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A leading payments industry news source for more than 17 years. Glenbrook curates the news and keeps you abreast of the important daily headlines in payments.
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November 12, 2025
Top Post
Ant International Launches World’s First Iris Authentication Feature in Smart-glasses Payment Solution
Business Wire
"In a global first, Ant International, a leading global digital payment, digitisation, and financial technology provider, has added iris authentication features to Alipay+ GlassPay, its AR glasses-embedded payment solution, through partnerships with leading smart glasses producers."
On the web
Amazon Business Unveils Next Generation AI Solutions to Help Organizations and Small Businesses Save Time and Money
US Press Center
"At Amazon Business’ Reshape conference, Amazon announced a number of new AI-powered solutions including the Amazon Business Assistant to help organizations discover savings, automate routine tasks, and make spending easier and more efficient. These innovations, all powered by Amazon Bedrock, AWS’s fully managed service for building and scaling generative artificial intelligence (AI) applications, represent the next step in Amazon Business’ smart business buying journey."
Visa Direct Stablecoin Payouts Pilot Speeds Up Access to Funds for Creators & Gig Workers
Visa
"At Web Summit, Visa Inc. announced a breakthrough pilot allowing businesses and platforms to send payouts directly to recipients’ stablecoin wallets. For businesses using Visa Direct, payouts can be funded in fiat currency, while recipients can choose to receive their funds in USD-backed stablecoins like USDC, transforming the speed and accessibility of global payouts."
Mastercard Champions Password-Free, Number-Free Checkout Across Asia Pacific by 2030
Mastercard
"At the Singapore FinTech Festival, Mastercard announced its ambition to make online shopping across Asia Pacific password-free and number-free by 2030. While more than a third of Mastercard transactions worldwide are already tokenized, achieving that vision in the world’s largest and fastest-growing e-commerce market — projected to exceed USD 7 trillion by 2030[1] — will require collective action. Mastercard is rallying banks, merchants, digital wallets, and technology partners to enable secure, tokenized payments powered by biometric authentication. This eliminates manual card entry and static passwords, making checkout faster and safer for consumers."
JPM Coin: A New Era for Stablecoins in Asia's Fintech Scene
Onesafe
"JPM Coin's arrival signals a significant shift in the stablecoin world, introducing fresh standards for compliance and institutional trust. This change presents both challenges and opportunities for Asia's fintech startups, who must adapt to a rapidly evolving landscape. In this post, let's unpack how JPM Coin's entry is reshaping the stablecoin market, what hurdles smaller players might face, and the new doors it opens for institutional adoption."
Visa Launches Scan to Pay for QR Payments Across APAC
Tech in Asia
"Visa has launched its Scan to Pay QR payment solution across Asia-Pacific, allowing millions of merchants to accept payments through widely used digital wallets and payment apps. The rollout is part of a broader Visa Pay initiative that connects participating digital wallets to Visa-accepting merchants worldwide."
Bank of America to Invest $4bn in Digital Transformation
Banking Exchange
"Bank of America has pledged to accelerate its investment in AI, automation, and digital banking as part of its strategy to fuel growth across all business lines. At Bank of America's first ‘Investor Day’ in 15 years, the bank outlined its commitment to “next-generation technologies”, revealing that it will spend $4 billion in technology code initiatives as part of its $13 billion total annual expenditure."
On the wires
Ant International’s Antom Launches AI‑Powered MSME App for Finance and Business Operations
Business Wire
"Antom, a leading provider of merchant payment and digitisation services under Ant International, today announced EPOS360, an app that brings point-of-sale (POS) system, payments, banking, lending, and growth support together to help micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) move from setup to scale efficiently."
November 11, 2025
Top Post
Visa Unveils 2025 Creator Report; Introduces Creator Agent Pilot with Karat
Visa
"Visa is using the scale of its network to help creators easily and securely pay and get paid, access capital and grow their enterprises with the same tools and resources available to small businesses worldwide. Visa’s new creator-research, Monetized: Visa 2025 Creator Report is a comprehensive study of the creator economy spanning five regions. In tandem with the report, Visa introduced plans to explore a potential agentic pilot program with Karat Financial. Karat is a fintech leader in the creator space, providing credit cards and business banking tailored to creators."
On the web
How Visa is Preparing for the Agentic Commerce Era
Retail TouchPoints
"In this episode of Retail Remix, host Nicole Silberstein sits down with Rob Cameron, Global Head of Acceptance Solutions at Visa, to explore how the rise of agentic AI, is shaping the future of commerce, and with it payments. Rob shares how Visa is preparing for this shift with its Trusted Agent Protocol. This conversation dives deep into the payment infrastructure that will be required to enable this next era of ecommerce."
Bank of England Launches Consultation on Regulating Systemic Stablecoins
Bank of England
"The Bank of England published a consultation paper setting out its proposed regulatory regime for sterling-denominated systemic stablecoins. Such stablecoins are a new type of digital money designed to maintain a stable value and could be used for retail payments and wholesale settlement in the future. This marks a significant step in preparing for a future where new forms of digital money may be widely used for payments alongside existing ones."
Anchorage Digital Selects Modern Treasury to Power Money Movement Infrastructure
Business Wire
Modern Treasury announced that Anchorage Digital — a leading global crypto platform for innovators and investors — will use Modern Treasury’s infrastructure to power its money movement and ledgering. Anchorage Digital provides institutional-grade trading, staking, governance, custody, stablecoin issuance, and settlement for digital assets. With Modern Treasury, Anchorage Digital can automate money movement via multiple financial providers through a single platform and automate payment flows across wires, ACH, and real-time rails.
Extend and PNC Bank Collaborate to Modernize Commercial Card Payments for Businesses
Business Wire
"Extend, a leading artificial intelligence-powered spend and expense management platform, and PNC Bank announced new modern payment capabilities for PNC’s commercial clients. By enrolling their existing PNC Bank commercial cards, businesses can access Extend’s mobile and web platform—unlocking a full suite of digital tools to control, manage, and optimize business spend within minutes."
Venmo Introduces 'Venmo Stash' to Reinvent Rewards
PayPal Newsroom
"Venmo announced the launch of Venmo Stash1, a rewards program designed to give customers more value that grows with every interaction. Venmo Stash is always on and flexible, evolving alongside customers as they engage across Venmo's expanding suite of products and services. Venmo Stash builds on the app's evolution from a peer-to-peer payment app into an everyday commerce platform, designed to drive greater engagement with Venmo products."
Jack Dorsey's Block Enables Bitcoin Payments for Millions of Square Sellers
Decrypt
"Block, the payments infrastructure firm led by Jack Dorsey, has enabled Bitcoin payments for 4 million merchants globally using the Square Bitcoin feature of its point-of-sale platform. The integration allows merchants to accept Bitcoin at checkout with instant settlement via Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, with no fees until 2027. Sellers can automatically convert a portion of their daily card sales into Bitcoin as well."
Brazil Puts Stablecoins Under FX Rules
Disrupt Africa
"Brazil’s central bank will treat stablecoin payments as foreign-exchange operations while extending consumer-protection standards and licensing to crypto providers. Stricter rules typically reduce scams and increase mainstream comfort, laying groundwork for broader crypto adoption as regulated on-ramps mature."
On the wires
Paystand Acquires Bitwage to Make Stablecoins Enterprise-Grade for Global B2B Finance
Business Wire
"Paystand, the leading blockchain‑powered B2B payments network, announced it has acquired Bitwage, the leading platform for stablecoin‑enabled cross‑border payouts. The deal positions Paystand to deliver enterprise‑grade stablecoin settlement and FX across its network, which has processed more than $20 billion in payment volume for 1,000+ enterprises and more than one million businesses worldwide."
Episode Six and Fireblocks Join Forces to Deliver Unified Payments Solution Bridging Traditional and Digital Finance
Business Wire
"Episode Six and Fireblocks announced the co-development of a unified payments solution at Singapore Fintech Festival. The payments solution seamlessly integrates traditional and digital finance, bringing fiat, stablecoins, loyalty points, and other digital assets onto a single, programmable platform, empowering financial institutions to operate across asset classes with speed, security, and flexibility."
Basys Launches iQ Pro+: A Proprietary Payments Platform Built for Business Owners, by Payment Experts
PR Newswire
"Basys announced the launch of iQ Pro+, a proprietary, all-in-one payments platform engineered entirely in-house. Purpose-built to meet the real-world demands of modern business owners, iQ Pro+ marks Basys' bold shift from reselling third-party tools to delivering full-stack innovation at scale."
November 10, 2025
On the web
Italy’s Banks Support Ecb’s Digital Euro Plan, but Want to Spread Out Costs Over Time: Reuters
The Block
"Italy’s banks support the European Central Bank’s plan to introduce a digital euro but want its required investments to be spread out over time, a top official of Italy’s banking association said, per Reuters. The ECB in recent weeks has advanced its plan to introduce a digital euro, finalizing a roadmap with EU finance ministers to develop the central bank digital currency (CBDC), projected to launch in 2029 given EU approval next year."
Paytm Unveils All-New App With AI Features to Enhance Payment Experience
Business Standard
"Paytm, India's full-stack merchant payments leader, has launched a redesigned version of its flagship app, integrating artificial intelligence-driven features to personalise everyday transactions for its users. The update introduces a cleaner user interface alongside over 15 new features. One of the standout innovations is the launch of "Gold Coins," a first-of-its-kind initiative that rewards users with digital gold on every payment, adding a valuable savings dimension to regular transactions."
Stablecoins Surpass Bitcoin as Go‑To Cryptocurrency for Illicit Transactions
Bitget
"While stablecoins aim to keep their value steady by being tied to fiat currencies, their expanding presence in digital finance has made them central to the movement of funds within blockchain networks. They play a vital role in decentralized finance (DeFi), aid cross-border payments, and help sustain liquidity. Yet, as their circulation widens, these same advantages have also drawn the attention of criminal networks, with stablecoins now beginning to replace Bitcoin as the favored option for money laundering and related illegal transfers."
On the wires
Visa and Mastercard Near Settlement With Merchants, Would Lower Fees, WSJ Reports
Reuters-WSJ
"U.S. payment firms Visa and Mastercard nearing a settlement with merchants by lowering fees stores pay and giving them more power to reject certain credit cards, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing people familiar with matter. Visa and Mastercard would trim interchange fees, typically 2% to 2.5% per transaction, by an average of about a tenth of a percentage point over several years, the Journal reported citing sources. The companies would also ease rules that currently require merchants accepting one network credit card type to accept all of them."
November 7, 2025
Top Post
The Supply Side: Walmart’s Launch of Agentic Commerce Comes With Risks
Talk Business & Politics
"Walmart recently announced a partnership with OpenAI to allow ChatGPT users to directly shop and buy products using the chatbot app with no human interaction. This is known as agentic commerce. While agentic commerce is a leap ahead in retail, it is not without risks. The customer must add their payment form to the ChatGPT app instant checkout format. From there, a unique token that is specific to the customer’s AI agent will be created for that specific customer. The AI agent will then be able to make purchases on the customer’s behalf without being prompted. While there are safeguards in place with Visa and Mastercard models, there are still concerns about who might be responsible for an unwanted order the chatbot makes for the customer."
On the web
Alacriti Unifies Account Validation and Verification in a Single Platform To Cut Payment Risk
Alacriti
"Alacriti, announced the launch of its Orbipay Bank Account Validation & Verification Service (BVV), offering businesses and financial institutions a modern, unified approach to securing bank account-based payments. Clients who accept bank accounts for payments and payouts face mounting challenges, including ongoing Nacha compliance for Web Debits and fraud risk from compromised bank accounts. Traditional alternatives, such as manual processes, challenge deposits, and ACH Prenotes, are often slow, costly, and disrupt the customer experience. Orbipay BVV addresses these issues by offering two core, real-time options..."
The Next Chapter of Transaction Banking: Integrating Stablecoins & Tokenized Deposits
Fireblocks
"By the time of Sibos 2025, banks and policymakers seemed to agree: digital money will be part of the operating models of traditional finance. The question now is how to make it happen. The urgency comes from a structural shift already under way. For the first time in regulated finance, value can meaningfully cross borders without banks. Virtual asset service providers are already moving stablecoins from Singapore to São Paulo without correspondent banks."
Mastercard on Agentic Payments: How AI Agents, Tokenization, and Authentication Will Redefine Digital Commerce
Bank Info Security
"As commerce enters the era of AI-driven transactions, Mastercard is helping define what secure, trusted digital payments look like when machines act on behalf of people. In this discussion, Pablo Fourez, Chief Digital Officer at Mastercard, joins Rory O’Neill, Chief Marketing Officer at Checkout.com, to explore how agentic payments, powered by tokenization, biometric authentication, and intent-based consent, will reshape the architecture of digital commerce."
MoneyGram Partners with Oscilar to Build the Future of AI-Powered Risk Intelligence for Global Payments
PR Newswire
"MoneyGram, a leading global payments network for consumers, businesses and communities, today announced a strategic partnership with Oscilar, the AI Risk Decisioning™ Platform, to power its next-generation risk infrastructure. The collaboration advances MoneyGram's AI-first strategy, delivering real-time risk intelligence across its global network to drive greater efficiency, agility and performance."
Bitcoin.com and Concordium to Launch Age-Verified Stablecoin Payments
Daily Coin
"As governments around the world tighten online age checks and digital identity requirements, Bitcoin.com is partnering with Layer-1 blockchain Concordium to test a new privacy-focused verification system for stablecoin payments. The integration, expected to launch soon, will enable age-verified transactions for more than 75 million wallets worldwide, potentially opening the door for crypto to enter mainstream e-commerce."
Paytm Partners with Groq to Power Real-Time AI for Payments and Platform Intelligence
Konexio Network
"Paytm, India’s full-stack merchant payments leader and the pioneer of mobile payments, QR codes, and Soundbox, announced a partnership with Groq, the U.S.-based leader in real-time AI inference, to bring fast, intelligent, and cost-efficient AI to its platform. Under this collaboration, Paytm and its associate entities will deploy GroqCloud, to achieve faster, more cost-efficient and scalable AI inference compared to conventional GPU-based systems."
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