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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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August 21, 2026
Top Post
Walmart to Finally Start Accepting Apple Pay and Google Pay
TechCrunch
"Walmart said it will finally accept payments via both Apple Pay and Google Pay at its stores, including Walmart and Sam’s Club. The retail giant says that beginning August 24, it will begin adding Tap to Pay to its payment options at select Walmart stores and Sam’s Club locations. It expects the feature to reach all stores and clubs by the end of the year, and will then roll it out to all its fuel stations by the middle of 2027."
On the web
The Agent Wallet That Tencent Is Currently Testing Has Been Preempted by Amazon.
European Central Station
"On June 17, 2026, WeChat Pay publicly introduced the under-test "AI Exclusive Card". But news broke out today that Amazon has launched this product first. On August 19, Amazon AWS announced that Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Payments has officially reached general availability (GA). Previously, it only had preview features for some simple paid scenarios, but now it allows AI Agents to independently purchase paid APIs, MCP services, digital content and model inference capabilities under user authorization and budget constraints."
Klarna Launches In-Store with Garage and Dynamite Across North America and the UK
Klarna
"Klarna is now available in-store at GARAGE and DYNAMITE locations across Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. The expanded partnership brings the payment flexibility customers already enjoy online into more than 300 stores. Customers can now choose to pay in full or divide eligible purchases into interest-free installments directly at checkout using the Klarna app."
Beyond the PAN: What Merchants Need to Know About Network Tokens
Very Good Security
"Network tokens are becoming a dominant payment credential. Network tokens are designed to make transactions less disruptive, which is why there is an uptick in transactions using network tokenization. Instead of relying on the primary account number, or PAN, printed on a customer’s card, a merchant can use a payment credential issued through the card network. That credential can be managed throughout its lifecycle, restricted to an approved payment environment, and updated when the underlying card information changes."
August 20, 2026
On the web
Solana Stablecoin Active Addresses Hit Record 1.7 Million
CryptoRank
"Active addresses holding Solana-based stablecoins hit a record 1.7 million and total stablecoin supply on Solana reached $16.3 billion, including $6.8B in USDC, $2.9B in USDT and $1.2B in USDGO. This surge signals increasing crypto and DeFi adoption on Solana driven by low fees and high throughput, improving liquidity for trading, remittances and payments while potentially attracting greater regulatory scrutiny as the network competes with Ethereum and Tron."
Stablecoins Won’t Replace the Dollar: Mastercard CEO [Video]
Yahoo Finance
"Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach explains to Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi how stablecoins could help suppliers in high-inflation countries and make difficult cross-border payments faster and more predictable, while also explaining why crypto still won't replace the dollar."
Stripe to Buy OpenRouter as Fintech Expands Deeper Into AI
CNBC
"Stripe said it’s acquiring OpenRouter, as the payments company expands into the artificial intelligence model market. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the New York Times said the price tag is about $7.5 billion, with $1.5 billion allocated to OpenRouter’s founders. The deal will “maximize profitability by routing their requests intelligently and spending their tokens efficiently,” Stripe CEO Patrick Collison said in a statement."
Stripe Launches Treasury In Australia To Unify Payments And Multi-Currency Money Management
SMBtech
"Stripe has launched its Treasury product in Australia, giving businesses a single platform to accept payments, hold and convert funds across multiple currencies and pay recipients in nearly 100 countries without leaving the Stripe dashboard. Businesses gain instant access to their revenue and can use it to pay suppliers, contractors and third parties using just an email address. The platform supports holding funds in AUD, USD, GBP and EUR, with instant conversion between ten supported currencies including HKD, SGD and NZD."
Shopify Expands Cross-Border Ecommerce Tools for Canadian Retailers
Retail Insider
"Shopify is expanding its Managed Markets cross-border ecommerce offering to Canadian merchants, giving eligible retailers and brands access to infrastructure designed to simplify international selling as duties, taxes and customs requirements become more complex. The Canadian expansion is being supported by Global-e Online, the cross-border ecommerce technology company behind the merchant-of-record infrastructure used by Shopify Managed Markets."
A Fintech App Built by Crypto Exchange Kraken Just Launched a Cash Back Debit Card in Bid for Consumer Wallets
CNBC
"Kraken is launching a cashback U.S. debit card, vying for a place in consumer wallets as crypto evolves from an asset class into infrastructure for mainstream financial products. The card, called the Krak Card and issued by the affiliate money app of the same name, offers up to 2% cash or bitcoin back, with the rate increasing based on the value of assets a customer holds. Rewards are paid directly as money rather than points. It also lets customers spend directly from more than 600 currencies and crypto assets."
August 19, 2026
Top Post
AWS Launches AI Agent Payment Service With USDC Support
Bloomingbit
"Amazon Web Services has launched a service that allows artificial intelligence agents to make payments autonomously. AWS announced on August 19 the release of Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Payments, an autonomous payment service for AI agents. The company first previewed the service in May in collaboration with Coinbase and Stripe. The service enables AI agents to find and use paid data and application programming interfaces, or APIs, without human intervention and to pay for them directly."
On the web
Nium Launches Card Issuance in the United States
Nium
"Nium , the global infrastructure leader for real-time cross-border payments, today announced the launch of domestic card issuance in the United States, extending its multi-region issuing platform to North America. Businesses can now issue local cards across APAC, Europe, Middle East, and North America while maintaining access to Nium's global payment network spanning 190+ countries – all on a single platform. Nium issued more than 41 million card credentials in APAC, Middle East, and Europe in the past 12 month."
Modulr Becomes the Only Non-Bank Payment Service Provider with Direct Access to All Three Major UK Payment Schemes
Modulr Finance
"Modulr announced it has become a direct participant in CHAPS, the UK’s same-day high-value payment scheme, settling directly at the Bank of England. CHAPS is a critical part of the UK’s payments infrastructure, enabling high-value, time-critical payments. Settling CHAPS payments directly at the Bank of England gives Modulr greater control over its payment flows. Modulr is the only non-bank payment service provider with direct access to all three of the UK’s major payment schemes: Faster Payments, Bacs, and CHAPS."
Visa’s Search for a New Stablecoin Partner Reveals a Strategic Divide
Forkast
"Visa is currently shopping for a new stablecoin settlement and over-the-counter partner. The RFP requirements demand a partner that holds cryptocurrency-exchange licenses in the U.S., Canada, the UK, and Singapore. The divergence in strategy between the two payment giants is stark. Mastercard has opted for vertical integration, buying its way into the infrastructure layer. Visa, is doubling down on its consortium-led approach, betting that the collective weight of the OUSD project will provide a more scalable path forward."
Coinbase CEO: x402 Payment Protocol for AI Agents Is ‘Going to Be Huge Eventually’
CryptoRank
"Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said the open x402 protocol, built on HTTP 402, could enable AI agents to make autonomous stablecoin onchain payments for APIs and digital services and predicted agents will eventually far outnumber humans. If adopted, x402 could reshape crypto payments and DeFi access by enabling machine-to-machine settlement and challenging traditional card networks and CEX payment rails, but the protocol is nascent and requires developer and AI platform integration before meaningful adoption or market impact."
Personetics Partners with Plaid to Help Banks Win Account Primacy with Open Finance Intelligence
Personetics
"Personetics, the AI Cognitive Banking Platform, announced a partnership with Plaid, the data network powering the digital financial ecosystem. The integration gives banks and credit unions something they’ve rarely had before: a comprehensive view of a customer’s financial life, combining their own account data with transactions, liabilities, investments, and related financial activity from wherever a customer’s money lives."
HSBC and Standard Chartered Execute First Live Tokenised Deposit Transaction on Swift’s Ledger
Asset Servicing Times
"HSBC and Standard Chartered announced the completion of bank-to-bank tokenised deposit interoperability through the first live cross-border transaction on Swift’s blockchain-based ledger. The transaction — conducted through exchange of payment messages between the two banks using Swift’s ledger — was recorded as tokenised deposit obligations on both HSBC’s Tokenised Deposit Service (TDS) and Standard Chartered’s tokenised-deposit infrastructure."
Rain CEO Says Stablecoin Payments Reach More than 100,000 Merchants Without Them Knowing It
The Block
"Stablecoin payments facilitated by Rain are already reaching more than 100,000 merchants without them knowing it, according to CEO Farooq Malik, as stablecoins move through existing payment networks. Malik discussed Rain’s work on agentic payments, including “scoped cards” designed to give AI agents controlled authority to transact on behalf of users. The approach can impose controls such as minimum and maximum balances and limits on how much an agent can spend, allowing users to set the scope of delegated payment authority."
Inter Links Brazil & U.S. Payments to TerraPay Wallets
eCommerceNews Australia
"Inter has expanded its cross-border payments infrastructure through a partnership with TerraPay, gaining access to 3.7 billion digital wallets through TerraPay's Xend network. Under the arrangement, Inter acts as the licensed settling institution for transactions in Brazilian reais and US dollars, handling settlement within a regulated framework in both countries. TerraPay provides access to wallet endpoints through Xend."
Cash App’s Crypto Support Expands Beyond Bitcoin and USDC via Moonpay
CoinDesk
"Cash App’s cryptocurrency service is extending beyond bitcoin and stablecoin USDC by being added to crypto payments platform MoonPay. Eligible U.S. Cash App users can use their balances to purchase digital assets offered by MoonPay, including ether, solana (SOL), XRP and the largest stablecoin, USDT. Users will be able to fund wallets on MoonPay through Cash App balances, including Ledger, BitPay, Trust Wallet, MetaMask and Uniswap, among others. Cash App developed by Block, is one of the gateways into cryptocurrency."
August 18, 2026
On the web
How AI Can Help Detect and Prevent Fraud
J.P.Morgan
"AI is expanding what fraud detection can catch. Advanced AI techniques like graph analysis and transformer models surface subtle patterns and connections that traditional methods may miss. AI can enhance traditional payment fraud detection by analyzing more data and surfacing new insights from what you already have."
TikTok Explores Peer-to-Peer Payments via Direct Messages
Investing
"TikTok is developing a feature that would enable users to send money to each other through direct messages, expanding the social media platform's entry into financial services, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. The feature under development would use TikTok Pay, which is already operating in Southeast Asia, to process the transactions. Code discovered in the current version of TikTok's U.S. iPhone app revealed evidence of the planned addition."
Tokens Are the New Dollars: Stripe's Agentic Commerce Playbook [Video]
Dealroom
"From payments to financial infrastructure. Stripe now frames itself as a multi-product platform rather than a payments company with add-ons — roughly 25–30 headline products spanning billing, invoicing, Connect, Radar, tax and more, with the average AI company using 11 Stripe products."
PPRO Partners with Blik to Enable Agentic Commerce for Local Payments in Poland
PPRO
"PPRO is partnering with BLIK to develop agentic commerce capabilities for local payments in Poland, with the aim of connecting BLIK with the emerging agentic ecosystem. PPRO will provide the infrastructure that enables local payment schemes, merchants and PSPs to participate in the AI economy. The project with BLIK will introduce one of the world’s first local payment method implementations for agent-initiated transactions, highlighting the critical role LPMs are poised to play in the future of AI-powered commerce."
Square and OpenTable Deepen Strategic Partnership for Unified Dining, Guest and Payment Insights
Block
"Square announced an expanded, preferred partnership with OpenTable. Restaurants have historically managed reservation and transaction data across separate systems. By building together, the integration connects OpenTable’s guest insights with Square’s transaction and operational data, giving operators a more complete understanding of their guests. Restaurant operators can link reservations to revenue and make more informed decisions about loyalty, marketing, and guest engagement."
Visa Looking for New Stablecoin Settlement Partner After BVNK Sale to Mastercard
CoinDesk
"Visa is looking for a new stablecoin settlement partner with licensing capabilities across multiple regions, according to documents seen by CoinDesk. This would fill the role previously held by BVNK, the stablecoin firm acquired by Mastercard earlier this year. Visa’s request for product (RFP) talks about the ability to swap and support a range of stablecoins, as well as handle settlement for the newly introduced Open USD stablecoin project, fronted by Stripe, Visa and Mastercard, which plans to support multiple stablecoins."
Xsolla Adds 15+ New Local Payment Methods, Letting Game Developers Reach Players Across Asia-Pacific, Europe, and the Americas
Press Release Hub
"Xsolla, a global video game commerce company, announced the addition of 15+ new payment methods to Xsolla Payments ahead of Gamescom 2026, spanning Asia and Oceania, EMEA, and the Americas. Game developers and publishers can now accept the local payment methods players already use, across markets from Indonesia and the Philippines to Germany, France, and the United States, with no additional integration required for any individual method."
Payments Giant Stripe Is About to Drop over $7 Billion to Become a Gateway to AI Token Sales
The Register
"Payments biz Stripe has reportedly finalized an agreement to acquire OpenRouter for at least $7 billion, signaling a shift in focus for the AI industry. OpenRouter provides a way for customers to integrate multiple AI models into their workflow and infrastructure and is, by Ramp's measure, the most popular of the gateway companies that have sprung up to simplify model integration. By acquiring the AI gateway service, Stripe would become a mediator of AI token sales, fitting its core business while gaining access to valuable data about AI model usage."
August 17, 2026
On the web
Stripe: New Currency Capabilities for Global Businesses to Cut FX Costs
Stripe
"Stripe announced two upgrades to make it easy for global businesses to manage FX entirely on Stripe: expanding multicurrency settlement to more markets and currencies, and introducing the ability to convert currencies instantly—all on Stripe. Settlement currencies will be expanded across multiple markets. By the end of 2026, businesses in 37 markets—including Australia, Hong Kong, and Singapore—will be able to settle payments earnings in up to 18 currencies, depending on where they operate. Here’s what’s coming by the end of this year..."
Synchrony Announces Enterprise Collaboration with OpenAI to Power the Next Era of Agentic Commerce Synchrony Logo
PR Newswire
"Synchrony announced a collaboration with OpenAI to strengthen Synchrony's positioning at the center of AI's next chapter in shopping and payments. The collaboration supports the company's work to bring financing, rewards, and loyalty into AI-native shopping and checkout experiences. This collaboration is part of Synchrony's strategy across the AI ecosystem to leverage frontier models, technology and innovation collaborations to deliver experiences that preserve merchant and consumer choice as commerce becomes more agent-driven."
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