Payments Innovation Takes Root, But Don’t Expect Overnight Change

The payments landscape has been steadily reinventing itself, and 2026 is shaping up to be a year when the seeds of innovation finally sprout. Recent years were about weathering storms and leveraging technology to stand out; 2026 is about watching new ideas — such as agentic payments, stablecoins, and next-gen biometrics — take root.

So what’s ahead for payments in 2026? Expect steady, fundamental shifts rather than headline-grabbing disruption:

B2B will embrace agentic payments — B2C, not so much. Though we’ll see true autonomous or AI-agent-led payments occurring in 2026, don’t expect agentic commerce to explode just yet. Most consumers still aren’t ready to trust AI with their wallets — only 24% of US online adults said they trusted AI to make routine purchases on their behalf, according to Forrester’s March 2025 data. And the industry is only beginning to figure out how to manage consent, authentication, authorization, and disputes. “Human in the loop” AI-agent-assisted payments will be what takes root in B2C payments. B2B payments are a different story: These use cases are ideal for agentic AI to tackle — for example, supplier and buyer dispute management, invoice matching, and payment reconciliation. We foresee that about a third of B2B payment workflows will use autonomous AI agents by year’s end, streamlining complex processes and driving new efficiencies.
Stablecoins will stay niche. Despite all the buzz, stablecoins won’t become mainstream for retail payments in 2026. Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency designed to mitigate the price volatility of other cryptocurrencies by tying the value of it to a fiat currency such as the US dollar (or another asset with a more stable valuation). In theory, this tie (called a “peg”) solves a major problem with cryptocurrencies and thus turns the conversation toward the opportunities: a faster, cheaper, 24/7-available, borderless payment rail. But the underlying price stability hasn’t fully and consistently materialized, the user experience is still clunky, trust is still lacking across the ecosystem, and merchants aren’t seeing the promised cost savings except in specific niche areas. Instead, stablecoins will find their footing in B2B cross-border payments and the cryptonative economy, especially where currency volatility is high.
Biometrics will get a makeover. Authentication will be as hot a topic in 2026 as it was with PSD2’s SCA requirements (thanks to “know your agent” efforts). But innovation will be more impactful outside the agentic world. We will see a major tech provider launching a new, more secure biometric payment solution. Expect deepfake detection and liveness checks to become standard, helping merchants and payment providers keep fraud at bay. Additionally, merchants, vendors, and payment providers must act now to raise awareness of deepfake threats among customers and employees. They also need to update internal processes to detect and respond to these attacks more effectively.

The bottom line? The payments industry is changing — just not as fast as the headlines might suggest. Leaders who plan and act now will be ready for the wider-scale transformation coming in 2027 and beyond.

Read our full Predictions 2026: Payments report to get more detail about each of these predictions and read additional predictions. Set up a Forrester inquiry or guidance session with us to discuss these predictions or plan out your 2026 strategy.

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