Explore leading edge topics in the payments industry with the live, virtual Advanced Payments workshop on May 19-20.
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.
Search Payments News
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."
The Alchemy Chain Mainnet is Live
Alchemy Pay
"Alchemy Pay today announced the launch of the Alchemy Chain mainnet, marking a major milestone in its evolution toward building a globally compliant stablecoin payment network. Alchemy Chain is a Layer-1 blockchain purpose-built for stablecoin payments, designed to support fast, low-cost, and predictable transactions across real-world use cases, including merchant payments, remittances, and cross-border settlement."
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."
May 6, 2026
On the web
Gr4vy Introduces Pix Automático in Brazil via dLocal Integration
Gr4vy
"Gr4vy announced the support for Pix Automático in Brazil through their integration with dLocal, the leading cross-border payment platform connecting global merchants to emerging markets, enabling merchants to offer automated Pix billing for subscriptions, memberships, and other recurring services."
Visa Completes AI Agent Payments Trial With BOCHK in Hong Kong
Fintech Hong Kong
"Visa and Bank of China (Hong Kong) (BOCHK) have completed testing for AI agent payments in Hong Kong. The trial enabled an AI programme to execute real-world purchases on behalf of a consumer over Visa’s existing network. The system required explicit user consent and verification at every step to maintain issuer control and authentication standards."
Solana and Google Cloud Launch Pay.sh for AI Agent Payments Using USDC
Coinpedia Fintech News
"Solana Foundation and Google Cloud launched Pay.sh for AI agent payments using stablecoins. AI agents can access and pay for over 75 APIs using USD Coin on Solana network. Platform removes subscriptions and billing accounts, allowing AI agents to pay directly per API request."
PhonePe Introduces AI-Powered Integration Layer for Merchants
PhonePe
"PhonePe announced the launch of its AI-powered integration layer for merchants, marking a major step toward simplifying the payment gateway go-live process. Built for AI Coding Assistants and enhanced by PhonePe’s proprietary ‘Integration Intelligence’ layer, this innovation aims to reduce integration timelines for merchants from weeks to minutes. With this AI Agent, merchants can integrate PhonePe’s payment gateway in minutes through a conversational interface."
May 5, 2026
On the web
The Impact of Stablecoins on the International Monetary and Financial System
BIS
"Widespread use of stablecoins could have an impact on the international monetary and financial system, particularly for emerging market and developing economies. Using the framework of international currency functions to analyse their effect, we argue that stablecoins are most likely to affect private sector store of value and medium of exchange roles, particularly in economies facing macroeconomic instability. Given that approximately 98% of stablecoins' value is dollar-denominated, they are likely to initially reinforce existing currency hierarchies. We develop three scenarios to explore the range of potential outcomes."
On the wires
Billtrust Turns Payment Behavior into Actionable Signals with Buyer Payment Portal and Cash Forecast Launch
PR Newswire
"Billtrust announced the availability of new AI‑driven Buyer Payment Portal and Cash Forecasting capabilities, along with expanded payment controls and international payment options. Together, the new capabilities help AR teams accelerate collections, improve buyer payment experiences, and gain earlier cash flow visibility from one platform."