Global

UnionPay to Plug Chinese Payment Apps Into Brazil’s Pix After US Tariffs Over the System

South China Morning Post

“China’s UnionPay International plans to connect Chinese payment apps to Pix, the Brazilian payment system at the centre of Washington’s trade case against Brasilia, allowing Chinese tourists to pay by scanning a code. Under the pilot, users of the UnionPay app and of Chinese bank apps linked to its platform would scan a merchant’s code […]

Tags: Brazil China

Companies

Africa: PayPal Expands PYUSD Stablecoin to 27 Additional Markets

APA News

“PayPal has announced the expansion of its PYUSD stablecoin to 27 additional African markets, a strategic move aimed at facilitating cross-border payments and remittances while strictly adhering to local regulatory frameworks. The rollout brings the total number of global markets where PYUSD is available to 70, significantly bolstering PayPal’s operational footprint within Africa’s rapidly expanding […]

Tags: PayPal

Global

Vietnam’s NAPAS Links QR Payments with China’s Weixin Pay, Targeting over 1B Users

TNGlobal

“National Payment Corporation (NAPAS), a payment platform in Vietnam, has connected its VietQRGlobal payment infrastructure with China’s Weixin Pay, enabling Chinese visitors to scan QR codes and make payments in Vietnam. Weixin Pay, also known as WeChat Pay, is the third Chinese payment platform to complete cross-border QR payment connectivity with NAPAS in 2026. The […]

Tags: China Vietnam

Companies

Varo Bank Expands Fee-Free In-Store Cash Add Capabilities Nationwide

MarketScreener

“Varo Bank, N.A., the first all-digital, nationally chartered consumer bank in the U.S., recently announced the launch of fee-free digital cash add capabilities for Varo customers across more than 2,000 Kroger Family of store locations. Powered by Green Dot’s embedded finance platform and money processing network, this expansion launched as a four-week pilot program (ending on August […]

Tags: Green Dot

Industry

Tokenized deposits: Old Wine in New Bottles?

The European Money and Financial Forum

This paper examines the use of ‘tokenized’ bank deposits for achieving automated, real-time processing of financial transactions. Two possibilities for tokenization are compared: representation on decentralized ‘programmable’ ledgers; and on conventional account-based centralized ledgers.

Companies

Mastercard’s Trust Layer: The Compliance Bottleneck That Could Decide Who Wins Stablecoin Payments

Yahoo Finance

“The primary obstacle to global stablecoin adoption is not the speed of settlement, but the friction of compliance. Every transaction between disparate providers currently requires redundant verification, a process that fails to scale alongside the underlying network infrastructure. Mastercard and Borderless.xyz announced a pilot program designed to address this inefficiency. By deploying Mastercard’s Crypto Credential […]

Tags: Mastercard

Global

Stablecoins: Promise, Risks, and Policy Choices for Emerging Markets

International Monetary Fund

“As new technologies reshape the financial system, they raise new questions for policymakers.  One that is becoming increasingly important is how to respond to the growing trend toward the tokenization of financial assets, from stablecoins and tokenized deposits to many other forms of—if not all—financial claims, including wholesale central bank reserves, and theoretical forms of […]

Tags: South Africa

Companies

Shopify’s 13x AI-Referral Surge Hides the Real Agentic Commerce Story

Yahoo Finance

“Shopify’s Q1 2026 commerce data reveals a stark shift in how consumers navigate digital storefronts. AI-referred orders grew nearly 13x year-over-year…Shopify’s Agentic Storefronts, powered by the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), facilitate selling directly through AI platforms. However, as noted in in previous coverage of Settlement Architecture Convergence, the technical ability to execute a transaction is […]

Tags: Shopify

Companies

Arriving Now: AI-Powered Toast Ordering on Google Maps

Toast

“Toast, the global technology platform built for restaurant and retail businesses, announced an expanded integration with Google that brings agentic food ordering to Ask Maps, a conversational AI feature within Google Maps. When a diner asks—by voice or text—for a restaurant recommendation or specific food request, Ask Maps can now put a Toast restaurant’s menu […]

Tags: Google Toast

Industry

Education: Your Bank’s AI Just Blocked Your Payment – What Can You Do?

Insight News

“Imagine you’re at the supermarket checkout. Your cart is full. The line behind you is long. You tap your card. Declined. You try again. Declined. What just happened? And why does it keep happening to people who haven’t done anything wrong? This isn’t a rare glitch, but something that happens to millions of people every […]

Companies

Marqeta Expands Collaboration with Google to Launch New Offering in Wallet for Kids

Business Wire

“Marqeta’s card issuing platform enables Google to expand its Wallet for kids offering, providing a safe, digital-first way for kids to receive and spend allowances without needing a traditional bank account. With Marqeta’s tokenization and spend control functionality, Google enables parents in the U.S. to set daily spending limits, monitor transaction history, and lock or […]

Tags: Google Marqeta

Companies

Klarna Goes Live with J.P. Morgan Payments, Opening Flexible Checkout to U.S. Merchants

Klarna

“Klarna announced its first-ever integration with J.P. Morgan Payments is now live in the U.S. Merchants on J.P. Morgan Payments’ Commerce Platform can now offer Klarna’s flexible payment options at checkout, with no integration required. Businesses across all retail categories, from apparel and travel to health and wellness, can offer their customers the full suite […]

Tags: Klarna

Companies

FIS Launches Digital One™ Commercial to Help APAC Banks Scale Business Banking Across Growth Markets

FIS Global

“FIS has launched Digital One™ Commercial in APAC, a core-agnostic, composable commercial banking platform enabling banks to serve all business segments on a single system without replacing existing core systems. Digital One Commercial supports real-time, multi-rail payments with native multi-language, multi-currency, and cloud-ready capabilities for the region’s diverse regulatory environments. The platform’s API-first architecture integrates […]

Tags: FIS

Industry

KuCoin Pay Expands Stablecoin Utility With an Enterprise Gift Card Solution

PR Newswire

“KuCoin Pay, the cryptocurrency payment solution enabled by KuCoin, announced the launch of KuCoin Gift Card, a digital asset distribution solution that enables businesses to distribute USDT and USDC globally through digital gift cards, with support for bulk issuance and API integration. Designed for customer rewards, promotional campaigns, employee incentives and community engagement, the solution […]

Companies

Mastercard’s Trust Layer: The Compliance Bottleneck That Could Decide Who Wins Stablecoin Payments

Forkast

“By deploying Crypto Credential across the Borderless.xyz network, Mastercard is betting it’s over who controls verification at scale. Every transaction between disparate providers currently requires redundant verification, a process that fails to scale alongside the underlying network infrastructure. Mastercard and Borderless.xyz announced a pilot program designed to address this inefficiency. By deploying Mastercard’s Crypto Credential […]

Tags: Mastercard