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February 20, 2026
Top Post
White House Sets March 1 Deadline for Stablecoin Rewards Decision
CoinPedia
"The White House signals limited stablecoin rewards may stay in the Clarity Act, pushing banks toward compromise as negotiations continue. Stablecoin reward rules inch toward compromise in the Senate Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, with banks and lawmakers weighing next steps."
On the web
New BofA Rewards™ Program to Reach Millions More Clients with Expanded Benefits
Bank of America
"Bank of America announced plans to launch BofA Rewards, a no fee loyalty program designed to reward and recognize clients for their full relationship across their Bank of America banking and Merrill investing accounts. Starting May 27, millions of clients can enroll in the new program to unlock benefits on eligible credit cards, cash back deals, banking services, curated experiences and more."
Sumsub Debuts AI Copilot to Transform Compliance Workflows and Fraud Investigations
Sumsub
"Sumsub announced the launch of its new Summy AI Copilot (“Summy”), the first platform-native AI agent for compliance and fraud teams. Operating within thresholds and controls set by compliance teams, Summy keeps AI-driven actions aligned with established policies, eliminating black-box automation and ensuring decisions remain under human control. In practice, it significantly reduces manual analysis and accelerates case handling, helping risk and compliance teams achieve productivity gains."
FBI Says ATM ‘Jackpotting’ Attacks Are on the Rise, and Netting Hackers Millions in Stolen Cash
TechCrunch
"According to a new security bulletin issued by the FBI, hackers have rapidly ramped up their attacks in recent years, with more than 700 attacks on cash dispensers during 2025 alone, netting hackers at least $20 million in stolen cash. Per the bulletin, the FBI says hackers are using a mix of physical access to ATM machines, such as generic keys for unlocking front panels and accessing hard drives, and digital tools, like planting malware that can force ATMs to rapidly dispense cash in a flash."
OCC-Regulated Anchorage Digital Brings Stablecoin Minting to Banks
Bitcoin News
"Anchorage Digital has introduced a federally regulated stablecoin platform aimed at helping licensed international banks move U.S. dollars across borders in minutes instead of days. The company, which operates as a federally chartered trust bank under oversight from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, said its new “ Stablecoin Solutions” platform consolidates stablecoin minting and redemption, custody, fiat treasury management and settlement into a single framework."
FTC's "Click-to-Cancel" Rule Gets New Life As FTC's Enforcement Wave Continues To Target Negative-Option Sellers
MarketScreener
"The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is increasingly directing both its enforcement and rulemaking efforts toward auto-renewal programs, with a particular focus on burdensome or opaque cancellation procedures. In ongoing litigation against Uber, the FTC recently upped the ante, adding a civil penalty claim and 21 state co-plaintiffs to its complaint that alleges, in part, that its UberOne membership is too hard to cancel."
PhonePe Rolls Out AI-Powered Feature to Pay Via Voice or Text
The Economic Times
"PhonePe has introduced a new AI feature. Users can now use voice or text commands to complete tasks within the app. This simplifies payments and navigation. The feature uses Microsoft Foundry technology. It understands user intent for payments, purchases, and support. This launch coincides with India hosting the AI Impact Summit 2026. Big AI investments are also being announced."
Razorpay and NPCI Bring Agentic Payments to Claude at India AI Impact Summit
Entrackr
"Razorpay and the National Payments Corporation of India or NPCI have collaborated to enable shopping with AI by bringing Agentic Payments to Claude. Unveiled at the India AI Impact Summit, the platform is currently in the pilot phase with a small group of users. The offering allows users to order food, groceries, and everyday essentials from Zomato, Swiggy, and Zepto without leaving the conversation."
Education: OpenAI Expands Agentic Commerce Push
Digital Commerce 360
"In September, OpenAI announced the debut of “Instant Checkout” within ChatGPT, allowing users to complete select purchases without leaving the chat interface. Central to the strategy is the Agentic Commerce Protocol, or ACP, an open framework OpenAI co-developed with Stripe and released last year. ACP establishes standardized APIs that allow AI agents to access merchant product catalogs, pricing and checkout systems."
On the wires
TNS Launches TNSPay SmartRoute to Put Merchants and Acquirers in Control of Payment Routing
Business Wire
"Transaction Network Services (TNS) announced the launch of TNSPay SmartRoute, an intelligent transaction routing solution that lets merchants, acquirers, processors and FinTechs balance performance, cost and uptime on their terms – across data centers, hosts and even multiple processors. With a secure, multi-tenant portal, teams can set and update routing rules in real time, automate failover and gain deep operational visibility through visual network mapping and full audit trails."
February 19, 2026
Top Post
Square Expands Partner Ecosystem in 2026, Empowering Sellers With Connected Tools, Insights, and Expertise to Accelerate Growth
Square
"Square announced that it is expanding its partner ecosystem in 2026, further solidifying its standing as the provider of choice for sellers and partners alike. With key partners including Amazon, Apple, Intuit QuickBooks, and Uber Eats choosing Square, the company is reinforcing its commitment to providing sellers with the best-in-class tools needed to succeed."
On the web
Visa to Acquire Prisma Medios de Pago and Newpay in Argentina
Visa
"Visa announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Prisma Medios de Pago S.A.U. and Newpay S.A.U. in Argentina from Advent International. Prisma provides credit, debit and prepaid card issuer processing. Newpay is a multi-network infrastructure provider that operates real-time payments services, the Banelco ATM network and the bill payment platform PagoMisCuentas."
Bank of Ireland UK Fined £3.7mn for Confirmation of Payee Failures
The Banker
"Bank of Ireland UK has been fined for failing to implement confirmation of payee systems more than a year after the deadline, in a first-of-its-kind penalty from the regulator. The Payments Systems Regulator fined the bank £3.7mn after payments totalling around £6.9bn were left without the safeguard. Bank of Ireland UK implemented the system to send requests for confirmation of payee checks 14 months after the deadline, leaving transactions involving more than 1.1mn new payees without confirmation."
Visa’s Olympics Monopoly Highlights Europe’s Payment Headache
CNBC
"Anyone trying to buy a souvenir at the official Olympic stores at the Milano Cortina Games will have been exposed to an issue troubling Europe's policymakers: the dominance of foreign payment providers and the fading role of cash. Under a sponsorship deal with the International Olympic Committee dating back to 1986 and extended to 2032, Visa is the sole card provider at the Games, with signs reading "Card payment? We accept only Visa" and staff offering prepaid cards on the spot."
eBay Launches Pay by Bank in the UK
Retail Systems
"eBay has launched Pay by Bank, allowing customers in the UK to pay for items directly from their bank accounts. The online auction site said that shoppers will be able to authorise transactions through their own banking apps, which will ensure payments are instant and secure. Additionally, the move will ensure that customers do not need to manually enter card details. To implement the service, eBay has partnered with Open Banking network TrueLayer."
Crypto Insurance – BDIC Unveils AgentCover Pro to Protect AI-Driven Payments, Stablecoins, and Cross-Chain Transfers
The AI Journal
"BDIC, Blockchain Deposit Insurance Corporation, a crypto insurance provider, announced the commercial launch of AgentCover Pro, a first-of-its-kind crypto insurance product specifically engineered to protect payments executed by agentic AI systems. Comments from the company detailed how AgentCover Pro delivers modular coverage across agent failures, unauthorized transactions, smart contract and cross-chain bridge risks, as well as stablecoin volatility, combined with real-time on-chain monitoring and automated claims processing."
February 18, 2026
Top Post
43 Million Users in 12 Months: How Wero Is Building Europe’s Answer to Visa and Mastercard
European Business & Finance Magazine
"Europe’s push to break its dependence on Visa and Mastercard is accelerating on three fronts. Wero, the pan-European digital wallet backed by 16 banks, has reached 43.5 million registered users and processed over €7.5 billion in transfers in its first year. E-commerce payments go live in 2026. In parallel, the European Parliament voted on 10 February to back the digital euro for a 2029 launch, and a consortium of 11 European banks is building a euro-backed stablecoin."
On the web
Adobe Commerce Commits to Agentic Commerce Standards
Adobe
"Adobe Commerce is committed to supporting agentic commerce standards, including Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) and Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP). Adobe Commerce is moving towards supporting UCP and ACP by making merchant product catalogs, pricing, and inventory machine-readable by AI agents and available to the latest LLM surfaces like Gemini and ChatGPT. These capabilities are intended to enable seamless and secure transactions through both protocols."
NPCI & Anthropic Test AI-Driven Shopping: Order Groceries & Food via Claude Using UPI Payments [Video]
YouTube
"The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is venturing into the future of "agentic commerce" through a new pilot program with the AI firm Anthropic. This collaboration allows users to delegate shopping tasks such as ordering groceries from BigBasket or food from Swiggy directly to the Claude AI assistant, which then completes the transaction seamlessly via UPI. Currently running in a closed user group, the service marks a significant shift from simple conversational AI to an end-to-end fulfillment ecosystem where the AI handles discovery, ordering, and real-time payments in a single workflow."
Modern Treasury Launches Payments: An Integrated Payment Service Provider (PSP) for Fiat and Stablecoins
Modern Treasury
"Modern Treasury introduced Payments, an integrated payment service provider (PSP) that helps companies build modern money movement experiences. The PSP accelerates teams that embed fiat and stablecoin payments into their products, leveraging Modern Treasury’s banking, blockchain, and compliance infrastructure to get to market faster. Modern Treasury Payments enables companies to programmatically open payment accounts and make payments via ACH, wire, RTP/FedNow, push-to-card, and stablecoins, including USDG, USDP, and USDC (USDT coming soon)."
Gr4vy Partners With Sardine to Embed Fraud and AML Into Their Platform
Gr4vy
"Gr4vy announced a new integration with Sardine to fight financial crime. The integration allows Gr4vy customers to embed fraud solutions, including real-time transaction monitoring, fraud interdiction, and BSA/AML compliance tools, directly into their payment orchestration stack without additional development. The announcement comes as fraud becomes an ongoing operational reality for merchants, with 98% of businesses experiencing at least one form of fraud each year."
TreviPay Announces AI-Powered Growth Center to Help Enterprises Predict Buyer Behavior and Drive B2B Sales
TreviPay
TreviPay, a fully managed B2B payments platform, announced the availability of the Growth Center, a set of capabilities within the TreviPay Client Portal to help identify buyer growth opportunities more strategically and build stronger, longer-lasting supplier relationships. The new Growth Center enables businesses to explore buyer needs, spot trends and optimize key steps in the order-to-cash (O2C) process. The customizable add-ons will help businesses use their O2C programs to deepen buyer relationships and drive lasting engagement.
Ericsson and Mastercard Enhance Global Digital Money Movement and Accelerate Digital Financial Inclusion
Mastercard
"Ericsson and Mastercard announced a collaboration to reshape how money moves across the world. By integrating the Ericsson Fintech Platform (Mobile Financial Services) with Mastercard Move, Mastercard’s portfolio of money movement solutions, the collaboration will empower telecom service providers, banks and fintechs to expand digital wallet capabilities, launch new payment services and reach unbanked or underbanked communities."
Europe’s $24 Trillion Breakup With Visa and Mastercard Has Begun
European Business & Finance Magazine
"ECB President Christine Lagarde told Irish radio that Europe needs its own digital payment system “urgently,” warning that virtually all European card and mobile payments currently run through non-European infrastructure controlled by Visa, Mastercard, PayPal or Alipay. Days later, the European Payments Initiative (EPI) and the EuroPA Alliance signed a landmark agreement to build a pan-European interoperable payment network covering 130 million users across 13 countries. The system, built around the digital wallet Wero, aims to let Europeans pay and transfer money across borders without touching a single American network."
Stripe Integrates Base Blockchain for Seamless AI Agent Payments with x402
CoinCentral
"Stripe has introduced support for the Base blockchain to enable AI agents to make quick and automated payments using USDC. The new x402 payment protocol allows AI agents to perform low-cost transactions without human intervention, streamlining billing processes. Businesses can monitor payments in real time via the Stripe dashboard, webhooks, or API, offering easy transaction tracking. Stripe’s integration with Base ensures fast settlements and low fees, making it suitable for frequent, low-value transactions."
Stripe-Owned Bridge Gains National Bank Trust Charter to Boost Stablecoin Offerings
Decrypt
"Bridge, the stablecoin company that was acquired by Stripe, has been granted conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for a national trust banking charter. Upon full approval, the firm would be able to custody digital assets, offer and issue stablecoins, and operate stablecoin reserves. The firm’s conditional approval follows that of other major stablecoin and crypto firms like Circle, Ripple, and Paxos, which received conditional approval from the OCC in December."
ECB’s Cipollone Says Digital Euro Will Protect European Banks, Card Schemes
Reuters
"The digital euro will be designed to ensure it protects European card schemes and keep banks at the core of the euro zone payments system, a senior European Central Bank policymaker said on Wednesday...Fraying transatlantic ties have prompted the ECB to brand as a strategic risk the fact that more than three quarters of transactions in Europe take place through international payments schemes such as Visa or Mastercard."
DBS Bank Trials Visa’s Agentic Commerce Tools in Asia Pacific First
National Technology
"DBS Bank has trialled Visa's agentic commerce suite in an Asia Pacific first. Visa Intelligent Commerce (VIC) includes integrated APIs, a partner programme, and utilises the payment giant's infrastructure to facilitate the AI-driven transactions. The two companies are now planning to explore a wider range of agentic commerce transactions, such as online shopping and travel bookings and more."
On the wires
Wirex Launches Visa Direct Stablecoin Push-to-Card for BaaS Clients--Reaching 3B+ Cards
PR Newswire
"Wirex, a full-stack crypto card issuer and Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) provider, announced Stablecoin Push-to-Card, powered by Visa Direct. Wirex is taking stablecoin utility to the last mile — where payout experiences are won or lost. Via Wirex BaaS APIs, partners can embed Stablecoin Push-to-Card and deliver stablecoin-funded payouts directly to recipients' eligible cards worldwide, turning on a familiar "paid to card" experience inside their products."
February 17, 2026
On the web
Merchant Steering of Consumer Payment Choice
Atlanta Federal Reserve
"This paper investigates the degree to which merchants influence consumers' choice of how they pay for transactions. Using data from the Survey and Diary of Consumer Payments Choice, we examine consumers' adherence to their preferred payment method when making in-person transactions. We also investigate whether merchants are able to steer consumers away from their preferred payment method."
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