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Writing
Notes on payment systems, device software, transaction uncertainty, platform design, and the emerging role of AI in commerce. I write from the questions that appear in real operating conditions.
Central bank digital currency pilots continued in 2025 across multiple jurisdictions. What the different designs reveal about the choices ahead.
Regional QR interoperability is real, but the fine print keeps the promise from arriving evenly across markets.
SoftPOS acceptance has passed the novelty stage. What the integration realities look like now that the certifications are stable.
Event sourcing is often oversold. For a payment transaction platform, though, its properties align well — with some carve-outs.
EMV 3DS 2.3 moves several decisions from the issuer to the ACS, and from the ACS to real-time context. What that means for merchants.
"Break up the monolith" is often shorthand for "rewrite the system". A more disciplined approach that ships.
A merchant asking "why was this declined?" is a common support ticket. What a well-designed LLM assist looks like — and where it must refuse.
Below a certain volume, the chargeback loss isn't the problem — the response cost is. What a defensible response process looks like.
Smart contract wallets and account abstraction give agent-initiated payments a technical foundation that programmatic keys don't have.
Kernel updates arrive with regularity, and each one triggers a certification cycle. What actually goes wrong.