At Money20/20 in Las Vegas, one question ran through every conversation: how do we make financial innovation work better for the people and businesses who rely on it? Here are three things that stuck with us after the discussions stopped.

Americans reported nearly $21 billion in internet crime losses to the FBI in 2025, up 26% from the previous year. For merchants, the daily crisis isn't one headline-grabbing technique. It's volume, sophistication, and speed, as automation turns fraud into a continuous test-and-learn cycle.

Blanket controls create problems of their own. Half of the enterprise businesses in Adyen's fraud report saw false declines rise last year, and every one is a double loss: the sale, plus the cost of acquiring a customer you then turn away.

Fraud is also concentrated: 5% of identities drive 58% of fraud value. But, while a fraudster can fake a face or a document, they can't fake years of genuine financial behavior. The answer is understanding intent across the entire customer journey, using AI to create a dynamic sliding scale between approving, asking for additional assurance, and blocking.

Small businesses aren't struggling because they're failing. According to the Federal Reserve, 40% grew revenue last year and 56% expect to grow again. Yet 94% face financial challenges from uneven cash flows or credit availability, and when banks do approve a loan, 80% wait up to two weeks for funds.

" Backward-looking statements miss what the software platform running a business's daily operations sees right now.

Source link