Fringe to Mainstream: How Peptide Merchants Create Payments Risk
Online “research peptide” merchants are rapidly expanding across the digital payments ecosystem. These sellers market substances such as semaglutide, tirzepatide, melanotan II, and BPC-157 while claiming their products are “for research purposes only.” In practice, these disclaimers are frequently used to evade pharmaceutical regulation while targeting consumers seeking weight-loss drugs, anti-aging compounds, and biohacking products.
Demand for GLP-1 drugs has accelerated this trend, pushing peptide sellers from niche bodybuilding communities into mainstream consumer markets. As a result, payment providers are increasingly exposed to merchants selling unapproved drugs outside regulated pharmaceutical supply chains.
In this session, experts from G2 Risk Solutions and the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy will explain how illicit peptide merchants operate, why the category has grown so quickly, and how regulators are responding. Attendees will learn how to detect illicit peptide merchants, evaluate regulatory and card brand risk, and build stronger merchant onboarding, monitoring, and transaction-risk controls.
Community Reception
And don't miss the Community Reception from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m., offering an opportunity to connect with industry peers after the day’s sessions.
Merchant Risk Solutions
Risk solutions for the full merchant lifecycle
Grow your payments business with complete merchant risk intelligence across onboarding, monitoring, and emerging risk
Onboarding
Onboard merchants faster without sacrificing risk controls
Monitoring
Monitor merchants continuously as risk evolves
Risk Intelligence
Expose complex and emerging merchant threats