December 26, 2025
This Week's Briefing: December 26th
NewsAgents Take
If 2025 was the year of "Agentic Hype," December is closing it out with a sober look at the plumbing. The narrative has shifted rapidly from the novelty of autonomous shoppers to the boring-but-critical reality of liability frameworks, data standards, and incumbent partnerships. While Klarna is trying to solve the "discovery" problem (making products visible to bots) and retailers are racing to deploy agentic tools, the legal and infrastructure rails are lagging behind. The big question for 2026 isn't if agents will pay, but who pays when the agent gets it wrong and whether the industry stalwarts or the crypto-native rails will win the settlement layer.
1) Agentic AI in 2025: More hype than productivity?
What it says: Bloomberg’s end-of-year analysis suggests that while "Agentic AI" was the buzzword of 2025, the actual productivity gains haven't yet matched the marketing noise. The technology is maturing, but corporate adoption is stuck in the "pilot purgatory" of governance and integration challenges.
Why it matters: We are in the classic "trough of disillusionment" phase. The novelty of an AI booking a flight has worn off; now enterprises are realizing that "agentic" requires a complete re-architecting of their data (the "context gap") before it delivers real value. 2026 will be less about "magic" demos and more about boring, reliable workflow automation.
2) Stablecoins and the "Unhappy Path" of Agentic Commerce
What it says: A deep dive into why stablecoins might be the native currency of AI agents (due to speed and programmability), while highlighting a critical gap: the lack of a liability framework for when things go wrong.
Why it matters: It’s an interesting idea—agents paying agents in USDC—but concerns remain around the liability framework for the 'unhappy path' when things go wrong. If an agent hallucinates a bulk order, is the chargeback mechanism code or contract? Until "dispute resolution for bots" is solved, stablecoins will struggle to displace card rails for consumer agent commerce.
3) Fiserv and Mastercard: The incumbents enter the chat
What it says: Fiserv has announced a major partnership with Mastercard to advance "trusted agentic commerce," aiming to provide a secure framework for merchants to accept agent-initiated transactions.
Why it matters: Is this a game-changer or potentially a case of too little too late? It reflects a cautious and measured approach from an industry stalwart, trying to retrofit "trust" onto legacy rails. While it validates the market, the risk is that nimble, crypto-native or closed-loop competitors (like Klarna or Stripe) define the standard before the giants get their shoes on.
4) Klarna’s Agent Protocol: The "SEO" of Agentic Commerce
What it says: Klarna is launching a protocol designed to standardize how products are presented to AI agents, effectively creating a structured data layer that makes merchant inventory "readable" by autonomous buyers.
Why it matters: Before an agent can buy, it must find. Klarna is making a smart play to own the "discovery layer" of agentic commerce. If they succeed, they become the Google of the agent economy—the gatekeeper of what products the AI actually sees. For merchants, this signals that "optimizing for agents" is the new SEO.
Link: https://fintechmagazine.com/news/what-is-klarnas-agent-protocol-doing-for-agentic-commerce
5) UK Retailers: Racing to adopt, waiting to regulate
What it says: New data shows UK retailers are aggressively adopting agentic AI for payments to cut friction, yet significant gaps remain in both infrastructure readiness and liability frameworks.
Why it matters: This is the "Shadow AI" problem in payments. Commercial teams are deploying agents to drive conversion, while legal and compliance teams are flying blind on the liability implications. Expect a high-profile "agent failure" in British retail in early 2026 to force the regulator's hand.
6) Defining the difference: AI Agents vs. Agentic AI
What it says: ComplyAdvantage breaks down the nuanced but vital distinction between "AI Agents" (task-executors) and "Agentic AI" (autonomous decision-makers).
Why it matters: This isn't just semantics; it's the basis of future regulation. "Agents" that follow rules are software; "Agentic AI" that makes decisions is a pseudo-employee. Banks and fintechs need to know which one they are onboarding, because the compliance burden for an autonomous decision-maker is exponentially higher.
Link: https://complyadvantage.com/insights/the-difference-between-ai-agents-and-agentic-ai/
