Agentic AI Commerce & Stablecoin / Crypto – Impacts in 2026 & Beyond … Optimal Advisory – Virtual Meeting … Friday 12/19 @ 11 am ET

By David Schick and Jonathan Feeney and David Katzman and Jack Hermann Published on December 11, 2025 PDF

Optimal clients are invited to a virtual meeting hosted by David Schick featuring Joshua Orenstein.

Josh is the former Head of Consumer Legal at Stripe, Inc., where he helped develop new global payment products, including a new digital wallet that surpassed 200 million consumer accounts. Previously, Josh led PayPal’s Global Consumer Practices group, overseeing worldwide consumer protection compliance and advising on complex regulatory issues affecting consumer credit and payments products. He started his career in public service. At the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), he served as Senior Litigation Counsel, leading major investigations and enforcement actions that secured significant settlements with large banks and non-banks. Earlier, at the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, he investigated and prosecuted civil and criminal matters, including claims stemming from the financial crisis.

Optimal Advisory – Virtual Client Meeting
Friday, December 19th, 11 am ET

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Call Topics:

Agentic Commerce: AI Autonomy Reshapes the Digital Marketplace

Agentic commerce refers to the use of autonomous AI agents acting on behalf of consumers to browse, negotiate, and execute purchases. This paradigm shift prioritizes efficiency and consumer control over traditional browsing and brand loyalty.

Category	Description
Near- & Longer-Term Use Cases	AI agents will initially assist in price comparison and coupon application, evolving into fully autonomous personal shoppers that manage routine purchases and subscriptions based purely on value and user preferences.
Consumer Choice & Convenience	Consumers benefit from hyper-personalized and friction-free shopping experiences, offloading the mental labor of searching and comparing products.
Merchant Sales Conversion	Conversion strategies will pivot from optimizing website UIs for human browsing to optimizing data feeds and APIs for AI agent consumption.
Potential Winners	AI providers (developing the best agents); Payment service providers (integrating seamlessly with AI-driven checkouts).
Potential Losers	Merchant-owned sales spaces (less direct traffic); Brand stickiness (agents are brand-agnostic); Merchant aggregators/platforms (agents bypass the need for centralized malls/marketplaces).

Crypto / Stablecoins: Upgrading the Global Payments Plumbing

The focus in crypto shifts from speculation to practical application, specifically utilizing stablecoins as a superior foundational layer for global payments infrastructure. This technology promises to reduce friction and cost associated with traditional banking rails.

Category	Description
Key Use Cases	Stablecoins primarily serve as efficient payments plumbing, offering a real-time settlement alternative to traditional systems.
Infrastructure Upgrades	Stablecoins facilitate faster settlement (near-instantaneous), fewer intermediaries, lower foreign exchange (FX), and reduced conversion fees compared to existing systems.
Market Expansion	This infrastructure is poised for significant expansion into developing markets that often lack robust traditional banking infrastructure.
Potential Winners	Stablecoin service providers; Developing markets (gaining access to efficient financial tools); Consumer choice & convenience (faster, cheaper transactions).
Potential Losers	Traditional networks (e.g., ACH/SWIFT); Credit card reward/loyalty programs (rewards models rely on interchange fees that stablecoins aim to reduce or eliminate).

Key Regulatory Watch Point: The Open Banking Rule

A critical regulatory development to monitor is the Federal government’s reconsideration of an open banking rule pursuant to Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act. This rule mandates banks provide account and transaction data upon authorized consumer request.

A restrictive or poorly implemented final rule risks:

Hindering consumers’ efficient and direct onboarding into crypto environments.

Interfering with seamless AI agent authorization workflows;

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