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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 19, 2026
On the web
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
Top Post
Stablecoin Remittances Face Reality Check in Banca d’Italia Study
Global Finance Magazine
"A new study from Italy’s central bank challenges one of the crypto industry’s biggest selling points: that stablecoins can make cross-border remittances cheaper and faster than traditional payment networks. Banca d’Italia’s research examined remittance corridors involving Italy, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, and Japan, comparing USDC transfers against established money transfer services. Its conclusion was sobering. Stablecoin transfers showed no systematic cost advantage."
Scott Bessent Says Treasury Is 'Moving Quickly' on Stablecoin Rules: What's in the Proposal?
TradingView
"Treasury released the GENIUS Act stablecoin licensing rules Monday, setting out who needs a federal license to issue or sell stablecoins in the United States. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking sets out two core frameworks. First, it defines what it means to issue a payment stablecoin in the United States, clarifying when an issuer needs a GENIUS Act license. Second, it defines what it means to offer or sell a stablecoin to someone in the United States, clarifying when and how stablecoins can reach US markets."
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."
The Missing Link in Agentic Commerce
365 Retail
"The agentic AI vision where autonomous agents discover products, compare prices, place orders, manage logistics, and even returns on behalf of consumers, is certainly seductive. Ecommerce platforms, warehouse systems, customer service platforms, payment providers, ERP systems and carrier networks have all become very sophisticated but they have all been developed on their own. Even where they are connected, many are reliant on fragmented integrations, manual workflows or isolated data."
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."
WhatsApp Pay Overtakes Cred and Amazon Pay to Race up the UPI Charts
VARINDIA
"WhatsApp Pay has sharply expanded its presence in India’s UPI market. Its transaction volume was more than twice the 74.6 million transactions recorded in the same month last year. The Meta-owned messaging platform’s payments service is now the eighth-largest UPI app in India by transaction volume. The sharp rise in payments activity comes around 19 months after the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) removed restrictions on WhatsApp Pay’s user onboarding in December 2024."
Cash Remains Most Widely Accepted Payment Method in Euro Area
European Central Bank
"According to the latest survey on the use of cash by companies in the euro area published today by the European Central Bank, cash acceptance has rebounded slightly. In 2026, 92% of companies selling goods and services in physical locations in the retail trade, restaurants and cafés, hotels, and arts, entertainment and recreation sectors reported that they accept cash. This compares with 90% in 2024, suggesting that cash acceptance has rebounded after the decline observed during and after the pandemic."
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."
On the wires
Rain Launches the Agentic Payments Alliance to Guide the Future of Agent-Driven Commerce
PR Newswire
"Rain, the enterprise-grade infrastructure for stablecoin-powered payments, announced the launch of the Agentic Payments Alliance (APA), a coalition of organizations working together to help guide the development of agentic commerce. Founding members include Visa, Mastercard, Fiserv, Circle, Solana, and Remitly. Founding members will get early access to Rain's Agentic Startup Program, an accelerator supporting early-stage companies building for agentic commerce."
August 17, 2026
Top Post
Treasury Seeks Public Comment on GENIUS Act Proposed Rulemaking
U.S. Department of the Treasury
"The U.S. Department of the Treasury issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), seeking public comment related to Treasury’s implementation of section 3 of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act. This NPRM sets forth Treasury’s proposed framework for implementing these requirements. By defining what it means to “issue a payment stablecoin in the United States,” the proposed rule would provide clarity to industry regarding when an issuer needs to obtain a GENIUS license."
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."
OCC Grants World Liberty Trust a Preliminary Trust Charter, with Notable Smallprint
Ledger Insights - blockchain for enterprise
"The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has granted preliminary conditional approval for World Liberty Financial to establish a national trust bank. World Liberty Trust Company would take over issuance and reserve management of the USD1 stablecoin from BitGo and offer digital asset custody services as a fiduciary. Consistent with the BitGo version, the bank plans to offer fee free issuance and redemption of USD1, which could draw volume away from rivals like Circle during periods of market stress."
Hawaii Bans Cash Deposits on Crypto ATMs
ATM Marketplace
"Hawaii is the first state to ban cash deposits on crypto ATMs, rather than banning them outright. The state passed this law to address ongoing concerns around fraud at crypto ATMs, according to a report by Hawaii News Now. Although the law bans cash deposits at crypto ATMs, customers can convert crypto into cash or make withdrawals at the machines. The law takes effect Oct. 1."
Lithic and Monavate Partner to Power Card Programs Across Traditional and On-Chain Finance
Lithic
"Lithic, the card issuer processing platform powering next-generation financial experiences, announced a partnership with Monavate, the regulated payments platform and program manager owned by Exodus Movement, Inc. to give companies a single route to building and scaling card programs using fiat and digital currencies."
China Expands Digital Yuan Network with 8 New Banks to Accelerate Adoption
South China Morning Post
"China launched the digital yuan in 2019, but retail adoption has been slow as Chinese consumers are accustomed to using Alipay and WeChat Pay. China has added eight more commercial banks to its central bank-backed digital currency network, the latest move by Beijing to scale up adoption of the digital yuan, or e-CNY, and embed it more deeply into the country’s financial system."
Bank of America Launches AI Tracker Covering Model Intelligence and Costs
Crypto Briefing
"Wall Street is watching the AI arms race and Bank of America just built a scoreboard. The bank has launched an internal AI model tracker that evaluates leading large language models across two dimensions that actually matter to enterprise buyers: how smart the model is, and how much it costs to run. Bank of America currently operates more than 270 AI and machine learning models internally, with over 300 approved AI use cases across its business lines. It processes roughly 400,000 AI prompts per day."
A Routine Mastercard Update Knocked Out Card Payments Across Australia
Startup Fortune
"On Saturday afternoon, you couldn't trust your Mastercard at the checkout in parts of Australia. Not to tap. Not through Apple Pay. Not through Android Pay. News.com.au reported that Downdetector showed more than 1,700 Mastercard outage reports by 3pm on August 15, 2026, as failed transactions hit shoppers and businesses during weekend trading."
Visa’s Agentic Ready Program Moves Issuer-Layer Readiness From Theory to Production
Forkast
"Visa's new certification program qualifies European banks as agent-ready payment issuers, creating the first institutional-grade rails for autonomous agent transactions across the continent. The July 2, 2026, live agentic payment transaction in Germany—executed by Worldline, ING, and Visa—served as a definitive proof of concept for the future of commerce."
Alipay Unveils Full-Stack Agentic Commerce Infrastructure in China
Crowdfund Insider
"On August 17, 2026, Alipay hosted its inaugural AI ecosystem conference. The fintech platform, operated by Ant Group, introduced the country’s first comprehensive full-stack agent commercial foundation along with the AHA (Agent Hub Access) multi-agent cross-device interconnection protocol suite. This rollout aims to equip merchants with tools for intelligent operations while enabling seamless collaboration among diverse AI agents, terminals, and service providers."
Stripe Will Reportedly Acquire AI Gateway Startup OpenRouter for $7B+
TechCrunch
"Stripe has finalized a deal to acquire OpenRouter, according to a new report in Bloomberg . OpenRouter helps customers to select different AI models to perform different tasks, depending on their specific needs and budget.
On the wires
Thunes to Support Fiserv's Real-Time Global Payouts for Platforms
PR Newswire
"Thunes and Fiserv announced a strategic collaboration to transform how global platforms and marketplaces handle international payouts. Through the alliance, Thunes will support payouts for Fiserv's merchant ecosystem, enabling ecommerce platforms, marketplaces and other Fiserv clients to send money instantly around the world to pay employees, bills and suppliers. By leveraging Thunes' Direct Global Network, Fiserv clients will gain the ability to reach 12 billion bank accounts and mobile wallets in over 140 countries and 90 currencies."
August 14, 2026
Top Post
A PayPal Sale Is Back on the Table: What We Know About Stripe, Advent’s Bid
Yahoo Finance
"Stripe and Advent are reportedly in talks to acquire PayPal, according to the Wall Street Journal. Yahoo Finance's Josh Lipton outlines what we know so far. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the struggling payment company is in talks to sell itself to Stripe and Advent. Two companies offered 60 50 per share in July or $53 billion, which PayPal, remember, turned down, but now the journal is saying the companies have been in negotiations since then. PayPal shares spiking on that headline just before the close, finishing the day up nearly 2%."
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