Programmable Cards Enable New Use Cases
Bo Jiang, CEO of Lithic, on the power of the cards as a digital payment rail
Cards win as a software payment rail because they are already accepted almost everywhere, move money in real time, and expose programmable controls that let software turn a payment into a product feature. That is what opens net new use cases for Lithic. A platform can create a card instantly, lock it to one merchant or amount, watch the auth in real time, and reconcile the spend back to the underlying invoice or workflow, which is much harder to do cleanly with ACH alone.
-
The strongest embedded card use cases are not generic card programs, they are workflow products. Order.co issues hundreds of thousands of virtual cards through Lithic inside procurement software, then uses those cards to pay vendors, roll many purchases into one invoice, and earn interchange alongside software and financing revenue.
-
Cards have practical advantages over ACH when a product needs precision and speed. A card can be created on demand, approved for one transaction, settled with standardized network data, and if needed disputed through an established process. ACH works for large fee sensitive payments, but it is weaker for instant issuance, granular controls, and clean exception handling.
-
The competitive line is between infrastructure and finished payment products. Lithic sells the programmable card rails so software companies can invent their own experiences. Brex Embedded shows the other model, a prebuilt card product embedded into travel or procurement workflows, where Brex keeps the brand, underwriting, and risk management instead of offering white label infrastructure.
Going forward, more B2B software will hide the rail and sell the workflow. Cards should keep taking share in places where the payment needs rules, instant issuance, embedded credit, and fast reconciliation, while ACH remains for larger low margin transfers. That favors platforms like Lithic that make cards easy to program and easy to plug into broader money movement stacks.