The AI Platform Is Closer Than Some Rivals, but It Still Faces Barriers

Sluggish fixed point-of-sale (POS) terminal sales are forcing providers to rethink their strategies. From adding softPOS capabilities to adding AI tools and vertical-specific offerings, POS software is becoming the real competitive battleground.

Tariff uncertainty, billion-dollar merger and acquisition deals, and a jump in social commerce will create new dynamics in the payments industry in H2 2025. Burgeoning tech like agentic AI and stablecoins will further shake up the space.

The news: Paze notched a major partnership with Worldpay to expand its merchant network, per a press release. Our take: Groundwork has been set for Paze to take off. We predicted that Paze would make significant gains in 2025, and this partnership will help Paze establish its online presence and customer familiarity for strong back-to-school and holiday shopping spend.

This decision feeds into the rising enthusiasm for stablecoin as the future of payments.

But its megadeal with Worldpay and FIS will transform its business and expand its revenue opportunities

The deal received conditional regulatory approval, shaking up the card space and larger financial service industry

The deal, which also includes FIS’s purchase of Global Payment’s issuing business, redraws lines that had previously been blurring

Despite an industrywide push to grow via nonmerchant partnerships, BNPL players still rely on individual deals to reach large merchants

The tie-up will bring the BNPL provider to a bevy of merchants’ checkout pages—whether they like it or not

While this is a win for Klarna, merchants may not want to take on the higher transaction costs that sometimes come with BNPL plans

Digital wallets’ transformation into commerce enablers speeds up. We make a case for digital-only consumer credit cards. And we see a new threat that BNPL poses to credit cards.

Acquirers, networks, and issuers each play distinct roles in the payments purchasing chain. But those roles are shifting as providers adapt to the rise of software and value-added services, increased payment method choice, and cloud-based innovation.

Digital commerce platforms are leaning heavily into payment processing to grow revenues and enhance customer engagement. But it’s still early innings: They are ripe for payment provider partnerships that can evolve as the platforms grow.

The partnership opens up the provider to a massive merchant network, which can help it add users and grow volume.

Payment service providers competing to serve small and medium-sized businesses have a new opportunity to win them over with cutting-edge payment, cash flow, capital, and marketing tools.

Economic uncertainty and rapid technological innovation are shifting industry dynamics for players across the payments ecosystem, including acquirers and processors, networks, and issuers.

Investor pressure and slowing growth most likely led FIS to spin off Worldpay, which it bought four years ago during a payments M&A frenzy.