Building the Future of Payments: CTO Phillip Goericke on AI, Embedded Finance, and Frictionless Payments

The payments industry is undergoing one of the most profound transformations in decades. What was once a straightforward exchange of money is now becoming an intelligent, seamless, and invisible experience—powered by innovations in embedded finance, stablecoins, and artificial intelligence.

From frictionless in-app checkouts to blockchain-backed global settlements, technology is revolutionizing the way consumers, businesses, and financial systems interact. Today, payments are no longer just about completing a transaction—they’re about creating speed, trust, and convenience for users at every step.

In this conversation, Phillip Goericke, Chief Technology Officer of Engineering at NMI, offers a deep dive into how technology is driving the next evolution of payments. He explains how AI, stablecoins, and embedded payments are reshaping digital payments.

Frictionless and embedded payments

As digital payments become more integrated into our daily lives, the line between technology and finance continues to blur, setting the stage for a more connected and intelligent future of commerce.

Moreover, with major players like Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal embracing digital currencies and developer-first ecosystems, the focus is shifting from payment methods to uniform, trusted, and personalized payment experiences. As this new wave of frictionless payments accelerates, addressing consumer concerns around security, privacy, and control will be one of the key challenges—and responsibilities—for Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) leading innovation across the fintech sector.

Let’s hear more from Phillip on this:

How do you define “frictionless payments,” and what technologies are enabling this shift today?

Goericke: Frictionless payments make payments disappear. They are designed to minimize or eliminate barriers in the payment process to make the transaction as effortless for the customer as possible.

Technologies including contactless payments, digital wallets, embedded payments, and biometric authorization (authorization via fingerprint or face ID) allow transactions to happen invisibly without requiring multiple steps like entering credit card details or handling cash.

What role does embedded finance play in shaping the next generation of digital commerce experiences?

Goericke: Embedded payments allow transactions to happen seamlessly in the background, keeping the focus on the experience, not the payment.

For younger customers, convenience is non-negotiable. According to a recent survey by NMI, 64% of Gen Z and Millennials would take their business elsewhere if in-app payments aren’t an option.

As expectations for ease and personalization grow, embedded finance will shape the next generation of digital commerce, where payments are an extension of the customer experience.

What infrastructure challenges do fintech leaders face when integrating embedded payment systems at scale?

Goericke: Building embedded payments infrastructure from scratch is complex and resource-heavy.
It requires managing underwriting, risk, settlements, compliance, and security all at once.

Many software providers that have tried to build this infrastructure themselves face high costs, regulatory complexity, and scalability limits. As a result, they’re shifting toward partner-enabled models that simplify operations and reduce risk.

Q. How do you see partnerships between banks, fintechs, and technology providers evolving to support frictionless transactions?

Goericke: Partnerships between banks, fintechs, and technology providers are evolving from competition to collaboration, driven by the shared goal of creating frictionless transactions. Banks bring regulatory trust and stability, while fintechs and tech platforms deliver agility and a focus on the customer experience. Together, these partnerships are building the foundation for more seamless and connected commerce.

Stablecoins and decentralized finance

Stablecoins are often described as the bridge between traditional finance and crypto. What will it take for them to gain mainstream consumer trust?

Goericke: The first step to stablecoins gaining mainstream consumer trust is establishing regulatory guardrails. Without that, widespread adoption will remain out of reach, as consumers and institutions need assurance that these digital assets are stable, transparent, and secure.

From there, it’s about familiarity and demonstrating to consumers how stablecoins work in the real world and why they should choose them over existing options.

What regulatory or security hurdles still stand in the way of stablecoin adoption for everyday transactions?

The GENIUS Act represents a step forward in regulatory hurdles, but gaps remain in how stablecoins are governed, audited, and enforced across markets. Without consistent standards for management and consumer protection, it’s difficult to ensure long-term stability and interoperability across platforms.

On the security side, safeguarding wallets, preventing fraud, and transparency around reserves remain critical before stablecoins can move into mainstream payment systems.

Do you see stablecoins complementing or replacing existing card and mobile payment systems in the near future?

Goericke: In the near future, stablecoins are more likely to complement existing card and mobile payment systems than replace them. The goal isn’t to change how people pay. But to modernize what happens behind the scenes by making transactions faster and more global.

Embedded payments providers will play a key role in integrating stablecoins into familiar digital wallets and transaction experiences. So that consumers may not realize they’re using blockchain technology at all.

Ethics and transparency guidelines for leaders

What safeguards should leaders put in place to ensure ethical and transparent use of AI in financial transactions?

Goericke: Leaders should start with clear AI-use policies that define how data is collected, trained, and monitored to prevent bias or misuse.

Security is equally critical, since AI can both strengthen fraud detection and enable more sophisticated attacks.

Finally, human oversight and regular audits are essential to ensure transparency and accountability as AI takes on a larger role in financial transactions.

Looking into the future

How does a developer-first approach change the way companies build, test, and scale payments today?

Goericke: A developer-first approach puts control directly in the hands of those building the next generation of payment experiences. By giving developers the tools to integrate and launch payments independently, it removes the bottlenecks that slow progress. This allows companies to scale faster and bring new payment experiences to market with less complexity.

My company, NMI, recently launched a new developer-first environment designed to remove many of the barriers to embedding payments. It’s exciting to see how it’s democratizing access to embedded payments and helping developers tap into new revenue streams.

Already, thousands of developers are exploring our self-service sandbox, which shows just how much greater control over payments is resonating with the community.

What does the future of payments look like five years from now? How should leaders prepare their payment infrastructure for a future that includes decentralized finance?

Goericke: Over the next five years, the payments landscape will increasingly utilize elements of both embedded finance and decentralized finance.

Leaders should prepare for this by modernizing their payment infrastructure to support modular, API-driven services that enable real-time settlement, cross-border transactions, tokenization of assets, and the seamless integration of traditional and emerging payment systems.

Leaders can achieve success through strategic investment, talent development, and proactive regulatory engagement.

As a leader, how do you see the balance between innovation, regulation, and consumer protection evolving in this space?

Goericke: Innovation in payments can’t come at the expense of compliance or consumer protection – they must evolve together.

The ones that will lead in innovation are those that can quickly adapt to new regulations, embed compliance into their technology, and maintain a frictionless experience for consumers.

What advice would you give to CTOs navigating rapid shifts in payment technology and consumer behaviour?

Goericke: CTOs today must innovate quickly without compromising reliability, security, or scalability as new payment technologies and consumer behaviors emerge.

The real challenge isn’t just keeping up with innovation. It’s about doing so securely, with compliance and data protection built in from the start.

The future of payments will belong to leaders who not only adopt new technology first but do so securely and at scale.

Closing thoughts

As the boundaries between technology, finance, and user experience continue to blur, the role of the CTO becomes more strategic and more complex.

The future of payments will not be defined by a single innovation. But it will depend on how effectively leaders weave together AI, embedded finance, and decentralized infrastructure to create trusted, seamless, and scalable ecosystems.

As Phillip Goericke emphasizes, success will depend on more than technical excellence. It will require vision, collaboration, and a developer-first mindset that empowers innovation from the ground up.

The next generation of digital commerce belongs to those who can make the payment experience simple, without ever compromising on security or compliance.

Key takeaways for CTOs

Adopt a developer-first mindset:

Empower developers with tools, APIs, and autonomy to build, test, and scale new payment experiences faster.

Balance innovation with regulation:

Embed compliance and security into your systems from the start – to stay agile in a rapidly evolving regulatory landscape.

Prepare for convergence:

Modern payment infrastructure must be modular, API-driven, and capable of connecting traditional finance with emerging decentralized models.

Collaborate to scale:

The future lies in partnerships between banks, fintechs, and technology providers that combine trust, agility, and innovation.