Industry

Deel Partners with MoonPay to Enable Stablecoin Salary Payouts for Global Workers

PR Newswire

"MoonPay, a leader in global crypto payments and stablecoin infrastructure, announced a new partnership with Deel, the all-in-one global payroll and HR platform. Together, MoonPay and Deel will further enhance stablecoin salary payouts for workers and expand these capabilities to employees around the world, offering a faster and more flexible way to get paid. Deel helps companies hire, manage, pay, and equip any worker, anywhere. This partnership builds on Deel's continued expansion into crypto-enabled payroll."

Industry

The Hidden Costs of Credit Card Surcharging

Digital Transactions

"A surcharge is more complicated than just slapping a fee on a card transaction. For one thing, it’s fraught with myriad compliance and consumer issues. That doesn’t mean there won’t be more of it. Merchant surcharging on credit card transactions is nothing new, but the practice has become more widespread in recent years. The reasons vary, including merchants’ search for ways to offset card-acceptance costs and the onset of higher operating expenses that squeeze profit margins."

Industry

Education: Why Is Your Credit Card Rate So High?

Knowledge at Wharton

"U.S. credit card debt is rising and at last count exceeded $1.2 trillion, but half of the 42% of Americans who worry about their card debt do nothing about it. But the top-of-mind question among credit card users is: Why do they pay overly stiff interest rates? Credit card interest rates average 23% — higher than any other type of loan or bond, according to a recent paper titled “Credit Card Banking” by Wharton finance professor Itamar Drechsler and other experts."

Industry

When AI Agents Shop for Us, How Will Loyalty Programs Keep Up?

Chain Store Age

"As AI tools move from effectively being smarter search engines (chatbots), to autonomously executing transactions on behalf of a person (AI agents), the online marketing playbook is being rewritten. For retailers, this shift means loyalty is becoming a way to differentiate products and gain favor with agents. Product data will play an even more important role going forward, especially because Google’s UCP is reportedly expanding the number of product data attributes available for merchants to upload by as many as 60 new fields."

Industry

Some Renters Should Be Wary of ‘Rent Now, Pay Later’ Services. Here’s Why

Fast Company

"So-called “rent now, pay later” services have emerged over the past few years as housing costs climb and paychecks grow less predictable for many. Companies such as Flex, Livble, and, more recently, Affirm, say breaking rent into multiple payments can help renters manage cash flow. Consumer advocates warn the products typically function like short-term loans , layering fees onto strained budgets and, in some cases, carrying triple-digit effective interest rates — raising questions about whether they ease financial pressure or deepen it."

Industry

Stablecoin Rewards Issue Remains Unresolved After White House Meeting

Ledger Insights

"Yesterday there was a meeting at the White House to reach a compromise on a key issue holding up the Clarity Act crypto bill in the Senate: stablecoin interest and rewards. Community and other banks have concerns that permitting stablecoin rewards could impact deposits. The President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets convened a meeting between bank representatives and crypto firms, but the issue was not resolved at yesterday’s meeting."

Industry

Idle Stablecoins Are Becoming a Systemic Efficiency Problem — and Banks Should Pay Attention

Global Banking And Finance Review

"Stablecoins have grown far beyond a niche trading instrument. They facilitate payments, trading, settlement, and treasury operations for exchanges, fintechs, and, increasingly, financial institutions exploring on-chain settlement and liquidity management. But despite their growing role, a surprising amount of this capital simply does not move. Large portions of stablecoin balances sit idle on exchanges, in wallets or across institutional treasury accounts."

Industry

Agentic AI and the Future of Payments

"The evolution of AI in commerce is moving beyond insight generation and into direct action. Agentic AI will change how transactions are initiated, shifting compensation models towards outcomes and performance rather than clicks, impressions or sessions. This has direct implications for platform economics. A single agent-triggered transaction may need to distribute funds to multiple parties, including merchants, platforms, recommender agents, logistics, and service providers."

Industry

Fingerprint Launches Authorized AI Agent Detection to Identify Agentic AI Traffic with 100% Certainty—Accelerating Enterprise Automation and Agentic Commerce

Business Wire

"Fingerprint, a leader in device intelligence for fraud prevention, today announced the launch of Authorized AI Agent Detection, its new ecosystem of AI agents, including OpenAI, AWS AgentCore, Browserbase, Manus and Anchor Browser. The ecosystem enables enterprises to detect authorized agentic AI traffic with 100% certainty, allowing organizations to distinguish trusted, permissioned automation from malicious bots and scrapers. With the launch of Authorized AI Agent Detection, Fingerprint now detects the highest number of AI agents on the market."

Industry

Deciphering the Alphabet Soup of Agentic AI Protocols

The Register

"MCP, A2A, ACP, or UTCP? It seems like every other day, orgs add yet another AI protocol to the agentic alphabet soup, making it all the more confusing. Below, we'll share what all these abbreviations actually mean and share why they are important for the future of AI. On the surface, all the protocols serve a similar purpose. They are all trying to standardize how AI agents communicate, with the main distinction often being what exactly they're trying to talk to."

Industry

Tether Takes the Fight to Circle With a New ‘Made in America’ Stablecoin

CoinDesk

"Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin USDT, is making its move into the U.S. domestic market with the launch of USAT, a dollar-backed token issued by Anchorage Digital Bank. The launch represents Tether’s first product specifically designed to operate within the U.S. federal stablecoin framework established under the GENIUS Act."

Industry

Singapore Debuts World’s First Governance Framework for Agentic AI

Computer Weekly

"Singapore has launched a governance framework for agentic artificial intelligence (AI) systems, which are capable of independent reasoning and action, to address the growing security and operational risks posed by AI agents. Unlike generative AI, agentic AI systems can plan across multiple steps to achieve specific objectives. They can interact with their environment, such as updating customer databases or processing payments without direct human intervention."

Industry

AI, Deepfakes Are Top Risks for Financial Crime Specialists

BankInfoSecurity

"The financial system has a trust problem driven by artificial intelligence and deepfakes. Investigators looking to prevent fraud and other financial crimes will only face more challenges as criminals find new ways to use AI to swindle, according to the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists' Global AFC Threats Report 2026."

Industry

Education: Tokenized Deposits vs. Stablecoins: A Practical Guide for Banks and Credit Unions

Banking Exchange

"For U.S. bank executives, the era of regulatory ambiguity regarding digital assets effectively ended in July 2025. The signing of the GENIUS Act established a federal framework for payment stablecoins, transitioning them from speculative instruments into regulated financial infrastructure. To lead this transition, executives must understand the structural differences between the two primary instruments..."

Industry

Payfinia and Deluxe Partner to Enable Paze® for ISVs, Embedding Payments Across Issuer and Merchant Ecosystems

Business Wire

"Payfinia, an independent payment services firm providing an open payments framework, announced a new partnership with Deluxe, a trusted Payments and Data company serving millions of small businesses and financial institutions. Together, the organizations are expanding access to Paze®, a digital wallet and online checkout experience developed by Early Warning Services and offered by leading U.S. financial institutions."

Industry

White House to Host Meeting Between Bank and Crypto Next Week to Discuss Digital Asset Legislation

The Block

"The summit will be hosted by the White House’s crypto council and will focus on a looming issue that has become a major snag in the Senate Banking Committee — the treatment of stablecoin rewards, Reuters reported. Tensions between banks and crypto firms have intensified in recent months over how to address stablecoin rewards."

Industry

Nu Secures Approval to Establish US National Bank

Business Wire

Nu announced that it has received conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) of the United States for the formation of a de novo national bank, Nubank, N.A. Once fully approved, the national bank charter will allow Nu to operate under a comprehensive federal framework, facilitating the launch of deposit accounts, credit cards, lending and digital asset custody.

Industry

Chainalysis: Crypto Money Laundering Surged to $82 Billion in 2025

Coinspeaker

"Illicit cryptocurrency money laundering activity climbed to over $82 billion in 2025, marking an eightfold increase from $10 billion in 2020, according to blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis. The considerable growth reflects increased accessibility and liquidity of cryptocurrencies, associated with significant changes in laundering operations. Chinese-language money laundering networks (CMLNs) have surged to become dominant players."

Industry

Shopify Merchants Face 4% OpenAI Fee on ChatGPT Sales, Reports the Information

Internet Retailing

"Shopify merchants will reportedly pay a 4% fee on sales made via OpenAI-powered checkouts, on top of standard transaction charges, according to US tech and business publication The Information. While the fee had not yet been officially confirmed by OpenAI at the time of writing, news of the proposed 4% checkout charge prompted mixed reactions across LinkedIn."

Industry

CBA Releases White Paper Examining Agentic AI, Consumer Payments, and the Future of Regulation

Consumer Bankers Association

"The Consumer Bankers Association (CBA) today released a new white paper, Agentic AI Payments: Navigating Consumer Protection, Innovation, and Regulatory Frameworks, examining how emerging agentic artificial intelligence tools could reshape consumer payments—and the opportunities and risks that evolution presents for consumers, banks, merchants, and policymakers."

Industry

Major European Banks Unite to Develop Euro-Backed Stablecoin

Digital Watch Observatory

"A consortium of 10 central European banks has established a new company, Qivalis, to develop and issue a euro-pegged stablecoin, targeting a launch in the second half of 2026, subject to regulatory approval. The initiative seeks to offer a European alternative to US dollar-dominated digital payment systems and strengthen the region’s strategic autonomy in digital finance. Initial use cases will focus on crypto trading, enabling fast, low-cost payments and settlements, with broader applications planned later."

Industry

The $35 Trillion Illusion: Unpacking the Real State of Stablecoin Adoption

TechStory

"The research presents a clear and stark contrast in expectations for the industry as compared to reality; given the overall figure ($35 Trillion); one might think that this is a huge number where everybody is using it—however, the reality is that only about 1% (approximately $390 B) is actually being used for real payments. The majority of transactions in stablecoins still remain circular in nature; being made up mainly of people trading tokens, arbitragers executing trade-within-trade algorithmically via bots, and internal transfers that do not actually occur within the economy."

Industry

Shoppers Are Pulling Back From E-Commerce – Here’s Why

Chain Store Age

"Consumers are becoming less likely to engage with retailers online, with several economic and behavioral factors as key drivers. Daily online shopping frequency is dropping sharply, falling from 21% to 9% in the past year. The Salsify 2026 Consumer Research report also reveals that brick-and-mortar stores (60%) now outrank online marketplaces (57%) and social platforms (52%) among surveyed consumers for discovery of new products."

Industry

Consumer Credit Cards in 2026: Opportunities and Threats in a Complex Landscape

This Week in Fintech

"The U.S. consumer credit card market enters 2026 in a position of strength but facing mounting headwinds, including high interest rates, affordability concerns, regulatory scrutiny, and renewed political focus on interchange. According to the Nilson Report, U.S.-issued general-purpose credit cards generated $6.136 trillion in purchase volume in 2024, representing a 5.3% year-over-year increase. Outstanding receivables reached $1.346 trillion at year-end 2024, up 7.9% year over year, while the 30 largest U.S. issuers held $1.208 trillion in receivables at midyear 2025, up 4.8%. Federal Reserve data tells a similar story."

Industry

Kasada Launches AI Agent Trust to Secure Agentic Commerce

Yahoo Finance-Business Wire

"Kasada announced the launch of AI Agent Trust, designed to help brands securely manage the growing volume of AI agents and automated traffic interacting with their digital properties. As AI agents increasingly act on behalf of consumers – browsing products, comparing prices, and assisting with transactions – organizations face a new trust challenge."

Industry

New Reg E Liability: The AI Bought That, Not Me!

Lexology

"Artificial intelligence tools are expanding into every aspect of consumers’ daily lives. That proliferation has the potential to dramatically increase bank liability under the Electronic Funds Transfer Act (“EFTA”) and Regulation E...Banks may unwittingly find themselves underwriting the risk that the agentic AIs get these transactions wrong. Banks are already well aware that under the EFTA and Regulation E, banks can end up being liable for losses resulting from unauthorized transactions from consumer accounts."

Industry

SEPA Instant Adoption in Europe Build It and They Will Come

ClearBank

"The EU Instant Payments Regulation’s (IPR) SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst) mandate is a watershed moment for Europe’s payments market.  This research report examines the readiness of banks, electronic money institutions (EMIs) and payment institutions (PIs).  It also considers where the market is headed, the factors and developments that could influence real-time payment growth, and how firms are preparing to capture the SEPA Instant opportunity."

Industry

What’s the Future Hold for ATMs in 2026?

ATM Marketplace

"We are now firmly in 2026, and with it comes many opportunities for ATMs along with challenges. Although cash usage has plateaued, expenses surrounding cash management continue to rise. In addition, the potential of AI has yet to be fully realized. When looking at where ATMs are headed in 2026, it's important to take a holistic approach that takes into account hardware, software, peripherals, cash management and AI."

Industry

Acquired.com & Visa: Unlocking Real-Time Recurring Payment Solutions with cVRPs via Visa A2A

Acquired.com

"Recurring payments are the backbone of many businesses, especially those operating in subscription-based or recurring revenue models. Commercial Variable Recurring Payments (cVRPs) launched by Acquired.com are the next evolution in payment technology, enabling businesses to facilitate real-time, bank-to-bank transactions with unprecedented flexibility and transparency. Powered by Visa’s Account-to-Account (A2A) solution, cVRPs provide an alternative to legacy payment systems, combining the benefits of speed, efficiency, and customer control."

Industry

Agentic Checkout Grows Across Major AI Platforms

The Keyword

"Agentic checkout is no longer an abstract idea discussed in demos. Over the past several months, major technology companies have begun rolling out tools that allow AI systems to guide, assist, or complete purchases inside chat and assistant interfaces. The growing sophistication of AI agents has made this possible, influencing the rise of agentic commerce. Companies like OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google have invested heavily in systems that can execute multi-step tasks rather than respond to single prompts."