The stories below preview the issues likely to be at the forefront of payments news in 2025, shaping the fast-evolving industry.

The election of Donald Trump is expected to mean the rollback of some consumer protection policies in the payments realm, and separately, his administration has raised concerns, and hopes, that fintech and cryptocurrency plays will be more influential in payments.

In addition, professionals across the industry expect artificial intelligence to come into play in a more significant way this year, as companies harness the technology to fight fraud, parse data and cut costs.

Aside from those key themes, the rise of real-time payments; a general move toward account-to-account transactions; and further government scrutiny of card networks are also predicted to take center stage.

As all of the themes above play out, more innovation, competition and tension are sure to follow.