Remy Blaire: Here at the conference, key announcements as well as partnerships are being made on payments as cross-border remittances grow. Well, Nasdaq-listed Marqeta announced here at the conference that Block, Inc. has expanded its partnership with the payment processing platform to power the credit card on the American Express network. And this follows Marqeta’s expanded collaboration to launch stablecoin-backed card payment solutions with Coinbase.
And joining me live on the ground here in Las Vegas is Mike Milotich, who’s CEO of Marqeta. Mike, great to have you here. Thank you so much for joining us.
Mike Milotich: Thank you so much for having me.
Remy Blaire: Well, first and foremost, tell us about the key announcements that just broke.
Mike Milotich: Sure. We’re very excited about expanding our partnership with Block. We have a deep, longstanding relationship, and this is just another example of how we can do new things together. And it’s exciting for a few different reasons. We’re moving the American Express credit program onto our platform. We already did the debit program. And so now, through our single platform, they can manage that in a much more cohesive way and have the full continuum of offerings for their customers, from their debit to their credit needs.
The second thing that’s quite interesting about it is we did a migration. So we moved it from another platform onto our platform with no disruption to the cardholder, so very seamless, and it allowed them to move it over without a lot of disruption to anyone who uses the product. And it’s actually our first program live with American Express. We’ve used Visa, Mastercard, and Discover for many years, and this is our first program with American Express. So it’s a great announcement.
Remy Blaire: Yeah. And indeed, we all know that by the time you arrive at Money20/20 and make that announcement, these plans have been in the works for such a long time. So when it comes to the technology underpinning this, and the impact that this will have for your target audience, can you break this down for us?
Mike Milotich: Sure. I think what is so exciting, as I briefly referenced, is this idea of a product continuum. How the market is changing is, there used to really just be some people who use debit, some people who use credit, and it was really that simple. As the market is evolving, there’s now a whole continuum of products that people want to offer, from debit to... With the onboarding of flexible credentials, you can have a debit card with buy now, pay later built into it as a functionality. You can have credit building, secured credit cards, and revolving credit cards.
And a lot of our customers are looking to offer that full continuum to meet their potential customers wherever they are in their financial journey, right? Not everyone is going to qualify for any of those products. And so they want something that appeals to everyone, and where they can deliver their value. And so this is another representation of that evolution in the market that maybe didn’t exist five years ago.
Remy Blaire: Yeah. And speaking of evolution, I do want to get your perspective on some of the conversations that have been taking place here on the ground at Money20/20. I’m sure that you have been hearing from a lot of the stakeholders within this environment. So what makes Money20/20 2026 different from previous years?
Mike Milotich: Well, I think there are two topics that are dominating the conversation. Stablecoin is one of them. It’s becoming more and more prevalent for money movement. But the gap that Marqeta is looking to fill is, then how do you make that stablecoin useful for commerce? So it’s very effective in money movement. But what’s the trend is to have a stablecoin-backed card, so that you can interact and spend anywhere a card is accepted, or go to an ATM to extract value in whatever your local currency is. But the underlying value of the card product is a stablecoin, which has, you know, a lot of power for remittances and fast and cheaper money movement. And so that’s something that’s very exciting.
And then I would say the second big topic is, of course, agentic commerce, which is the topic of the day. And our view on agentic is that right now, the conversation is mostly merchant-driven. You know, merchants are talking about being able to accept agents when they come to their storefront, if you will, and look to buy. Our view is that for agentic commerce to really proliferate and be used broadly, it’s going to have to be more driven by the issuer side of the ecosystem, for two reasons, and they’re really both related to fraud.
So, consumers and small businesses tend to trust their issuer. That’s someone that they already have that trusting relationship with, and so the fear factor will be lower. And then also, in terms of combating fraud, your issuer knows who you are, and there are many ways for them to verify you, as opposed to what everyone worries about in agentic, which is, you know, what could happen if you didn’t actually authorize that agent to do that on your behalf? And so both of those are hot topics, and Marqeta is very much, you know, playing a role in making those things happen as time goes forward.
Remy Blaire: And as you mentioned, we have been hearing a lot of conversations here about agentic AI, not surprisingly, and of course, stablecoins. But as we head into 2027, all eyes are on what’s coming next. So at Marqeta, what are you paying attention to right now, and what should viewers out there know?
Mike Milotich: I think one of the really emerging areas that maybe a lot of people are talking about is the concept I mentioned a little bit earlier, which is a flexible credential. So before, in the card business, your card could only do one thing, and it was preprogrammed. Now, as the card business is becoming much more of a digital experience, there are products where you have one credential, but it serves multiple needs. It can be a debit card. It can be a credit card. It could be a buy now, pay later offering. And you get to choose that as the consumer as you’re making purchases.
So, a few years ago, you would open your wallet and you would choose. Now you can pay with the same credential, and you could even preprogram it in advance, saying, well, if it’s a grocery purchase, I’d like to use debit. If it’s a retail purchase over $100 and I’m online, I’d like that to be credit. But you’re using just one card. And so that’s something that is still very early days. There are a few programs out there that are live, you know, Block, Affirm, Klarna being probably the most prevalent. But we think that’s going to become more and more common, given the value you can drive for the cardholder.
Remy Blaire: And you mentioned that we are in the early days when it comes to this. So what would you say is the timeline? What are your expectations before we can actually get to the point of adoption?
Mike Milotich: I think, you know, when it comes to payments, things tend to take a little bit longer, because people tend to be a little bit conservative when it comes to money, and so it’s hard to change their behavior. So I would say in the next one to two years, if we were back here two years from now, I think you would see a lot more proliferation of this capability, because it’s a very powerful experience.
And in payments, at least, everyone’s always been fighting to be top of wallet. That’s always been, you know, going back decades, what people have been trying to do. And the flexible credential makes it even more powerful, because that credential could be many things, depending on the situation. And that, you know, gives companies the ability to get that top-of-wallet status but offer an array of payment options. And, you know, that’s a powerful value proposition that is just starting to roll out in the market.
Remy Blaire: Well, Mike, I appreciate your time. Thank you so much for joining us here on the ground at Money20/20 USA. A lot to keep our eyes on as we head into the new year. So thank you so much for lending your expertise to this conversation.
Mike Milotich: Thank you so much for having me. Thank you.
