26): fiat + USDC/USDG/USDP, one API, KYC/KYB built in. Circle + Paxos Alliance partnerships.
Visa USDC Settlement US LIVE
$7B annualized (Apr '26), +50% QoQ. Nine chains: Solana, Base, Polygon, Arc, Tempo. Cross River, Lead Bank.
Lightspark 65 COUNTRIES
Grid expanded to 65 countries. 24/7 fiat + stablecoin settlement. Joined Google AP2. David Marcus.
BitPay
Crypto acceptance since 2011. Merchant settlement to fiat.
Talos $1.5B
$45M Series B ext. Institutional digital asset trading infra. Robinhood + Sony backing.
Rain = Marqeta for stablecoins: $1.95B unicorn. 200+ partners. Visa Principal Member, omni-chain settlement. Powers Western Union, Nuvei, KAST. The crypto card issuing infrastructure layer.
L10.4
Stablecoin Blockchains
Purpose-built payment rails
AllShow all
Payment-First2025 launches
Existing L1sSolana, Ethereum
Settlement
100K+ TPS
Tempo (Stripe/Paradigm) $5B
Mainnet LIVE Mar 18. MPP home. KlarnaUSD first bank-issued token. DoorDash payout pilot. No public volume figures.
Circle Arc NEW
Multi-chain USDC infra. Visa validator + Visa settlement chain (Apr '26).
Solana
Visa USDC settlement live. Sub-second finality. <$0.001 fees.
Ethereum / L2s
Base, Arbitrum, Optimism. EVM compatible. Largest developer ecosystem.
Tron
De facto USDT rail. $40B+ daily. Dominant emerging markets.
L10.5
Crypto Compliance & Licensing NEW V33
MiCA enforced · GENIUS live · Travel Rule mandatory
AllShow all
AnalyticsChain intelligence
Travel RuleCounterparty messaging
LicensingCASP, charters
License to Move
244 CASPs standing
Chainalysis
The incumbent. Reactor + KYT, government-grade attribution. Priced like it. Travel Rule via KYT-linked product.
TRM Labs $1B
Unicorn Feb '26 ($70M C — Goldman, Citi Ventures). Best stablecoin flow tracing: USDT/USDC on Tron, Solana, Polygon.
Elliptic $120M
Series D May '26 ($670M val — Nasdaq, Deutsche Bank). AI Copilot cuts alert review ~50%. Data Fabric direct query.
Scorechain EU
EU-native analytics. MiCA-aligned monitoring for CASPs. Luxembourg-based.
Notabene HOT
Travel Rule leader. Aggregates TRP, TRISA, IVMS101. Bitstamp, Luno, Copper. No messaging by Jul 1 = no lawful EU transfers.
Sumsub Travel Rule
KYC + Travel Rule in one stack. Among the most-deployed across EEA CASPs alongside Notabene.
Sygna / Veriscope
Travel Rule messaging networks. Check counterparty reachability BEFORE you sign — networks don't all interop.
ComplyAdvantage
AML data + sanctions screening across fiat AND crypto. The convergence play for one-vendor screening.
OCC Trust Charter Club US LANE
Circle, Paxos, BitGo, Anchorage, Bridge — conditional national trust charters. GENIUS final rules due Jul 18 make this the front door.
MiCA CASP Register ✓ ENFORCED
244 fully licensed CASPs (Jul 1). ~83% of the old register gone. Unlicensed counterparty = fines up to 12.5% of turnover. Audit your vendors.
Marble OSS
Open-source fraud + AML decisioning. Self-hosted rules on top of your analytics feed.
Four different problems, four vendors: Chain analytics (who is behind the address) ≠ Travel Rule (mandatory counterparty messaging since Jul 1) ≠ Licensing (CASP / OCC charter / state MTL) ≠ Reserve attestation (GENIUS monthly reports). Every regulated company touching stablecoins needs all four. Most vendors sell one and market four.
Agentic Commerce Infrastructure — AI Payments SHIPPING Q1 2026
How Agent Commerce Actually Works
User Request
👤 Human
"Buy me Nike Air Max size 10"
→
LLM = The Agent
🤖 Agent
ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini
→
L11.1 Standards
📡 Protocol
ACP, UCP, AP2
→
Receives API call
🏪 Merchant
Shopify, Direct API
→
Processes payment
💳 PSP
Stripe, Adyen
Key insight: Agent sends structured API request. Agent triggers, doesn't navigate. No "checkout page" — just protocol calls.
🔧 MCP is the foundation layer. Anthropic created MCP → Linux Foundation (AAIF). 97M+ monthly SDK downloads. 10K+ active servers. All commerce protocols (ACP, UCP, AP2) build ON TOP of MCP. V33: 30+ payment companies ship MCP servers. Agents don't browse your checkout — they call your stack. Agent-readable AND agent-payable.
L11.1
Protocols & Standards
Rules for AI-initiated transactions
AllShow all
Open ProtocolsStripe ACP, Google AP2
Network ProtocolsVisa, Mastercard
Crypto-Nativex402, KYA
Standards
interoperability
Stripe ACP HOT AT TABLE
4 releases. SPT + scoped tokens. The tell: Stripe itself adopted rival UCP (May '26). In-chat checkout lane only.
Stripe/Tempo MPP 🟢 LIVE AT TABLE
Machine Payments Protocol: agent-to-agent autonomous payments. Sessions + streaming micropayments. Visa card spec + Lightspark Lightning extension.
Google UCP WINNING AT TABLE
Won round 1: Shopify self-serve (Jun 17), Walmart, Target, Etsy — and Stripe. Universal Cart in Search/Gemini/YouTube. ~2x ACP dev traction.
Google AP2 60+ PARTNERS AT TABLE
Donated to FIDO Alliance (May '26). Mandates as W3C Verifiable Credentials. Adyen, Amex, Coinbase, PayPal, Mastercard.
Gr4vy Agentic MVP 🤖 PILOT
MCP server per-tenant. AP2 partner. Inventory bridge for real-time stock. Agent-specific orchestration rules + fraud controls.
Forter TACP OPEN
Trusted Agentic Commerce Protocol. GitHub open. Agent authentication + merchant trust. Not same as fraud ops.
Cloudflare Web Bot Auth
IETF RFC 9421. AI agent authentication standard. Akamai integration.
Visa Trusted Agent Protocol 🟢 LIVE
visa-cli LIVE (Mar 18). Card-Based MPP Spec + SDK shipped. VIA Europe: agentic + stablecoin auth. Cloudflare + Akamai.
Mastercard Agent Pay Framework 🟢 LIVE
Santander: EU's first live e2e agentic payment (Mar '26) — a test, not a rollout. Dynamic Token Verification Code. No-code acceptance.
Circuit & Chisel $19M AT TABLE
Sept '25. ATXP "HTTP for agents." Ex-Stripe crypto leads. Stripe/Coinbase/Solana investors.
x402 Protocol COOLING AT TABLE
V2: all ERC-20 tokens. Reality check: volume ~-77% from peak. HTTP-native micropayments finding a narrower niche.
Skyfire KYA NEW
Know Your Agent. Agent identity + verification protocol.
Protocol War Update: ACP (OpenAI/Stripe) vs UCP (Google) vs ATXP (Circuit & Chisel). ChatGPT checkout LIVE with Etsy. Shopify backing all three. x402 at 100M+ payments. Production > announcements.
L11.2
Network Enablement
Card networks adapting for agents
AllShow all
VisaIntelligent Commerce
MastercardAgent Pay
Network Access
150M+ merchants
Visa Intelligent Commerce 🟢 SHIPPING 🤖 MCP AT TABLE
visa-cli + Card-Based MPP SDK shipped (Mar '26). Stablecoin settlement $7B annualized, 9 chains. VIA Europe. 100+ partners.
Mastercard Agent Pay 🟢 LIVE 🤖 MCP AT TABLE
Santander e2e live (Mar '26). Fiserv at scale — network tokens, Secure CoF. Settles 6 stablecoins on 8 chains. NYDFS BitLicense (May '26).
PayPal Agentic Commerce OCT 25 AT TABLE
Agent Ready + Store Sync. Perplexity partner. Millions of merchants instantly agent-accessible.
Amex Web Bot Auth
Cloudflare partnership. Enterprise agent verification.
L11.3
Agent Wallets & Identity
Credential storage + KYA
AllShow all
Crypto RailsUSDC, stablecoin
Card RailsVisa, Mastercard
AI Buyers
new customer type
Skyfire HOT AT TABLE
$9.5M Coinbase/a16z/Circle. USDC wallets + KYA identity. $50B+ Ripple alumni.
Nekuda NEW
$5M Visa/Amex Ventures. Agentic Mandates. Agent wallet SDK for CARD rails.
Stripe Link HOT
Consumer wallet for agentic commerce. Spending limits, agent permissions.
Catena Labs HOT AT TABLE
$18M a16z. First regulated AI-native FI. Circle co-founder.
Payman AI
Visa-backed. AI agents pay humans. USDC + ACH rails.
Spangle AI $15M
$100M valuation. Ex-Amazon execs. Agentic storefronts for commerce.
Swap Commerce $100M
$100M Series C. Agentic commerce OS. 600+ businesses. Significant scale.
L11.4
Agent Checkout & Execution
Last-mile transaction completion
AllShow all
Live NowChatGPT, Etsy
InfrastructureBuild your own
Execution
agent → purchase
ChatGPT Instant Checkout 🟡 DEMOTED AT TABLE
Demoted Mar '26: <15 Shopify stores live, OpenAI pivoted to merchant-site checkout. Copilot + Perplexity still shipping.
InFlow DEC '25
Agent-native payments. Ex-PayPal team (RubyCoins). Agents onboard + pay autonomously. Zero friction.
Rye HOT
a16z crypto. Universal Checkout API. <5s completion, 99.9% reliability.
Natural $9.8M
Nov '25. B2B agentic payments infra. Logistics, procurement, healthcare.
PayOS 🟢 LIVE
First live Mastercard Agentic Token txn (Sept '25). Agent-driven checkout. Production.
Henry Labs
AI checkout agent. Nekuda-powered. E-commerce automation.
CROSS-STACK INDEX
🤖 MCP Server Catalog — 30+ Payment APIs, Agent-Ready
Not a layer. A map of every MCP server across the stack. Each entry lives on its home layer above — this is the index.
StripeL2
23 tools. PaymentIntents, refunds, subscriptions, search. LIVE
PayPalL2
Local + Remote. Payments, invoices, disputes, tracking. LIVE
GoCardlessL2 · A2A
Bank payments via natural language. SEPA, BACS, ACH. Feb '26. LIVE
FingerprintL3
Industry-first fraud MCP. Device intelligence for AI agents. Mar '26. LIVE
PagosDATA
Harmonized payments data via chat. Open-source. Feb '26 expansion. LIVE
PayabliL2 · EMBED
Forbes Fintech 50. Embedded payments for vertical SaaS. Agentic workflows. LIVE
AdyenL2
Agentic LLM integration. Google AP2 + UCP partner. PILOT
SquareL2
POS + invoicing. SMB agentic commerce. LIVE
ForterL3 · L3.4
MCP + TACP protocol. Real-time fraud for agents. LIVE
RiskifiedL3 · L3.4
AI Agent Approve (AWS Marketplace). Policy Builder. LIVE
Gr4vyL4
MCP per-tenant. AP2 partner. Checkout bridge. PILOT
VGSL6 · L3.4
Agentic Commerce Toolkit. Tokenized autofill. LIVE
MarqetaL7
Read+write. Virtual cards, spend controls, disputes. LIVE
LithicL7
Read-only. Txns, accounts, balances. Safety-first. LIVE
PlaidL8
Account mgmt, real-time balances, link tokens. LIVE
ChargebeeL8 · MOR
AgentKit MCP. Billing + subscription automation. LIVE
Modern TreasuryL9
ACH, wire, RTP, FedNow via natural language. LIVE
CircleL10.1
USDC ops, micropayments, wallets, x402 integration. LIVE
CoinbaseL10.2
Payments MCP + x402. Wallet, onramp, stablecoins. LIVE
FiptoL10.3
"Stablecoin Sandwich" — fiat in → settle → fiat out. ALPHA
VisaL11.2
visa/mcp + Acceptance Agent Toolkit. APAC + EU. PILOT
MastercardL11.2
Dev Agent Toolkit. Service discovery, API docs. LIVE
PaddleMOR
Subscriptions, pricing, invoices, revenue metrics. LIVE
BrexL7
Community-built. Card expenses, budget mgmt. Read-only.
XeroAdj.
Community-built. Accounting via MCP.
Alpic FRINFRA
First MCP-native cloud. Deploy in minutes. Top 10 SDK contributor.
StainlessINFRA
Generate MCP servers from your API. Powers OpenAI SDK.
SpeakeasyINFRA
OpenAPI → MCP server. Clients: Formance, Mistral.
AAIFGOV
Linux Foundation. MCP governance + goose (Block) + AGENTS.md.
This is not a layer. Every 🤖 badge on the stack above maps to an entry here. Sorted by home layer (L2 → L11.2 → MOR). Agent-readiness is a cross-cutting structural property, not a box you plug in at the end.
⚖️ Regulation Watch — Shapes Every Layer
🇺🇸 GENIUS Act
Stablecoin framework: reserves, audits, licensing. JPM & BofA signal issuance
Final rules due Jul 18 '26 — FDIC/OCC/Treasury NPRMs in
↳ L10.1, L10.2, L10.3
🇪🇺 MiCA
CASP licensing + Travel Rule enforced. 244 licensed, ~83% of register gone. EURC 41% of € market
✓ ENFORCED Jul 1, 2026
↳ L10.1, L10.2, L10.3, L10.4
🇪🇺 PSD3 / PSR
Open banking 2.0, fraud liability, API standards
Agreement Nov '25 → Compliance '27-28
↳ L2, L7, L8
🇺🇸 Nacha ACH
Same-day ACH limit raised to $10M. RTP expansion.
✓ Active Mar '26
↳ L9, L7
🇪🇺 CARF / DAC8
Crypto tax reporting, cross-border info exchange
✓ Active Jan 1, 2026
↳ L10.1, L10.2, L3
⚙️ Admin Blocks

What Runs Your Stack

When you unbundle from Stripe/Adyen, you lose their dashboard. You need to rebuild three things.

📊
DATA
What really happened?
Decline codes Settlement IC breakdown Audit trails
Pagos — Payment intelligence
dbt — Transform payment data
Metabase — Open-source BI
Compliance (DORA, MiCA, PSD2)
Vanta — SOC2, DORA evidence
Drata — Continuous monitoring
⚙️
ADMIN
Let me manage it
Tokens Refunds Disputes Sub-merchants
Retool — Custom internal tools
Forest Admin — Back-office on data
Appsmith — Open-source tools
🔄
PROCESS
Automate it
Reconciliation Workflows Retries Dunning
Modern Treasury — Reconciliation
n8n — Workflow automation
Temporal — Durable execution
Compliance Workflow Pattern
Trigger → Analyze → Human Review → Execute
Architecture Principle: Dual-Database
🏦
Banking Ledger
Regulatory source of truth. Immutable. Auditable.
Held by license holder
⟷
Sync
💾
App Database
Feature layer you control. Product logic, user data.
Owned by fintech
💡
Why this matters: Back-office tools (Forest Admin, Retool) operate on your App Database — not the Banking Ledger. You can't "fix" regulated data directly. This is why reconciliation matters, why Formance exists, and why BaaS isn't just "renting accounts."
The pattern: As you go deeper in the stack, operational complexity increases. Admin blocks become essential — not optional.
👤 Use Cases & Clients

Find Your Profile

Your business model determines which building blocks matter most.

🏪
Marketplace / B2B SaaS Platform
Multi-seller splits, escrow, seller payouts
▼
When should I own my ledger?
Full-Stack PSP
Stripe Connect
<€10M GMV
Regulated Platform
Lemonway, Mangopay
Standard splits
BaaS + Own Logic
Formance + Swan
€50M+ GMV
Full Build
Formance + EMI
Split IS product
Product → Supplier Linkage
Seller Payouts → Formance → Swan → Wise
Critical Layers
L3 KYCL7 LedgerL9 SplitsL9 Payouts
⚡
PayFac / Embedded Payments
Embed payments, own merchant relationship
▼
How deep do I go?
PSP Wrapper
Stripe Connect
Fast, their compliance
Orchestrate + Vault
ProcessOut + VGS
Multi-PSP, own tokens
Sponsor Model
BPCE + Duna
Own compliance
Full PayFac
Own license
€500M+ volume
Product → Supplier Linkage
Sub-Merchant Onboard → Persona KYC → Sponsor Bank → Visa/MC
Critical Layers
L3 KYCL5 SponsorL6 VaultL7 Ledger
🏬
Omnichannel Retail
Unify online + POS, one customer view
▼
How do I unify online and in-store?
Single PSP
Adyen Unified
Simplicity
POS Abstraction
Nepting + PSP
Multi-acquirer POS
Unified Vault
VGS + Nepting
Single token
Direct Acquiring
Silverflow + VGS
€100M+, IC++
Critical Layers
L1 POSL4 OrchestrationL6 VaultL5 Direct
🏦
Fintech / Neobank
Issue cards, generate accounts
▼
BaaS wrapper or build the bank?
Full BaaS
Swan, Unit
Fast, their license
BaaS + Ledger
Formance + Swan
Custom logic
Core Banking
Mambu + EMI
Full products
Full Build
Mambu + License
You ARE the bank
Product → Supplier Linkage
Card Issuing → Marqeta → Visa → Bank Sponsor
Critical Layers
L3 KYCL7 LedgerL7 BaaSL7 Cards
🌍
Global Payouts
Pay creators, suppliers, 100+ countries
▼
Traditional rails or crypto?
Traditional FX
Wise, Airwallex
Established corridors
Mass Payout
Payoneer, Tipalti
High volume
Emerging
Thunes, Nium
Africa, LatAm
Stablecoin
Bridge, Lightspark
24/7, zero FX
Critical Layers
L3 IdentityL9 FXL10.3 SettlementL11.2 Agent Wallets
🔗
Crypto Player
Exchanges, wallets, DeFi going compliant
▼
How do I bridge to fiat?
Crypto-Native
DFNS, Fireblocks
Custody only
Fiat Ramp
MoonPay, Sardine
User fiat entry
BaaS
Swan + Chainalysis
Fiat accounts
Full Banking
Mambu + Cards
Crypto bank
Critical Layers
L2 Fiat rampL3 SardineL7 BaaSL10.2 Custody
Real Stacks

How Leading Companies Actually Built It

Real stacks, mapped layer by layer. Public sources only — filings, IR pages, press releases.

📂 Real Stack #01 — Klarna
100% PUBLIC SOURCES
BNPL → Bank → Card Issuer → Stablecoin Issuer. The whole map in one company.
L2 · ACCEPT
BNPL at checkout — RENTS distribution
119M consumers. Apple Pay in-store since '26 — distribution via someone else's wallet.
L7 · CARDS — RENTS from Marqeta
Klarna pays Marqeta to run its cards
Card processing outsourced since 2018, 6 countries. Visa Flexible Credential puts debit + pay-later on one card. Klarna's name, Marqeta's infrastructure.
L5/L7 · LICENSE — OWNS
Klarna IS a bank (Klarna Bank AB)
Full Swedish banking license: customer deposits fund the BNPL loans at bank-grade cost of capital. This is what most fintechs rent from a sponsor — Klarna owns it.
L10.1 · STABLECOIN — RENTS infra
KlarnaUSD via Bridge Open Issuance
First bank-issued token on Tempo. Issuance infra rented from Stripe's Bridge. (Klarna PR, Nov '25.)
L10.4 · RAIL — RENTS
Tempo blockchain (Stripe/Paradigm)
Cross-border + everyday payments target. Mainnet live Mar '26.
L12 · CREDIT — OWNS
The credit book: 119M consumers
Twenty years of underwriting + repayment data — the moat. Publicly scored since the IPO: Q1'26 revenue $1.01B (+44%), first operating profit $68M.
The operator read — follow who pays whom: Klarna PAYS Marqeta to process cards, PAYS Bridge to mint KlarnaUSD, PAYS Tempo for the rail, and reaches shoppers through Apple's wallet. It pays nobody for the two things that matter: the banking license (deposits fund the loans cheaply) and the credit history of 119M consumers. Rent the commodity, own what compounds. Most fintechs invert this — sponsor-bank license rented, commodity tech built in-house — and wonder where their margin went.
📂 Real Stack #02 — Shopify
100% PUBLIC SOURCES — 10-Q, Q1'26 CALL
The inverse of Klarna: owns zero licenses, rents the entire regulated layer — and prints money anyway.
L0/L5 · PROCESSING — RENTS from Stripe
Shopify Payments runs on Stripe rails
The world's largest PayFac program, outsourced since 2013. Q1'26 GPV: $67B (+41%), 67% of GMV. Stripe carries the acquiring, Shopify keeps the merchant.
L1 · CHECKOUT — OWNS
Shop Pay — the conversion moat
$35B processed in Q1 (+59%), 70%+ growth abroad. The buyer wallet and accelerated checkout are the product other merchants can only envy.
L2 · BNPL — RENTS from Affirm
Shop Pay Installments = Affirm's balance sheet
Affirm carries the credit risk and the capital; Shopify keeps the checkout surface and the data exhaust.
L0.1 · CROSS-BORDER — RENTS from Global-e
Managed Markets: MOR outsourced
Duties, taxes, seller-of-record liability — Global-e carries it, Shopify sells it as a feature.
L11 · AGENTIC — OWNS
UCP co-author; self-serve since Jun 17
Any agent can now sell Shopify inventory through a public endpoint. Owning the catalog API = owning agentic distribution. AI-driven orders up 13x in Q1.
L8/L12 · DATA — OWNS
The merchant graph funds Shopify Capital
Payments + inventory + buyer data across millions of merchants. It underwrites Capital's cash advances — credit without a banking license.
The operator read — the mirror image: Klarna owns the balance sheet and rents the funnel; Shopify owns the funnel and rents the balance sheet. Stripe, Affirm and Global-e carry every license and every dollar of liability — Shopify keeps checkout, the buyer wallet, the merchant graph, and now the agentic endpoint. Two opposite answers to rent-vs-own, both work. What doesn't work is the middle: renting the funnel AND the license while building commodity tech. Check which quadrant you're in.
Klarna
↑ Mapped above — full public-source breakdown
Shopify
↑ Mapped above — $101B GMV last quarter alone
Toast
Vertical SaaS → Full Stack
Revolut
Neobank Multi-License
Who's Behind This

Nicolas & Friends

Operators, not consultants. We've built the stacks, not just advised on them.

Curator
Nicolas Devillard
8 years scaling a European PSP from early stage to €100M+ revenue. Grew the team from 15 to 400+. Saw every layer decision firsthand—what worked, what didn't, what we'd do differently.
CRO @ PayPlug (BPCE) €100M+ Revenue Now in NYC
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Payment architects, fintech founders, merchant CTOs, and infrastructure nerds who've lived the build-vs-buy decisions. This isn't theory—it's pattern recognition from the trenches.
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Most payment content is vendor marketing. We're here to show what actually works—from real infrastructure, real trade-offs, real failures. No sponsored content. No affiliate links.
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