Crypto Briefing
"Top American retailers and travel companies, including Amazon, Walmart, and Expedia, are weighing the launch of their own stablecoins to reduce payment processing costs, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing people with knowledge of the effort. The potential shift could help merchants save billions of dollars in fees tied to card payments, including interchange fees."
Stripe
"Stripe announced a deeper partnership with Shopify, in which Stripe will help millions of Shopify merchants accept stablecoin payments. In a few weeks, Shopify merchants across 34 countries will be able to accept payments in USDC. Shoppers will be able to pay with USDC on Base using their preferred crypto wallet."
Shopify
"Shopify is joining forces with Coinbase and Stripe to bring frictionless, secure stablecoin payments to merchants around the world"
Marketing4eCommerce
"The Spanish payment orchestration platform Zru has announced the addition of a new feature to its system: network tokenization. This technology, driven by leading card brands like Visa and Mastercard, allows the real card number to be replaced by an identifier (token) that can continue to function even if the physical card changes (due to loss, renewal, or expiration)."
Auto Finance News
"Carvana has implemented request for payments technology and instant payments capabilities for down payments on vehicle purchases, allowing consumers to obtain their vehicle faster. The online used-car dealership has integrated financial services provider Plaid’s RFP technology, which leverages The Clearing House’s real-time payment (RTP) network to streamline the consumer-to-business payment process."
CNBC
"CNBC Crypto World: Coinbase’s Jesse Pollak discusses the company’s new partnership with Shopify to bring USDC stablecoin payments to merchants."
American Express
Today, at Coinbase’s State of Crypto Conference, Coinbase announced that it will launch its first credit card, the Coinbase One Card, on the American Express Network. The Coinbase One Card will offer up to 4% Bitcoin back on every purchase, offered by Coinbase and Cardless, and issued by First Electronic Bank. The card will be exclusively available to Coinbase One members in the U.S., and more details will be available this fall.
Chargebacks911
"The FBI calls business email compromise “the $26 billion dollar scam.” How is that possible? This article will take a close look at BEC scams to explain what they are, why they’re such an expensive problem, and also how you and your employees might be targeted."
NewsBytes
"Shares of One97 Communications, the parent company of digital payments platform Paytm, fell by as much as 10% on Thursday. The decline came after the Finance Ministry rejected rumors about the possible introduction of a Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) for Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions. The ministry called such reports "baseless and sensational speculations" that create unnecessary uncertainty among citizens."
The Banker
"Citi is pushing ahead with the global implementation of a new payments infrastructure that marks a break from reliance on external vendors, as the bank rolls out a platform first piloted in Malaysia last year. Citi’s engineers built the payments processing capabilities into microservices — and used the Icon Payments Framework to develop a common payments processing workflow. IPF underpins a microservices architecture for processing real-time gross settlement transactions on an ISO 20022 -native platform."
CryptoSlate
"Visa and Chainlink have completed a key milestone in the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s (HKMA) e-HKD+ Pilot Programme, successfully testing a cross-border blockchain transaction using central bank digital currency (CBDC) and stablecoins. The trial, conducted in partnership with ANZ, ChinaAMC, and Fidelity International, is one of the first real-world simulations of programmable money being used for cross-border investment in tokenized assets."
Evesham Journal
"Zilch, which offers buy now, pay later for brands such as Amazon and Iceland, is launching its first physical card as part of a new partnership with Visa."
Bitcoin News
"The third phase of the CBDC pilot will involve implementing tokenization solutions that allow customers to provide banks with visibility into their collateral assets in Brazil. The drex pilot, currently in its second phase, has encountered issues that impact its viability. Its main roadblock has been the lack of a privacy solution that fulfills all the requirements the bank needs to apply bank secrecy-like laws to drex transactions, meaning that transactions must be obfuscated from third parties but visible for regulators."
Yahoo Finance-Reuters
"Ant Group, an affiliate of China's e-commerce giant Alibaba, plans to apply for a license to issue stablecoins in Hong Kong through its overseas arm Ant International, the subsidiary said in a statement on Thursday. Last month, Hong Kong's legislature passed a stablecoin bill that establishes a licensing regime for fiat-referenced stablecoin issuers in Hong Kong."
Business Wire
"Marqeta, Inc. announced it is working with Klarna, the global digital bank and flexible payments provider, to enable the Klarna Card: a new debit card powered by Visa Flexible Credential (VFC) that allows access to built-in flexible payment options."
Healthcare IT Today
"For many healthcare providers, outdated payment systems are causing unnecessary frustration for patients and staff and costing providers. Leading organizations, like First Choice Neurology, are proving there’s a smarter way. Digital payments speed up revenue collection. Switching to text and online payments cut FCN’s days in AR from 27 to 24—an immediate boost to cash flow and operational efficiency. Modern payment tools drive real cost savings. Transitioning from mailed statements to digital payments saved $8K–$10K per month, with lower transaction costs and fewer print/mail expenses."
U.S. Department of the Treasury
"Reminder: The U.S. Department of the Treasury released a request for information related to the Executive Order (EO) 14247 “Modernizing Payments To and From America’s Bank Account,” which transitions federal disbursements to electronic payments. Beginning September 30, 2025, all federal payments that are currently made by paper check—including Social Security benefits, tax refunds, and vendor payments—will be made electronically."
Tech Brew
"AI agents might be taking on more responsibilities at work, but maybe think twice before handing over full access to payments. A new paper from researchers at Princeton University and the Sentient Foundation found that certain agents—AI systems that can act beyond the realm of a chatbot—could be vulnerable to memory attacks that trick them into handing over cryptocurrency."
Decrypt
"Crypto wallet infrastructure company Privy has agreed to be acquired by payments giant Stripe, the two companies announced on Wednesday. The acquisition, which is expected to close in the coming weeks, will bring Privy under the Stripe umbrella, but allow it to continue operating as an independent product."
Nat Law Review
"In October 2024, the Federal Trade Commission updated its 1973 Negative Option Rule to address unfair and deceptive online subscription practices. The Rule sparked significant debate, with the original proposal garnering over 16,000 comments. Following some revisions based on this feedback, the Rule went into effect in January 2025. Originally slated for enforcement on May 14, the FTC announced on May 9 that enforcement would be deferred by 60 days, giving businesses until July 14, 2025 to review and comply."
Yahoo Finance
"Australians who use buy now, pay later (BNPL) services have been warned new regulations coming into force from June 10 could have huge implications on their future. While these platforms have been game-changers for people running a little low on cash, they're now operating under the same rules as credit cards and personal loans."
Fintech Singapore
"Australian Payments Plus (AP+) is working with payment technology firm Giesecke+Devrient (G+D) to bring eftpos and least-cost routing (LCR) to Click to Pay, marking what the companies say is a global first for online debit card payments. AP+ brings together three domestic payment providers, BPAY Group, eftpos and NPP Australia, into one integrated entity."
National Technology
"The head of digital identity at Visa has described the upcoming EU Digital Identity Wallet (eID) is as a “gamechanger” for payments and banking. The eID Wallet is a planned digital ID that can be used to authenticate and verify people for payments and banking. By 2026, each EU member state will need to deliver at least one version of the Wallet. The IDs are expected to be fully operational by 2027, with service providers mandated to accept them during the same year."
IBS Intelligence
"dLocal, a cross-border payment platform specialising in emerging markets, announced its partnership with Juspay, a payments orchestration and infrastructure provider powering global enterprises and banks. The alliance will strengthen the synergy between the two companies, offering customers access to dLocal’s over 900 local and alternative payment methods (APMs) and the broad benefits of Juspay’s payment ecosystem in fast-growing markets."
India TV News
"The Payments Council of India (PCI) has suggested a 0.3 per cent MDR for big merchants. Currently, credit and debit cards have an MDR of 0.9 per cent to 2 per cent, but RuPay cards are exempt from this."
Business Wire
"Worldpay® has expanded its partnership with Visa to enhance the payments leader’s 3D Secure (3DS) solution, which can help merchants reduce fraud while reducing consumer friction and boosting authorizations. By passing through authentication data to the issuer, merchants in the U.S. using 3DS Flex™ from Worldpay can enhance payments security and shopper experience while improving approval rates."
PR Newswire
"Pagos, an all-in-one provider of payments optimization solutions, today announces the launch of its first Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server, making it easier than ever for AI agents and applications to query the payments intelligence available only through Pagos. This MCP Server, designed for their direct-to-network BIN data solution, allows large language models (LLMs) and AI-powered tools to securely query real-time BIN-level card data directly from card networks. This marks the company's first step toward a more open, accessible future for payment data!"
PR Newswire
"PNC Bank today announced the launch of PNC Mobile Accept®, a fully integrated payment solution that provides its micro business clients with the ability to accept in-person credit and debit card payments directly within the PNC Mobile app. Designed for businesses processing less than $300,000 in credit and debit card transactions annually, PNC Mobile Accept is a self-service solution that gives business owners fast, secure access to accept funds directly from their phone or tablet with no monthly fee."
Business Wire
"In a move to accelerate the adoption of stablecoins as a mainstream payment method, Matera, a leading technology provider for the financial system, announces a commercial partnership with Circle, the global issuer of USDC through its regulated affiliates, a dollar-backed stablecoin."
Business Wire
"Deluxe, a trusted Payments and Data company, and Chargent, the leading payment solution built natively on Salesforce, announced a strategic partnership to deliver seamless, end-to-end payment integration within Salesforce. This collaboration allows businesses to automate billing, accept payments, and gain real-time transaction insights—all without leaving the Salesforce environment."