Contextual Payments, Considering Artificial Intelligence, 5G and Internet of Things

Publication Date: August 2025

The U.S. Payments Forum’s latest white paper explores how artificial intelligence (AI), 5G connectivity, and the Internet of Things (IoT) are driving the next generation of contextual payments—transactions that happen seamlessly within daily activities. This resource highlights opportunities, challenges, and stakeholder considerations for shaping secure, frictionless commerce across industries.

The paper covers:

• What contextual payments are and how they differ from embedded and agentic commerce
• The role of AI, 5G, and IoT in enabling seamless, secure transactions
• Use cases spanning retail, mobility, healthcare, smart homes, entertainment, and more
• Benefits for consumers and merchants, including convenience, personalization, and efficiency
• Infrastructure requirements and the shift of complexity from consumers to back-end systems
• Key considerations: security, authentication, consumer consent, and network readiness
• Stakeholder perspectives for issuers, merchants, processors, and technology providers
• Emerging innovations such as blockchain and stablecoin in contextual payments

As AI, 5G, and IoT converge, contextual payments are poised to transform commerce by making transactions more intuitive, personalized, and secure. This white paper offers a roadmap for stakeholders to understand the implications, prepare their strategies, and harness the opportunities of this rapidly evolving ecosystem.

Please note: The information and materials available on this web page (“Information”) is provided solely for convenience and does not constitute legal or technical advice. All representations or warranties, express or implied, are expressly disclaimed, including without limitation, implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose and all warranties regarding accuracy, completeness, adequacy, results, title and non-infringement. All Information is limited to the scenarios, stakeholders and other matters specified, and should be considered in light of applicable laws, regulations, industry rules and requirements, facts, circumstances and other relevant factors. None of the Information should be interpreted or construed to require or promote the establishment of any solution, practice, configuration, rule, requirement or specification inconsistent with applicable legal requirements, any of which requirements may change over time. The U.S. Payments Forum assumes no responsibility to support, maintain or update the Information, regardless of any such change. Use of or reliance on the Information is at the user’s sole risk, and users are strongly encouraged to consult with their respective payment networks, acquirers, processors, vendors and appropriately qualified technical and legal experts prior to all implementation decisions.