vignesh sreedhar

agentic commerce + payments @meta

all opinions are my own

[vignesh sreedhar @vigstar1]

thank you to everyone in the past week who took the time to share their views and observations on the space. understanding the broader ecosystem is critical to scaling agentic commerce.

can't wait for us all to build a future we can be proud of! https://t.co/B8LFF0NmjY

[vignesh sreedhar @vigstar1]

@unujwal correct me if i’m wrong @keyserfaty but i imagine the merchants of record stay the same so it’s BAU for returns and refunds. it’s not a marketplace per se but rather a checkout executor

[vignesh sreedhar @vigstar1]

@AlexH_Johnson omg thank you so much for the shoutout! payment geeks unite!!

[vignesh sreedhar @vigstar1]

@SherifKozman that made me laugh

[vignesh sreedhar @vigstar1]

is it just me or is it weird that every person building or investing in the agentic commerce space who DMs me wants to “trade notes”?

it’s almost like yall are actively trying to brain drain me!

it’s okay though, i’ll generously provide any feedback i have. not if you’re a vc tho! 🐍

[vignesh sreedhar @vigstar1]

@BPIV400 @alfongj that’s why i think it’s highly unlikely that it will happen! users won’t just adopt this unless it’s materially better

[vignesh sreedhar @vigstar1]

1. yes
2. yes
3. yes
4. BIG yes for the payments team! but agentic tokens are not reliable yet, my article goes into why in detail: https://t.co/wwhKlvqTd8.
5/7. i think link will only get better, but for sure they haven’t won it already as some might think
6. they’re working on muse integration rn
8. big yes
9. yes

[vignesh sreedhar @vigstar1]

thank you to everyone in the past week who took the time to share their views and observations on the space. understanding the broader ecosystem is critical to scaling agentic commerce.

can't wait for us all to build a future we can be proud of! https://t.co/B8LFF0NmjY

[vignesh sreedhar @vigstar1]

@anhvu193 @stripe oh they will FIGHT, mastercard has already dismissed stripe’s VCN approach in their earnings call

[vignesh sreedhar @vigstar1]

this is the best piece i have read on a path that @stripe can take to disintermediate the networks.

that path will be fraught with obstacles from issuers, networks and probably users but stripe is taking the ambitious bet (as they should!) to be the true juggernauts of payments. being a competitor to @stripe is such an unenviable position, and the networks should stop being complacent.

there are some connections and data points that i didn’t consider myself in my article, so thank you for sharing @alfongj!

[Alfonso @alfongj]

Last week Stripe launched Link Balance for agents. There's been many takes explaining its details, but I think most are missing the forest for the trees.

In this article I explain Stripe's real goal: taking over Visa and MC as the World's payment network. https://t.co/CCpq87YFDo

[vignesh sreedhar @vigstar1]

@SherifKozman open now

[vignesh sreedhar @vigstar1]

oops my bad guys i didn’t realize there was a setting lol. my dms are NOW open :)

forgive me for being a noob, started this twitter stuff seriously last week

[vignesh sreedhar @vigstar1]

@amandapey potentially! but i worry it won’t scale/be worth the effect for agent companies to integrate. think about TAM too - biggest TAM of issuers are huge incumbents that won’t budge unless something goes their way

[vignesh sreedhar @vigstar1]

this makes me so unbelievably happy!!

if i can make even 1 person invested in this awesome space, it’s a win

[hal2001.hl @hal2001]

@vigstar1 @zayyenpatel @okwowAI I have read more on payments, Link balances, stripe’s plans for payment domination, and the weird corner of interchange fees, Durban vs non Durban fees, etc, over the last few days thanks to your posts @vigstar1. Keep it up man!!!

[vignesh sreedhar @vigstar1]

@DL039 i’m bullish as well that the impasse will be overcome

[vignesh sreedhar @vigstar1]

thank you to everyone in the past week who took the time to share their views and observations on the space. understanding the broader ecosystem is critical to scaling agentic commerce.

can't wait for us all to build a future we can be proud of! https://t.co/B8LFF0NmjY

[vignesh sreedhar @vigstar1]

@DL039 exactly

[vignesh sreedhar @vigstar1]

on a besoin de plus de representation francaise dans l'agentic commerce!! ca me fait trop plaisir 🥰

[Jérôme Tomasini @JeromeTomasini]

@vigstar1 Salut Vignesh, je t'écris en français en clin d'oeil à ton parcours (en plus, t'es aussi fan de l'équipe de France!). Un grand bravo pour tes tweets/articles qui sont passionnants. Tu es encore très sous-côté. Perso, je me suis abonné quand tu n'avais que 200 followers :p

[vignesh sreedhar @vigstar1]

a mark of a great fintech founder is knowing exactly how their solutions are PCI compliant! compliance is critical to institionalized trust.

regardless of how small and what domain, companies need to set the standard for how sensitive user credentials/data are being stored and processed. this pays dividends in user trust and adoption!

thanks @keyserfaty and @alfongj for entertaining my curiosity!

[vignesh sreedhar @vigstar1]

got it so lemme understand it correctly:
you store the actual PAN in a pci compliant vault but the key to decrypt the CVV (SAD) is with an agent browser so in theory you’re not owning the CVV post authorization. is that correct?

curious how many agent browsers support this kind of functionality and how many agents use such browsers as well

[vignesh sreedhar @vigstar1]

@AngelJobson @paulg @gokulr we need more delusion in this space!

[vignesh sreedhar @vigstar1]

i love me some @paulg and @gokulr wisdom.

agentic commerce similarly suffers from the same issue:
the core problem at the center of agentic commerce preventing it from scaling is MISALIGNED INCENTIVES.

everyone is solving stuff at the edges. companies are building solutions for agent companies, merchants and issuers because they all have several pain points. but the core incentive misalignment remains unresolved.

i am not saying you're doomed to fail if you're doing this but if you believe that your "product" will solve such a core incentive misalignment AT SCALE, then im sorry to tell you that you are just delusional!

unless ofc you're @stripe and have the talent, resources and influence to build a closed loop network ;)

[Gokul Rajaram @gokulr]

This @paulg quote rings hard and true, both in life and in work. Thank you to @shaneparrish for surfacing it.

"Many problems have a hard core at the center, surrounded by easier stuff at the edges. Working hard means aiming toward the center to the extent you can. Some days you may not be able to; some days you'll only be able to work on the easier, peripheral stuff. But you should always be aiming as close to the center as you can without stalling.”

[vignesh sreedhar @vigstar1]

@jackchong_jc @scottew @link they just publicly endorsed their network token approach over VCNs

[vignesh sreedhar @vigstar1]

thank you @scottew for sharing your experience. based on the link terms i have read, i am sure you can contact @link support to help with this :)

but let's assume this isn't a payments geek like @scottew who is probably invested in making agentic payments work.

the average user needs to trust that they can always go to their issuing bank for support, that they know the card that is being used to purchase, that their treasured rewards are being applied as expected on checkout.

we not only need agentic payments to work for scaled adoption, we need it to BE BETTER than current payments.

[Scott Wessman @scottew]

https://t.co/taa5sWFc4c

[vignesh sreedhar @vigstar1]

@scottew @link more on my article: https://t.co/ocU88VqOzy

[vignesh sreedhar @vigstar1]

thank you to everyone in the past week who took the time to share their views and observations on the space. understanding the broader ecosystem is critical to scaling agentic commerce.

can't wait for us all to build a future we can be proud of! https://t.co/B8LFF0NmjY

[vignesh sreedhar @vigstar1]

@scottew @link i am not a compliance person but the real issue imo is storing CVV post authorization.

the ideal solution is tokenizing via network tokens but at least for visa/mc issuers aren’t buying in yet