Marketplaces and Platforms
Marketplaces and platforms enable commerce, by connecting remote buyers and sellers. By embedding payment acceptance in their solutions, they make it easy for businesses to accept payments from their customers, often across a wide range of payment methods. These capabilities can come in different flavors: end user visibility, digital wallet capabilities, additional payments adjacent features, and multiple settlement and disbursement options are variations to consider. The three major capabilities that these solutions have to solve for are:
1. Onboarding (which includes regulatory compliance considerations)
2. Payment Acceptance
3. Payouts to End Users
Platforms and marketplaces also have to manage multiple types of risk compared to a traditional merchant, which requires decisions about risk sharing, fraud vendors, operational structure (in-source vs outsource) and how a risk control strategy should be developed.
This enabler role offers opportunities and challenges. To perform it well, marketplaces and platforms often come to us with questions like:
How do we respond to upcoming or newly implemented regulatory changes?
What strategic payments plays are our competitors doing?
What role are we obligated to play in fraud and risk management? What role should we play?
What could we do to make payments a source of revenue?
Are we working with the right partners? Do we have the right contracts in place?
How we can help
Assessments
of current operations, of partner performance, of market opportunities, and of regulatory environments
Research
qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method research and analysis
Strategic advisory
Education
Marketplace & Platforms Case Studies
Resources
Articles
Glenbrook shares our perspectives on activities in the industry.
Demystifying Payments Orchestration: Part 3 – Defining the Payments Orchestration Landscape
The 5 payments orchestration implementation models explored in this post reflect a spectrum of control, customization, and complexity. Understanding the distinct characteristics and where each orchestration model excels and where it introduces risk or limitations is essential for selecting the right fit.
We (Really) Can’t Stop Talking About Tokenization: A 2025 Update
Glenbrook’s Chris Uriarte unpacks network tokenization updates from Visa and Mastercard.
Celebrating the Expansion of Glenbrook’s Leadership Team
Glenbrook is celebrating the expansion of its leadership team by announcing the promotions of Simon Skinner and Joanna Wisniecka to Associate Partner.
Podcasts
Glenbrook speaks with industry leaders to share a variety of perspectives on the latest payments trends and activities.
Episode 284 – Fanning the Flames – Advanced Payments Workshop Recap
If you missed our Advanced Payments workshop in San Francisco last month, tune in to this episode to hear Yvette Bohanan and Russ Jones discuss the key topics and conversations from the session, including card network updates, stablecoins, and agentic commerce.
Episode 283 – Banking on Stablecoins, with Scott Southall and Will Artingstall, Citi
In this episode, Yvette Bohanan and Ashley Lannquist welcome Scott Southall, Head of BaaS, and Will Artingstall, Head of Digital Assets Payments and e-Commerce at Citi, to dig into what recent stablecoin regulatory changes mean for the future of banking, how U.S. institutions are mobilizing behind digital dollars, why clients are asking about new forms of money, and what’s next as stablecoins potentially go mainstream in the American financial system.
Episode 282 – Why You Need a Stablecoin Strategy, with Ran Goldi, Fireblocks
In this episode, Yvette Bohanan welcomes back Ran ‘Goldi’ Goldshtein, Senior VP of Payments and Networks at Fireblocks to provide his perspective on the evolution of the digital currency space.
Tune in as they break down a stablecoin transaction, discuss the current state and adoption of blockchain technology, and review various use cases for stablecoins. They define terms like TradFi, Defi, and smart contracts, and explore the impact of tokenized deposits and AI on the digital currency landscape.
News
Glenbrook objectively curates the news to keep you abreast of important daily headlines in payments.
The New Rules of the Road for Agentic Commerce
"Mastercard joined forces with Google on its Universal Commerce Protocol, an open protocol that enables interoperability between AI agents and merchants. They continue to collaborate across the value chain, including Google’s Agent Payments Protocol and Agent2Agent...
Agentic Checkout Grows Across Major AI Platforms
"Agentic checkout is no longer an abstract idea discussed in demos. Over the past several months, major technology companies have begun rolling out tools that allow AI systems to guide, assist, or complete purchases inside chat and assistant interfaces. The growing...
Why Chinas Interest-Bearing CBDC Changes Global Playbook
"On January 1, 2026, China crossed a line most central banks have deliberately avoided. The digital yuan (e-CNY) began paying interest. According to Reuters, verified wallet holders will now earn interest at demand deposit rates under a new management framework that...
Ready to see how Glenbrook can support your marketplaces and platform company to be as efficient and effective as possible?