Method and disclosure

How we check a claim

Every dated claim on this site links to its source. Where a primary announcement is public, we link to it. Where it is not, we link to reputable coverage and say so on the page. We treat product stages literally: “pilot” means pilot, “early access” means early access, “announced” does not mean “available to you.” If a claim turns out to be wrong, we correct it on the page with a dated note rather than silently rewriting it.

How we word things

Precise language, written for payments professionals, not simplified for general readers. We do not use a company’s marketing words as our own: when we quote a product name or a company’s description of its product, that is the company’s wording, and the source link lets you check it.

Who runs this site

Agent Will Pay is an independent data service for payments professionals. It is run by an independent operator who also runs other independent information sites. It does not link to, promote, or sell any commercial service, and this launch version carries no affiliate links and no sponsored content. Nothing on this site is a recommendation to buy, enable, or avoid a specific product; the four questions on the homepage are the test we suggest you apply yourself.

Datasets and schema

This site is built on five downloadable datasets (Data): events (date, entity, stage, claim, sources, region, stakeholders, settlement rail, impact); protocols (version history, adoption signals, settlement rails, regions, sources); live status (stage, stage start date, stage history, sources); liability (date, jurisdiction, actor, rule, impact, coverage, sources); glossary (term, definition, source). Every page that presents dataset content is generated from the dataset file, so the page and the download cannot drift apart.

Inclusion criteria

A record enters a dataset when it is a public, dated fact with a linkable source: a company announcement, a standards-body publication, a regulator document, or reputable coverage where the primary document is not public. Where the primary document is not public, the page says so (see the liability page’s sourcing caveat on Visa’s rulebook). A claim we cannot source is not recorded, and a date we cannot confirm is marked “unverified”, never invented.

Stage definitions

Stages use five values only: announced (announced, no availability evidence), pilot (controlled real-world use, named participants), early-access (developer or invite-only access, not general availability), live (generally available in the stated region), standard (governed by a standards body or foundation). The criteria are applied literally: a product described as a pilot is recorded as a pilot even if its marketing calls it a launch.

Quarterly freezes

At each quarter’s end, the datasets are frozen as a versioned snapshot so the annual report can compare year-end against a fixed baseline. The first freeze is pending a decision: a 2026 Q4 stub or starting 2027 Q1. Until then, the generated date on each dataset file is its version.

Limitations

These datasets record what companies and standards bodies publish, not observed behaviour in production. A stage judgment is a judgment against fixed criteria, not a measurement. Coverage is limited to public sources; private pilots, internal policies and unpublished terms are not visible to us and are not guessed at. Nothing here is legal advice.

Corrections

Write to [email protected]. Corrections are published with dates in the corrections log. (Email routing for this address is being set up; if a message bounces during launch week, please retry.)

Technical notes

This site loads no third-party scripts, fonts or trackers. Pages are static files; there is no account, no login, and nothing to sign up for.