The CPayO: Making Payments a First-Class Function (with Viktoria Soltesz)

Payments isn’t a line item. It’s the circulatory system of your business. In this episode, we sit down with Viktoria Soltesz (https://www.solteszinstitute.com/), author of The CPayO: Chief Payment Officer — the role that doesn’t exist (but should), to map why every serious merchant, ISO, PayFac, or ISV needs an executive who owns payments end-to-end: banking, risk, data, UX, contracts, and compliance. We move from first principles to field practice: how to negotiate bank and processor relationships, design checkout that doesn’t kill conversion, and plan for scale before your success trips a risk wire.

Why this conversation matters

Payments as strategy, not plumbing. Treat acceptance, disbursements, and data flows like an operating system, not a vendor invoice. That shift reduces cost, raises approval rates, and gives you leverage when something breaks.

The CPayO mandate. One executive accountable across finance, legal, product, risk, and engineering to set policy, pick vendors, and own KPIs (auth rates, cost to collect, dispute cycle time, days-cash-held).

Scale without surprises. When volume or business model changes outgrow your original merchant profile, renegotiate and re-paper before a processor “discovers” it for you.

UX meets settlement. Beautiful storefronts die at clunky checkouts; payment UX and processor choices must be designed together or you pay in declines and abandonment.

Global is different. Cross-border means new providers, fees, licensing expectations, and regulators. Education and governance beat gut feel every time.

What we get into

Money doesn’t just support your business—it shapes it. We sit down with Viktoria Soltez, author and payments strategist, to argue that payments deserve a seat at the executive table and outline why a Chief Payment Officer can be the difference between smooth scaling and daily firefighting. From clunky gateways that crush a luxury checkout to contracts that quietly handcuff your margins, we unpack where revenue really leaks and how to build systems that make payments feel invisible to customers and unbreakable for teams.

We dive into the literacy gap that plagues even sophisticated companies: finance understands banking but not acquiring, UX ships beautiful flows that fall apart at the pay wall, and legal treats merchant agreements like phone plans. Viktoria explains how to plan your payment flows before you launch new products or markets, how to renegotiate when your profile changes, and why measuring fees against profit—not revenue—reveals the true cost of “just 3 percent.” We also tackle cross-border expansion, scheme monitoring programs, and the rising importance of dispute management and data ownership.

If this conversation helped you see your money movement in a new way, follow the show, share it with a teammate who owns checkout, and leave a quick review—what’s the one payments question you want us to tackle next?

Renegotiation is a skill. You’re not the business you were 3–5 years ago; neither are your vendors. Go back to market for price, terms, data rights, and true support.

AI and “agentic” checkouts. Tomorrow’s buyer may be a bot acting for the customer. That demands machine-readable product, pricing, and payment flows your systems can actually satisfy.

Education gap = risk. Most teams don’t know what to ask. Build internal playbooks for boarding, changes in scope, chargeback ops, and incident response so success doesn’t trigger shutdowns.

The real cost of “3%.” Cost to collect must be measured against profit, not revenue; a “small” fee can erase margins if you aren’t optimizing routing and terms.

A usable CPayO playbook

Own the metrics. Track approval rates by BIN/region, cost to collect by rail, refund/chargeback ratios, dispute cycle time,

A payments podcast of Global Legal Law Firm

Banking Meets Payments: Capital, AI Reality Checks, and the Tokenized-Deposit Shakeup

Hosted by Leo Arzumanyan and Jeremy Stock. Special guest: Adam T. Hark, Managing Member, Wellesley Hills Financial (https://www.wellesleyhillsfinancial.com/).

Payments isn’t just rails and rates anymore; it’s capital, contracts, and data that decide who scales and who stalls. In this candid, operator-level conversation, Adam Hark maps the real terrain for ISOs, PayFacs, acquirers, and ISVs: how residual streams get valued, why lenders still struggle to underwrite payments businesses, where AI helps (and where it absolutely doesn’t), and why tokenized deposits from major banks could upend stablecoin economics and B2B money movement.

What we dig into

From portfolio trades to full-stack banking: How residual purchases, portability, and ISO/agent structures shaped a niche investment-banking playbook for payments—and what buyers actually pay for when they value a book.

Capital that understands payments: Why traditional lenders misread variable merchant cash flows, the collateral that really counts, and the deal structures that align risk with revenue.

AI without the fairy dust: The practical use case is heavy-lift data processing (merchant-level files that set portfolio value), not judgment or strategy. Generative tools draft; experts decide. Hallucinations are a legal and financial risk without human oversight.

Operating in the tokenized era: How bank-issued tokenized deposits (with yield) could challenge private stablecoins, change treasury workflows, and accelerate corporate adoption of blockchain rails—while cores, processors, and gateways scramble to keep up.

Founder focus: Don’t bolt AI or crypto onto the roadmap just to keep up with the buzz. Start from the problem: auth rates, cost to collect, dispute cycle time, portfolio attrition. Solve that, then layer tech.

Field notes for teams

Valuation is in the data exhaust: Clean merchant-level reporting and cohort analysis beat pitch decks. If you want a premium, instrument your book.

Contracts drive financeability: Data portability, token migration, termination assistance, and audit rights are the difference between “bankable” and “hard pass.”

AI guardrails: Use models to wrangle processor files and KPIs; never ship output without expert review. Treat models as interns—fast, not authoritative.

Tokenized deposits over press releases: Expect treasury to demand speed and yield. If you touch payouts or cross-border, start planning wallet addresses, policy, and controls now.

Talent and trust: Niche expertise compounds. Clients will pay for people who actually understand payments math, not just “fintech.”

Why this episode matters

If you raise capital, buy portfolios, or operate on the sharp end of merchant acquiring, this is your playbook for 2025: get your data house in order, negotiate bankable contracts, deploy AI where it’s measurable, and prepare for tokenized deposits to change how funds move and settle.

**Matters discussed are all opinions and do not constitute legal advice.  All events or likeness to real people and events is a coincidence.**

Visit us today: https://www.globallegallawfirm.com/podcasts/

A payments podcast of Global Legal Law Firm

Stopping Deepfake Fraud: Identity at the Exact Moment Money Moves

A familiar voice on Zoom. A “known” face on video. A routine request that moves millions. Today’s most dangerous attacks look like business as usual—until the funds are gone. With guest Peter Segerstrom (Traceless) and host Christopher Dryden, Esq., The Payments Experts Podcast tears into how AI has supercharged social engineering—and what payments teams can do about it right now. 

Why this matters to payments & fintech

Fraud has shifted from stealing numbers to stealing people—their voice, face, and work patterns. Help desks, payment ops, treasury approvals, and VIP inboxes are the new perimeter. If you move money, change bank details, or provision access, your identity workflow is your risk model.

What we cover (built for operators)
• AI-enabled impersonation: Voice/video spoofs that pass a quick “does it sound like them?” test—and how to break the illusion in seconds
• The help desk as your identity perimeter: Password resets, SSO unlocks, and privileged access handoffs that attackers abuse first
• Ephemeral data, not permanent secrets: Why short-lived artifacts and least-retained data shrink both breach blast radius and audit pain
• Payments risk beyond PCI: Real controls where losses happen—supplier changes, wire approvals, card-on-file changes, and refund pivots
• POS/IoT exposure: The quiet attack surface growing with each new device and integration
• Wire-fraud playbooks: Out-of-band verification that actually works when time is tight
• Audit, insurance, and exit readiness: Controls that lower loss and premiums, and survive technical diligence

Field patterns you’ll recognize
• Friday-afternoon wires after weeks of mailbox surveillance
• “Urgent” VIP resets that turn into lateral movement and payout edits
• Deepfake calls that pressure teams to skip second-factor checks
• Vendor banking changes greenlit on trust instead of verification

The 12-control checklist (deploy this quarter)

1. Two-channel verification on money moves: Approver must touch a second, pre-registered channel before any bank-detail change or high-value transfer
2. Reset hardening at the help desk: No single-factor resets; require device signals + OTP + recent-activity challenge
3. Short-lived secrets: Replace static screenshots and passwords-in-tickets with ephemeral artifacts that expire after use
4. Privileged session guardrails: Time-boxed elevation and approvals logged to an immutable trail
5. Vendor change surgeries: Treat IBAN/routing edits like production releases (staging → review → two-person control → deploy)
6. Location/device reputation checks: Deny or step-up when posture is off (new device, TOR/VPN, geo anomalies)
7. Tiered approvals by risk: Amount, corridor, and beneficiary novelty drive extra checks automatically


**Matters discussed are all opinions and do not constitute legal advice.  All events or likeness to real people and events is a coincidence.**

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We know the players. We know the playbook. We execute.
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For leverage, access, intelligence, and clarity when everything’s on the line.

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A payments podcast of Global Legal Law Firm

“The Mastercard ‘Scam’? MATCH, Mystery Fines, and How to Fight Back”

When a merchant can be fined six figures and MATCH-listed with no reason code and no recourse, something’s broken. In this in-studio episode, hosts Christopher Dryden, Bryce Van De Moere, and Jeremy Stock dissect the growing wave of opaque brand assessments—spotlighting peptide merchants as the latest industry in the crosshairs—and lay out a litigation-first playbook that’s producing real results. We trace how fines flow from brand → sponsor bank → processor → merchant, why “illegal transactions” are cited without specifics, and how silence from support desks drives businesses to the brink.

What’s really happening (and why it matters)

Fines without findings: Banks and processors pass along brand assessments labeled “illegal transactions”—with no identified transaction, product, or victim.

MATCH as a business death sentence: One placement can freeze payouts, block re-boarding, and contaminate every data point tied to the merchant (owners, addresses, phones) for five years.

Pass-the-buck economics: Contracts let banks/ISOs debit merchants immediately, then “close the matter” while offering no explanation.

Category crackdowns: Peptides are a current target, but the pattern repeats across verticals—retroactive penalties and portfolio-wide chill.

Inside the room: the case patterns we’re seeing

No-explanation letters (“matter closed”) and brand notices that say only “illegal transactions.”

Compliant operators (e.g., physician-dispensed therapeutics; research-only SKUs with no dosing) still swept into MATCH.

Small merchants, outsized fines: thousands in monthly volume, five-figure assessments—a mismatch that devastates Main Street.

The playbook that’s moving needles

Skip the endless emails—draft the complaint: A well-pled, ready-to-file complaint forces decision-makers to engage, produce records, and reconsider MATCH placements.

Evidence that persuades banks and brands: COAs/batch IDs, physician oversight records, “research use” controls, age-gating logs, and website/receipt disclosures documented to the week.

Bank-side pressure: Escalate to teams who can dispute assessments upstream; insist on the issuer’s factual basis—or confirm there isn’t one.

Cash-flow protection while you fight: Consider revoking ACH debit authority on fee pulls until facts are produced; negotiate from strength, not after funds are drained.

Pre-boarding prevention: Build front-end addenda and opinion letters that map regulatory compliance to brand policies—so underwriters have cover before any listing occurs.

What you’ll take back to your team

A response framework for brand assessments that arrive with zero specifics

How to document compliance so banks can safely push back

When refund-first de-escalates—and when representment/litigation is the only lever

Contract terms to revisit: data/notice rights, token portability, termination assistance, and dispute timelines that prevent silent offboarding

Bottom line

Mystery fines and MATCH placements shouldn’t be a black box. If you’re an ISO, PayFac, acquirer, or merchant operator, this episode gives you a tactical path: demand specifics, document compliance, escalate intelligently—and be prepared to litigate to get a straight answer. That’s how you protect portfolios, keep good merchants processing, and start pushing this system toward due process.

**Matters discussed are all opinions and do not constitute legal advice.  All events or likeness to real people and events is a coincidence.**

Visit Global Legal Law Firm today: https://www.globallegallawfirm.com/podcasts/

A payments podcast of Global Legal Law Firm

ADA, Chatbots, and Compliance-as-a-Feature: Turning Lawsuit Traps into Portfolio Stickiness (with Michael Williams, Clym (https://www.clym.io/)

Cash is disappearing, card rails rule, and “set it and forget it” legal copy is now a liability. In this fast, no-B.S. episode, James Huber and Jeremy Stock sit down with Michael Williams, co-founder of Clym, to unpack the lawsuit vectors quietly hitting merchant websites: ADA accessibility claims, “chatbot wiretapping” suits, and a maze of state privacy rules that change faster than roadmaps. The punchline for payments pros? Compliance is product—it reduces fines, preserves MIDs, and keeps portfolios from churning.

Why this matters to payments teams

ADA goes digital: Website accessibility claims have exploded—think large volumes with five-figure settlements that crush SMBs and create needless merchant attrition.

Wiretapping via chatbots: In two-party consent states, recording or logging live chat without explicit notice is becoming an easy plaintiff’s layup.

Dynamic, not static: What’s compliant in one state might fail in another. A one-size policy either over-frictions conversion or under-protects risk.

Operational drag: When demand letters hit, support, finance, and legal get pulled off mission—right when merchants need them most.

What we cover (built for ISOs, PayFacs, acquirers, ISVs)

The new lawsuit economy: Why “fines without findings” moved from ramps and bathrooms to menus, receipts, and live chat logs—and how automation lets plaintiffs scan thousands of sites a day.

From GDPR to geofencing: How a CFO’s privacy headache birthed a horizontal, website-level compliance stack—accessibility, privacy, “wiretapping,” and geo-controls—designed to update without re-implementation.

Real-time compliance: Continuous scanning that flags risky changes (new widgets, menu updates, policy drift) before a demand letter arrives.

Friction that fits: Show less friction where law allows, more where it’s required—so marketing converts and legal sleeps at night.

Retention math: Portfolio stickiness improves when an ISO bundles easy, merchant-installed compliance at a partner price—versus losing the account after a suit.

Practical playbook you can deploy this quarter

Website attestation at boarding: Add a one-page checklist: ADA accessibility, privacy notice, cookie behavior, chatbot recording disclosure, and where each appears (entry, checkout, receipts).

Two-party consent guardrails: If you operate in consent states, on-page chat notice plus explicit “continue” intent = safer logs.

Geo-aware policies: Serve state-specific privacy/consent text and feature friction based on visitor location; don’t let the strictest state throttle all traffic.

Evidence kits for defense: Time-stamped screenshots of menus, signs, policy pages, chat notices, and a weekly crawl log. Merchants need this before a letter arrives.

Quarterly scans, monthly deltas: Automate site scans; review deltas with merchants; fix drift (plugins, templates, receipt footers) without re-platforming.

Field signals you’ll recognize

“Register-only” disclosures that fail conspicuous-notice tests.

Live chat that asks name/email without recording-consent language.

Menu PDFs that screen readers can’t parse.

Traffic from restricted states hitting prohibited SKUs.

Demand letters starting high, settling mid-five figures—and repeating.


**Matters discussed are all opinions and do not constitute legal advice.  All events or likeness to real people and events is a coincidence.**

Visit Global Legal Law Firm today: https://www.globallegallawfirm.com/podcasts/

A payments podcast of Global Legal Law Firm

The payments world didn’t just change—it rewired who holds the power. Christopher Dryden, Founding and Managing Partner of Global Legal Law Firm, sits down with Darrin Ginsberg of Super G Capital (https://www.supergcapital.com/) to chart the path from door-to-door ISO sales to e commerce gateways and the rise of embedded payments. Darrin shares how he built one of CSI’s largest offices, why e commerce distribution beat terminal leases, and what he learned buying 50+ portfolios before turning that knowledge into loans secured by residual streams.

We sit down with Darrin Ginsberg of Super G Capital to trace the arc from ISO sales to e commerce gateways to lending against residuals. We unpack how ISVs seized leverage, why banks don’t fund portfolios, and where smart capital actually drives ISO growth.

• early ISO sales tactics and CSI scale
• pivot to online processing and gateways
• seminars and referral partnerships for distribution
• portfolio buying, attrition, and concentration risk
• creating loans collateralized by residuals
• underwriting beyond statements and rates
• ISVs gaining power and shifting rev shares
• why banks won’t underwrite recurring revenue
• MCAs vs structured ISO lending
• best uses of capital, including agent buybacks
• coaching founders on overhead and pay plans
• health journey, resilience, and return to lending
• loan sizes, terms, and how to contact Super G

We get into the mechanics that most outsiders miss. Banks still don’t treat a merchant portfolio as a real asset, so ISOs with strong monthly revenue can’t access traditional credit. Darrin explains how he underwrites beyond the residual report—looking at sales models, stickiness, leases, software integrations, and support—to price risk and structure deals that actually help companies grow. We also unpack the ISV power shift: early rev shares near 10% ballooned to 90% as platforms realized their leverage, with many becoming their own ISOs. If you’re not selling software or embedded into it, you’re fighting uphill.

Capital is only as good as its use. Darrin breaks down high-ROI moves—buying back dormant agent residuals at favorable multiples, funding proven marketing, securing equipment for frictionless installs, and opening scalable recruiting hubs—and warns against draining loans to pay off low-rate mortgages or paper over broken unit economics. We contrast sustainable ISO lending with merchant cash advances that trap businesses in costly cycles. Along the way, Darrin’s health journey adds perspective on resilience and focus, and why fundamentals still win in a market obsessed with headlines.

If you’re an ISO, ISV, or PayFac operator looking to scale with discipline, this conversation gives you a clear playbook on underwriting, attrition, portfolio value, and the smarter ways to deploy growth capital. Subscribe, share with your team, and leave a review with the one change you’re making to your model this quarter.

**Matters discussed are all opinions and do not constitute legal advice.  All events or likeness to real people and events is a coincidence.**

Visit Global Legal Law Firm today: https://www.globallegallawfirm.com/podcasts/

A payments podcast of Global Legal Law Firm

The payments game has changed, and winging it is no longer an option. James Huber and Jeremy Stock sit down with Maurice Griefer of MyCPO (https://www.getmycpo.com/) to unpack what it takes to scale a high-risk ecommerce brand without getting crushed by chargebacks, caps, and the new Visa VAMP rules. From the wild energy of early ISO call centers to today’s distributed agent networks, the throughline is clear: honest setup, realistic limits, and proactive dispute prevention beat short-term hacks every time.

We trace the journey from old-school ISO bullpens to today’s agent-driven portfolios, then dig into VAMP, chargebacks, MATCH, and how merchants can scale without getting shut down. Maurice shares why he launched My CPO, the realities of going solo, and how to build a resilient payment stack without losing your shirt.

• evolution of the ISO model and sales ethics
• common setup mistakes that trigger MATCH
• planning limits, caps, and multiple MIDs
• VAMP thresholds, portfolio risk, and fees
• alerts, RDR, and dispute prevention tools
• building SOPs, hiring, and merchant support
• long-term trust versus short-term tactics
• hope is not a payments strategy

Maurice shares what he learned growing up around merchant services and later helping build Maverick, then explains why he launched My CPO to stay close to merchants on the front lines. We break down the mistakes that get good businesses on MATCH—like pushing a second website through an existing MID or accepting bad MCC advice—and show how early discovery, accurate underwriting, and multiple MIDs create resilience when Q4 spikes hit. If you’ve ever had a processor freeze funds after a viral campaign, this conversation gives you the playbook to avoid it.

We also dive into the VAMP era: tighter thresholds, pass-through fees, and hard choices for acquirers balancing revenue against portfolio risk. The solution isn’t magic—use alerts and RDR, improve customer service, fix product pages and disclosures, and plan realistic caps that won’t trip alarms. You will pay either way: in tools and process now, or in penalties and lost processing later. Ethics and transparency still compound: the companies that do it right keep the same team at the booth year after year because trust scales better than churn.

If you’re building in high-risk ecommerce or advising merchants who are, this is your roadmap for sustainable growth. Subscribe, share with a teammate, and leave a review telling us the one change you’ll make to your payment stack this week.

**Matters discussed are all opinions and do not constitute legal advice.  All events or likeness to real people and events is a coincidence.**

Visit Global Legal Law Firm today: https://www.globallegallawfirm.com/podcasts/

A payments podcast of Global Legal Law Firm

Imagine being barred from accepting cards overnight—and no one will tell you why. That’s the reality for many merchants placed on MasterCard’s MATCH list, a risk registry that can sink a business while support teams stay silent. We brought managing partner James Huber and senior associate Bryce Vandemore into the studio to unpack what really moves the needle: skipping the endless email chains and going straight to a well-drafted complaint that forces banks and processors to respond.

We take apart the power dynamics behind the MasterCard MATCH list and explain why a litigation-first strategy now gets merchants faster answers than inquiry letters. We share case patterns, how banks and processors pass the buck, and what it takes to pressure real protocol change.

• why inquiry letters stall while complaints trigger action
• how banks, processors and ISOs split duties and avoid blame
• why MATCH listings cluster by category and tool-driven flags
• the costs, timelines and leverage of litigation versus waiting
• how fines and retroactive rule shifts punish compliant merchants
• the cardholder protection narrative versus merchant reality
• service gaps between cardholder support and merchant silence
• risks of cashless policies concentrating control in card rails
• practical steps to show compliance and push for removal

We walk through the turning points that led us to a sue-first strategy, why it accelerates dialogue, and how these cases are simpler than most people think. The aim isn’t courtroom theatrics; it’s a clear yes or no so a merchant can reopen accounts and stop the cash burn. Along the way, we map the responsibility maze—banks hold the authority, processors run the operations, and both often cite “internal policies” or “ongoing investigations” while providing no reason code. We also call out category-wide crackdowns and retroactive fines, from peptide vendors to weight-loss products, where compliant businesses are swept up in blanket MATCHing with little transparency.

You’ll hear how the “we protect cardholders” message can mask a deeper incentive to protect the networks themselves, creating a stark service gap: cardholders get fast remediation and live help, while merchants hire counsel just to learn what happened. We dive into the rise of cashless policies and what it means when the only way to transact funnels through private rails that can exclude you without a hearing. Our goal is practical and focused—push for protocol change, document compliance, pressure timely reviews, and establish a credible path off MATCH when errors occur.

If you’re a merchant, ISO, or in-house counsel navigating MATCH, this conversation gives you the current playbook: where to start, how to apply pressure, and what outcomes are realistic. Subscribe for more merchant-first insights, share this with a colleague who’s stuck on MATCH, and leave a review with your questions so we can tackle them next.

**Matters discussed are all opinions and do not constitute legal advice.  All events or likeness to real people and events is a coincidence.**

Visit us today: https://www.globallegallawfirm.com/podcasts/

A payments podcast of Global Legal Law Firm

Social Engineering Beats Your Stack: Fix Identity or Get Breached

A single phone call to a help desk shouldn’t sink a global brand—yet it happens. We dig into how social engineering bypasses expensive tools, why identity verification matters at the exact human moments work gets done, and how to measure cyber risk before it becomes tomorrow’s headline. With Peter Segerstrom of Traceless (https://traceless.com/) —a CTO turned advisor who’s audited stacks for acquisitions and built teams from a spare bedroom to scale—we unpack the messy reality of software in payments and fintech: open‑source dependencies, brittle architectures, migrations that stall, and the quiet warts you inherit when you buy code along with revenue.

Christopher Dryden, Esq., traces with Peter how a simple phone call can topple complex systems and why identity verification sits at the heart of modern security. Peter shares a CTO’s view on auditing tech in payments M&A, grading risk, and building Traceless to protect real transactions in real time.

• social engineering as a primary breach vector
• why tech diligence now drives payments and fintech M&A
• lessons from scaling a startup to operational maturity
• auditing architecture, dependencies and maintainability
• open source as foundation and risk surface
• risk grading frameworks buyers can act on
• what cyber risk means for vendors and SaaS reliance
• real‑time identity verification for help desks and workflows
• AI as force multiplier for attackers and defenders

We walk through the practical M&A playbook: inventory the stack, map data flows, assess maintainability, and grade risks so executives can decide what to fix, mitigate, insure, or avoid. Peter explains how a “technical Carfax” reframes negotiations, saving buyers from hidden liabilities and helping sellers prepare cleanly. We also talk vendor risk and why relying on major SaaS platforms can be safer than running your own server—while still demanding least privilege, strong logging, and incident plans that assume someone will eventually pick the wrong link or trust the wrong voice.

Then we widen the lens to Traceless and the identity problem at the core of modern breaches. Real‑time verification for customers, partners, and employees closes the easiest door attackers use: impersonation. From teenager pranksters to nation‑state zero‑days, the threat spectrum is wide, and AI now powers both sides—faster phishing and reconnaissance for attackers, smarter analysis and stress testing for defenders. The takeaway is clear: build verification into business workflows, treat architecture as a living system, and make risk visible with honest grading.

If this conversation helps you think differently about due diligence and operational resilience, follow the show, share it with a colleague, and leave a quick review so more people can find it.

**Matters discussed are all opinions and do not constitute legal advice.  All events or likeness to real people and events is a coincidence.**

Visit Global Legal Law Firm today: https://www.globallegallawfirm.com/podcasts/

A payments podcast of Global Legal Law Firm

Hemp Ban Fallout: How Policy Whiplash Hits Payments, Portfolios, and Merchants.  Hosted by Global Legal Law Firm Managing Partner James Huber and Senior Associate Attorney Bryce Van De Moere

A sudden hemp or cannabinoid ban doesn’t just change SKUs—it detonates risk models, freezes reserves, and scrambles underwriting across entire portfolios. In this episode, we unpack how shifting federal–state rules, card-brand policies, and retailer enforcement create a perfect storm for ISOs, PayFacs, acquirers, and merchants operating anywhere near hemp, CBD, delta-8/10, or “functional” products.

We move past the headlines to the operational reality: MCC assignments that suddenly look “high-risk,” sponsor banks tightening controls, BIN-level pressure driving early enforcement, and offboarding protocols that leave merchants without token access or refund options. If you own portfolio exposure—or sell into these verticals—this conversation gives you a realistic way to protect revenue without inviting regulatory heat.

What’s at stake

Portfolio shock: Rapid policy shifts drive reserve hikes, rolling holds, and frozen payouts that cascade across portfolios.

Regulatory overlap: Farm Bill ambiguity, state AG actions, and network rules collide—leaving merchants compliant in one lane and out of bounds in another.

Processor posture: Heightened KYC/KYB, product-level reviews, and SKU scanning that turn “low-touch” boarding into ongoing surveillance.

Litigation vectors: Deceptive practices claims, labeling variance, age-gating failures, and unfair competition allegations—often leveraged after a payment cutoff.

What we cover (practical and tactical)

Mapping the risk perimeter: Hemp vs CBD vs delta-8/10; how labeling, THC thresholds, and packaging claims change your risk category overnight.

Underwriting changes you’ll actually see: Document asks, site/photo audits, ingredient attestations, SKU-level approvals, and re-verification cadences.

Card-brand rules in practice: What “permitted with restrictions” means for your receipts, disclosures, and refund timelines; when MCC re-codes are necessary.

Offboarding without chaos: Token portability, refund runways, age-verified customer lists, and inventory liquidation strategies that reduce complaints and chargebacks.

Dispute defense in gray zones: Evidence sets that win (COAs, batch IDs, age verification logs, delivery confirmation) and when “refund first” beats “fight first.”

Ops knobs you can turn today: BIN rules, shipping blacklists by state, adult-signature requirements, SKU-specific routing, and refund automation triggers.

Alternative rails, done right: Where ACH/pay-by-bank and wallets help—and where they create new compliance workstreams and reconciliation debt.

Field stories and failure modes

MATCH and mislabeling: How a single mislabeled product can trigger portfolio-wide scrutiny and a five-year hangover if records aren’t corrected fast.

Secret-shopper reality: Entry signage, web product pages, cart disclosures, and line-level receipts—why “register-only” notice is a fine magnet.

Stacked fines and common ownership: How assessments replicate across related entities when documentation and SKU controls are inconsistent.

A usable playbook for payments teams

Re-verify your book: Run a hemp/cannabinoid sweep—SKU lists, labeling, COAs, age gates, shipping lanes, and ad claims.

Board with attestations: Product-category, labeling compliance, age-gating, shipping lanes, and refund policies—signed and renewed on cadence.



**Matters discussed are all opinions and do not constitute legal advice.  All events or likeness to real people and events is a coincidence.**

Visit us today: https://www.globallegallawfirm.com/

A payments podcast of Global Legal Law Firm