Payments Unfiltered

Primer announced a $100 million Series C in May 2026. And this conversation goes far beyond the funding. 

In this episode of Payments Unfiltered, Theo Spyrides sits down with our co-founder and CEO Gabriel Le Roux to discuss where payments are heading next, why AI in payments is more about context than prompts, and what payments intelligence actually looks like in practice for merchants. 

They cover:

• What’s next for Primer after the $100M raise

• Why payments have remained a "black box" for merchants

• How we're helping merchants simplify reconciliation and treasury

• Why AI in payments is really about context and what that means

• How intelligence affects every payment decision

Find more episodes on our channel, or learn more at primer.io.

Most merchants think hitting their chargeback target means they're safe. Spoiler alert: they're not.

In this episode of Payments Unfiltered, Theo Spyrides speaks with Qi Cao, co-founder and CEO of Chargeblast, to unpack chargebacks, what the Visa Acquiring Monitoring Program (VAMP) actually means for merchants, and why the merchants who manage disputes best are the ones who've already fixed their business model.

They cover:

- What VAMP is, how it replaced the old Visa dispute and fraud monitoring programs, and why acquirers are now the ones being policed

- Why your processor's portfolio health is now your exposure, and what to do about it

- Why getting your chargeback rate to zero isn't the goal, and what target actually makes sense

- What agentic commerce will mean for disputes and whether the infrastructure is ready

Qi also shares the single most important question any merchant with a chargeback problem should ask themselves, and it has nothing to do with alerts or tools.

Find more episodes on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Stay in the loop:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/36076041

Most merchants think hitting their chargeback target means they're safe. Spoiler alert: they're not.In this episode of Payments Unfiltered, Theo Spyrides speaks with Qi Cao, co-founder and CEO of Chargeblast, to unpack chargebacks, what the Visa Acquiring Monitoring Program (VAMP) actually means for merchants, and why the merchants who manage disputes best are the ones who've already fixed their business model.They cover:- What VAMP is, how it replaced the old Visa dispute and fraud monitoring programs, and why acquirers are now the ones being policed- Why your processor's portfolio health is now your exposure, and what to do about it- Why getting your chargeback rate to zero isn't the goal, and what target actually makes sense- What agentic commerce will mean for disputes and whether the infrastructure is readyQi also shares the single most important question any merchant with a chargeback problem should ask themselves, and it has nothing to do with alerts or tools.Find more episodes on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts.Stay in the loop:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/36076041

This is Part 2 of our conversation with James Fry, Head of Enterprise Product at Worldpay (now part of Global Payments).

Most people know what a PSP does. Far fewer know what it actually takes to build and run one. In this episode of Payments Unfiltered, Theo Spyrides, VP of Product at Primer, and James pull back the curtain.

They discuss:

➡️ What a PSP really is, and how far it's evolved from a simple gateway

➡️ Why keeping up with payment network changes consumes more engineering capacity than most people expect

➡️ Why no single PSP can serve all of a merchant's needs, and what that means in practice

➡️ What good developer experience looks like, and where most PSPs fall shortJames also shares how he thinks about structuring product teams inside a large payments organization and his advice for anyone building payment technology today.

Missed Part 1? Catch up here: https://youtu.be/JjlIXeuTVFM?si=4JQzdJ3zcrKQhzf0

And don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss any new episodes.

Stay in the loop:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/36076041

In this episode of Payments Unfiltered, Theo Spyrides, Head of Product at Primer, sits down with James Fry, Head of Enterprise Product at Worldpay (now part of Global Payments), to explore how merchants have evolved their approach to payments, and what that means for the payment providers supporting them.

They discuss:

• The shift away from treating payments as a commodity

• Why enterprise merchants are now hiring dedicated payments teams

• How optimization has become a strategic lever rather than a back-office concern. 

James also shares his perspective on two of the biggest trends reshaping the space: stablecoins as an additional payments rail for global merchants, and agentic commerce as a new channel that will require the industry to solve for trusted agents, fragmented protocols, and a whole new model of intent verification.

Don't forget to subscribe to our channel so you don't miss any new episodes of Payments Unfiltered.

In this episode of Payments Unfiltered, Theo Spyrides, Head of Product at Primer, is joined by Will Artingstall, Global Head of Digital Asset Payments and ecommerce Services at Citi.
Will shares how Citi is working more closely with enterprise merchants as payment flows become more complex and new rails begin to emerge. They discuss how large organizations are approaching these changes in practice, and what it means for how payments are designed and managed.
They discuss:

• The optimization levers available to merchants when working more closely with acquiring and issuing banks
• Why stablecoins and tokenized deposits are being introduced alongside existing payment rails
• Why payments can no longer be built in isolation as they embed directly into products

They also touch on Citi’s collaboration with Coinbase and what interoperability means in practice for enterprise teams.
Don’t forget to subscribe to our channel so you don’t miss any new episode drops.

In this episode of Payments Unfiltered, Theo Spyrides, Head of Product at Primer, sits down with Jeff Otto, CMO at Riskified, to explore what happens when software starts acting on behalf of customers and what that means for risk, fraud, and merchant exposure.

They discuss how agentic commerce changes who initiates a transaction, how trust is established, and why introducing an agent into the flow raises new questions around risk ownership and liability.  You’ll also hear about the strategic choices merchants face as this space evolves and why waiting on the sidelines isn’t a realistic option.

Don’t forget to subscribe to our channel so you don’t miss any new episodes of Payments Unfiltered.

Payments aren’t just infrastructure in gaming, they’re critical to the industry’s growth. From local wallets and currencies to mobile browser checkout, the way players pay now decides how studios scale.

In this episode of Payments Unfiltered, Berkley Egenes, Chief Marketing & Growth Officer at Xsolla, joins host Theo Spyrides to outline a practical playbook for global game monetization.

Together they unpack the levers that actually move revenue: enabling the right payment methods and currencies in priority markets, reducing friction at checkout, navigating regulatory shifts that can unlock new opportunities—or add fresh hurdles—and how to combat fraud.

Don’t forget to subscribe to our channel so you don’t miss any new episodes of Payments Unfiltered.

Low fraud and chargeback rates? Great. But what if it’s costing you customers?

In this episode of Payments Unfiltered, host Theo Spyrides is joined once again by Galit Shani-Michel, VP of Emerging Products at Forter, to explore the hidden risks of a “zero fraud” mindset.

From KPI misalignment to false declines and friction-filled 3DS flows, Galit explains how well-meaning fraud strategies can quietly damage conversion, customer experience, and long-term growth.

What you'll learn:

• Why a 0% fraud rate could mean you're blocking good customers
• How fraud, payments, and CX teams can work better together
• Where fraud actually happens (hint: it’s not just checkout)
• The importance of owning complete rate, not just auth rate
• Real examples of strategy changes that boosted revenue

In this episode of Payments Unfiltered, Theo Spyrides speaks with Natasha de Terán, author of The Payoff and former Head of Corporate Affairs at SWIFT, about the hidden complexity behind everyday transactions.