Weekly recap · No. 3 · Sep 28 – Oct 4, 2026 · Published Mon, Oct 5
A Fed governor asked who pays when an AI agent buys the wrong thing.
Fed Governor Christopher Waller named liability as the barrier to agent shopping, Mastercard began testing a score for agent-initiated payments, and Meta connected Muse to small-business tools. Australia banned card surcharges and cut fee caps, and a San Diego pizzeria sued Visa and Mastercard. Citi said its clients will be able to accept stablecoins and receive dollars.
- Cost line: 2 stops
- Rails line: 1 stop
- Agent line: 3 stops
One country cut card fees by rule while a pizzeria sued.
What getting paid costs
- Sep 30
The Pizza Standard, a San Diego pizzeria, files a 134-page antitrust suit against Visa, Mastercard and several of the largest U.S. banks. It alleges merchants pay more than $100 billion a year to accept their cards; the claims have not been tested in court.Source: ClassAction.org
- Oct 1
Australia bans card surcharges and lowers interchange caps. The cap on consumer credit cards falls from 0.8% to 0.3%.Source: NAB · Australian Frequent Flyer
At the counter: at a 2.35% average credit-card rate, a café with $40,000 a month in card sales pays about $940 a month just to get paid.Source: NSGA (citing The Nilson Report)
Our take
Regulators can cut the price of a swipe by rule, while in the U.S. the fight is still in court.
A big bank makes stablecoins look like any other payment.
Digital dollars reach checkout
- Sep 28
Citi and Coinbase plan stablecoin checkout for Citi clients. Spring by Citi will let clients accept stablecoins; Coinbase handles the on-chain leg and Citi converts the payment to dollars as bank of record.Source: Yahoo Finance
At the counter: the merchant sees a payment method and a dollar deposit, and never holds a digital asset.Source: Yahoo Finance
Our take
The banks are wrapping stablecoins in something merchants already trust: a bank account.
Liability is the open question.
When your customer is an AI
- Sep 29
Fed Governor Christopher Waller asks who is liable when an agent buys the wrong thing. Speaking at Sibos, he also said micropayments favor payment rails with lower flat fees.Source: Federal Reserve
- Sep 29
Meta connects Muse to small-business tools including Shopify, QuickBooks, Stripe and Canva. Sensor Tower estimated about 2.8 million downloads in Muse's first two weeks.Source: Yahoo Finance
- Sep 30
Mastercard begins U.S. testing of a score that estimates how likely it is that a transaction was started by an AI agent.Source: Mastercard
At the counter: small businesses are now on both sides: their customers shop with agents, and owners are starting to run the shop with one.Source: Yahoo Finance
Our take
Until someone owns the cost of an agent's mistake, the safest first jobs for agents are the ones where little money moves up front.
Number of the week
0.3%
Australia's new cap on consumer credit-card interchange from Oct 1, down from 0.8%.
Source: Australian Frequent FlyerQuote of the week
“Who is on the hook if an agent makes the wrong purchase?”
Question of the week
What would be a fair cost to accept a payment?
New issue every Monday. One page, three lines, the week's events and what they mean for the business behind the counter. Earlier issues stay in the archive above.
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