PAYMENTS ON FIRE RESOURCE CENTER
Smart thinking for smart payments professionals
Payments On Fire is the industry’s leading resource center for payments professionals. Here, you’ll find the resources and thought leadership that only Glenbrook’s experienced team can provide. Curated news stories, insightful opinion papers, provocative podcasts, and more – it’s all the thinking you need to stay competitive in a dynamic payments world.
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November 25, 2025
PayPal and Perplexity Launch Instant Buy Ahead of Black Friday
PayPal Newsroom
“PayPal today announced that it has enabled PayPal merchants to become discoverable within Perplexity, giving consumers the ability to checkout in chat. As of today, U.S. users exploring Perplexity’s new shopping experience can seamlessly transition from research to purchase, leveraging PayPal’s identity verification, Purchase and Seller protection, and trusted payment processing, without leaving the answer […]
Klarna to Launch Dollar-Backed Stablecoin as Race in Digital Payments Heats Up
Reuters
“Swedish fintech firm Klarna on Tuesday said it will launch a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin, becoming the latest major payments company to move deeper into digital assets as regulators tighten oversight of the sector. The token, called KlarnaUSD, is currently in testing and will be available on the mainnet in 2026, will be fully backed by […]
Green Dot Agrees to $1.1bn Breakup Deal
FinTech Futures
“Green Dot Corporation has agreed to be acquired by Smith Ventures and CommerceOne Financial Corporation in deals totalling approximately $825 million to $1.1 billion. The first half of the agreement will see Smith Ventures acquire Green Dot’s non-bank fintech operations. On the other side, CommerceOne will acquire Green Dot Bank, including related assets and operations.”
Cash App Debuts a New AI Assistant That Answers Questions About Your Finances
TechCrunch
“Cash App released a slate of new features as part of its fall update, including an AI chatbot that can answer questions about users’ finances, a new benefits program, and the ability to discover places that accept Bitcoin payments and make Bitcoin payments using USD.”
Paxos Acquires Fordefi to Build the Custody Infrastructure Layer to Power the On-Chain Economy
PR Newswire
“Paxos today announced it has acquired Fordefi, an institutional-grade custody and wallet technology provider. Clients will be able to build upon a single, trusted platform to issue stablecoins, tokenize assets and build complex payment flows while maintaining the highest standards for security and compliance.”
Worldpay Accelerates the Future of Agentic Commerce With Model Context Protocol
Worldpay
“Worldpay has announced the launch of Worldpay MCP (Model Context Protocol), a publicly available set of server specifications and tools, designed to accelerate AI-powered payment integration and open the door for agentic commerce innovation. This launch marks the next milestone in Worldpay’s ongoing focus on innovation, shaping the future of commerce.”
November 24, 2025
ECB Calls Stablecoins a Threat to Global Financial Stability… Again
Cryptopolitan
“The European Central Bank just flagged stablecoins as a global threat. Again. On Monday, the bank put out a pre-release of its financial stability review, warning that the sudden rise in these tokens needs serious attention. Even though things look fine right now, the bank says that could change real fast if stablecoins get adopted […]
TerraPay Launches Xend - A Global Payments Interoperability Network to Power Borderless Payments for Billions of Wallet Users
PR Newswire
“TerraPay announced the launch of Xend, a Payments Interoperability Network designed to unify the fragmented world of wallets, banks, and cards into one seamless, borderless financial ecosystem. Xend serves as a universal infrastructure layer, enabling wallet users to transact with 11,500 banks via the Swift network and access 150 million acceptance locations, all from their existing […]
Goodbye MT Format—SWIFT Retires Legacy Payments in Favor of Blockchain-Friendly ISO 20022
CCN
“SWIFT sunsetted the MT (Message Type) format for financial messaging on Saturday, Nov. 22. Having migrated to ISO 20022, global banks are now positioned to accelerate blockchain adoption. ISO 20022 enables interoperability between different CBDCs, tokenized deposits, and blockchain solutions like Ripple and Stellar.”
Mastercard Unveils New Open-Loop Mobility Product
Fintech Global
“Mastercard has reinforced its position at the forefront of mobility innovation with the launch of its enhanced open-loop transit solution. The company’s open-loop transit solution allows riders to tap into public transport systems using existing Mastercard debit or credit cards, as well as digital wallets on mobile phones or wearables. This removes the need for […]
US Considers Allowing Bitcoin Tax Payments
Digital Watch Observatory
“Americans may soon be able to pay federal taxes in Bitcoin under a new bill introduced in the House of Representatives. The proposal would send BTC tax payments straight into the US strategic reserve and spare taxpayers from capital gains reporting.”
OCBC Rolls Out In-App Calls for Retail Customers
Asian Banking & Finance
OCBC is rolling out in-app calls on its digital banking apps, enabling customers to call the bank’s contact centre even when they travel outside Singapore. OCBC said that it expects in-app calls to be especially valuable to customers who need urgent assistance while abroad, such as in cases of suspected credit card fraud or account […]
Eurosystem Moves Forward on Work to Connect Tips With India’s Unified Payments Interface and With Nexus Global Payments
European Central Bank
The Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) has decided to further advance the ongoing initiatives to interlink the Eurosystem’s TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) service with other fast payment systems globally. The decision is part of the Eurosystem’s overall efforts to make it easier for businesses and consumers in Europe to send and receive payments […]
The Quiet Rise Of A New Global Payments System
Eurasia Review
“The BRICS countries’ SWIFT alternative, CIPS, is now operational—a profound change that the West apparently overlooked and ignored to its own disadvantage. Last week, one of the most important geopolitical shifts of 2025 unfolded with almost no Western media attention: the BRICS bloc—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—officially launched a new global payments system […]
Pioneering the Future: Highlights from Fall 2025 Payments Conferences
FedPayments Improvement
“Federal Reserve Financial Services remains steadfast in its commitment to payments modernization, instant payments adoption and fraud mitigation through education, evolving innovative tools and industry collaboration. Reflecting on the fall 2025 conference season, several key insights and takeaways stand out from discussions about the future of payments and the industry’s changing landscape.”
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