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May 13, 2026
Top Post
New Fed Data: Differences in Payments Activity at Large and Smaller Institutions
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
"This commentary is based on new data released by the FRPS in March, detailing payments activity by the 100 largest DIs by transaction account deposit size. The release provides the number and value of check, ACH, wire, and alternative payments (bank bill pay and person-to-person) at the 100 largest DIs and all other DIs for 2015, 2018, and 2021. The average business transaction account balances at the Top 100 DIs by deposit size imply that these DIs serve the largest businesses in the US. This flows through to payments."
On the web
Google Teams with Affirm, Klarna for Flex Payments in AI, Search
Chain Store Age
"Google is partnering with two leading flexible payment platforms to provide new options for checkout with Google Pay in its AI and search environments. The tech giant is collaborating with Affirm and Klarna to bring flexible payment opportunities to its Google Gemini agentic AI engine and its search offering, including AI mode, via the Google Pay digital payment tool in the U.S. Following are overviews of Google’s new partnerships with each flexible payment provider:"
Fiserv Expands Clover’s Restaurant Portfolio with New Fine Dining Solution, Clover Reserve Powered by Tabit
Fiserv, Inc.
"Fiserv, Inc. announced an exclusive Clover partnership with Tabit, a mobile-first, AI-driven restaurant POS and hospitality technology provider, to launch Clover Reserve powered by Tabit. It delivers advanced capabilities designed to manage the intricate requirements for fine-dining restaurants, including multi-course pacing, sophisticated floor management, and white-glove table service. The solution enables a true tableside experience, allowing staff to open, modify, split, tip, and close checks without disrupting service."
The American Express Digital Payments Trendex
American Express
"Amid rapid innovation in the payments ecosystem, the 2025 American Express Digital Payments Trendex provides a view into what is helping drive decision-making for U.S. consumers and merchants when it comes to payments — from shifting payment preferences to the rise of AI-powered commerce — and underscores the central role of trust, experience and established habits in enabling adoption. Payment choice has expanded — now consumer adoption is the opportunity"
JPMorgan’s New Blockchain Fund Targets Stablecoin Issuers Under Genius Act
AMBCrypto
"JPMorgan has filed for a blockchain-enabled money market fund designed to support stablecoin issuers preparing for a regulated U.S. market under the proposed GENIUS Act. Ethereum will serve as the first supported blockchain network. JPMorgan also emphasized that the product itself is not a stablecoin. Instead, it functions as a tokenized money market fund whose shares can move across blockchain rails. "
Square Is Turning Bitcoin Payments Into a Main Street Test
Startup Fortune
"Square has reportedly crossed roughly 1 million merchants enabled to accept bitcoin payments, a number that sounds impressive until you look closely at how it was built. This is not a million shop owners waking up one morning and deciding they want to price coffee, haircuts and sandwiches in bitcoin. It is Block using Square’s payments network to switch on a new option for eligible U.S. sellers, then letting merchants decide whether to use it, change it or turn it off."
AI-Referred Shoppers Convert Better and Spend More: What Shopify’s Early Data Shows
Shopify
"What we've found is that shoppers arriving from AI search are more valuable than those arriving from organic search: They arrive with higher purchase intent. More than half of AI-referred sessions start on product pages, compared to 20% for organic search. They convert more often. AI-referred sessions convert at nearly 50% higher rates. They spend more when they do. Average order values from AI-referred sessions are 14% higher."
May 12, 2026
Top Post
2026 Diary of Consumer Payment Choice: Consumer Habits Hold Steady as Payment Options Grow
Federal Reserve
"For about 1 in 7 payments, consumers still pay with cash despite the growing proliferation of digital payment options, according to the 2026 Diary of Consumer Payment Choice (Diary), the annual survey from Federal Reserve Financial Services measuring the evolving role of cash in the U.S. economy. Now in its 10th year, the national survey revealed that U.S. consumer payment use remained largely consistent over the past three years."
On the web
Affirm Works with Google to Make AI Shopping Payments Clear and Simple
Affirm Holdings, Inc.
"Affirm is expanding its work with Google to start rolling out its payment options into Google Search, including AI Mode, and the Gemini app when checking out with Google Pay. Shoppers will be able to move confidently from decision to purchase, with the same clear options and transparent terms they rely on from Affirm."
Visa Flexible Credential Brings More Flexible Ways to Pay to Zilch Cardholders in the UK
Visa
"Visa, a world leader in digital payments, Zilch and Thredd today announced the introduction of Visa Flexible Credential on Zilch cards in the UK, enabling more flexible ways to pay through a single, familiar card experience. The new capability allows different payment options to sit behind one card or digital credential, giving cardholders greater choice and control while preserving the familiarity of tapping or paying as they always have."
Etsy and eBay Expand AI Shopping Tools amid Shift to Agentic Commerce
MSN
"Etsy and eBay have rolled out new AI-driven shopping integrations in partnership with OpenAI, aiming to reshape how buyers discover and purchase products. The moves come as AI-assisted 'agentic commerce' gains traction, with autonomous shopping agents expected to drive a $1 trillion market by 2030. Early data shows consumers increasingly turn to AI tools before visiting retailer sites, signaling a fundamental shift in e-commerce dynamics."
FIS Selected to Streamline Reconciliations for Australia’s Largest Bank
FIS Global
"Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CommBank) is adopting FIS Data Integrity Manager to consolidate and automate reconciliation across the bank. Delivered in a SaaS model, the solution will process over 150 million transactions daily on a single, unified platform, enhancing operational efficiency and scalability. FIS is delivering the solution via Microsoft Azure, providing cloud-native scalability and seamless third-party integrations."
Worldline and Ecoflow Announce Strategic Partnership to Power Seamless Global Payments
Worldline
"Worldline and EcoFlow, a leading provider of smart home energy storage solutions, today announced a strategic partnership to enhance EcoFlow's global payment infrastructure and accelerate its expansion across the US, UK, Europe and new international markets. EcoFlow has selected Worldline's Global Collect platform to unify its global payment operations, enable local acquiring and deliver a seamless, reliable checkout experience for customers worldwide."
On the wires
Blackhawk Network Brings Digital Gift Cards to TikTok Shop, Opening New Path for Brands to Reach Shoppers
Business Wire
"Global branded payments leader Blackhawk Network (BHN) has introduced a new in-app digital gift card experience within TikTok Shop. TikTok users can purchase digital gift cards for leading brands without ever leaving the app. BHN also allows users to purchase digital gift cards alongside physical products in a unified shopping journey. By embedding digital gift cards directly within TikTok Shop, BHN enables brands to extend their presence into a content-driven environment where shopping often begins ."
May 11, 2026
On the web
Visa: Your Card, Your Security. Tap: A Safer Way to Verify Identity — Visa, Keyno, and Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) Lead the Transformation
Visa
"Visa announced a major step forward in how consumers verify their identity in the digital era, with the first-ever deployment of its Tap to Confirm and Tap to Activate technology for issuing banks. Launched in collaboration with fintech partner Keyno and Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) Limited, this innovation represents a paradigm shift in how consumers prove who they are to their financial institutions — turning the physical Visa card into a trusted identity credential that works with a simple tap inside the banking app they already use."
Venmo’s Biggest Makeover in Years Comes at a Very Interesting Time
Techcrunch
"Venmo is rolling out a significant redesign over the coming months that aims to make the app more useful, social, and easier to navigate. This is the peer-to-peer payments app’s biggest refresh since 2021. PayPal, which owns Venmo, is restructuring to spin Venmo off as a standalone business unit — a move widely seen as laying the groundwork for a potential sale. Stripe has reportedly expressed interest in buying PayPal outright. The rollout will begin this week, followed by additional features over the next few months."
AI Agents Can Now Pay for What They Use — How Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Opens the Door to Autonomous Commerce
CCN
"The ‘buy’ button is no longer a human-only privilege. Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Payments, which went into preview on May 7, 2026, provides AI agents with native payment capabilities. This means that in the foreseeable future, AI agents will be able to identify, access, and pay for digital resources, such as APIs, content, and other services, in real time. Amazon Web Services (AWS) has given AI agents their own digital wallets by connecting Amazon Bedrock AgentCore with well-known financial gateways like Coinbase and Stripe."
PayPal and Google Cloud Say Crypto Rails Are Key to Scaling Agentic Commerce
MEXC
"Executives from both companies argued that traditional payment systems are not designed for AI-driven transactions. Rich Widmann, Global Head of Strategy for Web3 at Google Cloud, stressed that AI agent interaction in the current web environment is poorly designed. “An agent can’t get a bank account. It’s not just hard; it’s impossible, due to both technological and regulatory challenges,” he said. Widmann described crypto as an excellent machine-readable interface for payments."
On the wires
Seattle Seahawks and PayPal announce PayPal as the team's Official Fan-to-Fan Payments & Exclusive Digital Ticket Payment Processing Partner
PR Newswire
"The Seattle Seahawks and PayPal Holdings, Inc., a global leader in payments, announced today a new multi-year partnership to become the team's Official Fan-to-Fan Payments & Exclusive Digital Ticket Payment Processing Partner. The Seahawks become the first NFL club partner for PayPal, following the company's landmark announcement with the league in April."
Augustus Receives OCC Conditional Approval to Charter the First Clearing Bank For The AI Era
PR Newswire
"Augustus (formerly known as Ivy), announced that it has received conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish Augustus Bank, N.A. as a full-service US national bank. Augustus Bank N.A. will be the world's first clearing bank for the AI era, built on a stablecoin and AI-native core—a bank that's always open, made for machines, at the speed of compute. Augustus Bank N.A. will be designed for global financial institutions that need instant, always-on, programmable clearing of major Western currencies."
Circle Launches AI Infrastructure to Power the Agentic Economy
Business Wire
"Circle Internet Group, Inc. announced the launch of Circle Agent Stack, a new set of services and tools designed for the agentic economy. Initial products in Circle Agent Stack include Circle CLI (Command Line Interface), Agent Wallets, Agent Marketplace, and Nanopayments powered by Circle Gateway. Together, these products and capabilities help developers and self-running AI agents to build systems where agents can hold assets, discover services, and transact programmatically with USDC across supported blockchains and payment protocols."
May 8, 2026
Top Post
Amazon: Agents That Transact: Introducing Amazon Bedrock Agentcore Payments, Built with Coinbase and Stripe
Amazon Web Services
"Announcing Amazon Bedrock AgentCore payments, a new set of features in Amazon Bedrock AgentCore, enabling AI agents to instantly access and pay for what they use, such as web content, APIs, MCP servers, and other agents. We’ve built these capabilities in partnership with Coinbase and Stripe, who are providing the wallet infrastructure and payment rails that power the first set of capabilities."
On the web
Meta Develops Agentic AI Shopping Assistant for Instagram
Let's Data Science
"Reporting from Reuters and The Information, aggregated by multiple outlets, says Meta is building an "agentic" AI assistant that can perform multi-step tasks for users. Reuters, citing the Financial Times, reports the assistant is powered by a new model called Muse Spark and is being tested internally. The Information reports an internal project codenamed "Hatch" that has been trialed on simulated third-party services such as DoorDash and Reddit."
Here’s Why Mastercard Is Betting Big on BVNK — and Stablecoin
Global Finance Magazine
"The card company has positioned itself as a bridge between its global network and on-chain payment systems. For a technology that’s designed to leave traditional finance on the sidelines, credit card payment networks are making significant investments in stablecoins. Mastercard’s announced acquisition of BVNK, an enterprise stablecoin infrastructure provider, could usher in a new era of digital expansion for the legacy payments company. According to Mastercard, the deal’s final price tag could reach $1.8 billion by the time it closes at the end of 2026."
Ignore Stablecoins at Your Own Risk
Nacha
"At the moment, you’re unlikely to use stablecoin to pay for your new lawnmower or for the mocha latte to give you the energy to use it. But will that always be the case? Molly Woodman sees a day when things will be different. “People need to understand it a little bit better before using it, and that includes the merchants,” said Woodman, Senior Policy Advisor at the Digital Sovereignty Alliance, a nonprofit focusing on advocacy and education in the digital economy."
Education: Understanding the Fed: Five Things You Should Know About Consumer Protection and Community Development
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
"The Federal Reserve System is the central bank of the United States. But that doesn't mean it's the kind of bank where you get cash from an ATM, borrow money for a home, or keep a safe deposit box. As the central bank, the Fed is tasked with a variety of responsibilities that, as a whole, promote the health, safety, and prosperity of the US economy and financial system. While commercial banks provide financial services directly to the public, the Fed provides services to commercial banks. That's why some people describe the Fed as the bank for banks."
May 7, 2026
On the web
Google Expands UCP Checkout to Main Search Shopping Results
MSN
"Earlier this year, Google announced Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), a protocol to allow AI-agents to buy directly from search. This went live only in Google’s AI Mode interface in February. But now, it seems to be rolling out in the main Google Search results where there are retailers that support UCP."
From Credit Cards To An AI Concierge: How Amex Ventures Backs Startups Building Autonomous Commerce
Crunchbase News
"In the era of AI, the financial services giant is working to evolve from a luxury credit card issuer with benefits to a “global agentic concierge” that autonomously handles everything from dinner reservations to complex international trips for its members. With that in mind, its venture arm, Amex Ventures, is backing startups that build the financial and technical infrastructure for a more autonomous economy."
Stripe’s AI Commerce Launches Put New Pressure on Subscription Checkout, Billing and Trial Controls
Subscription Insider
"Stripe’s latest product announcements connect AI-assisted purchasing, usage-based pricing and fraud controls to core subscription revenue operations. For subscription operators, the announcements are relevant because they touch several core revenue functions: how customers buy, how usage is billed, how free trials are protected and how companies identify risky sign-ups before they become a cost problem."
On the wires
Mastercard and Yellow Card Partner to Unlock Stablecoin Payment Innovation Across EEMEA
PR Newswire
"Mastercard and Yellow Card, a licensed stablecoin infrastructure provider operating primarily across Africa, with additional capabilities in select emerging markets, have announced a strategic partnership to accelerate stablecoin-enabled payment innovation across Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EEMEA), with plans for global expansion."