Google Cloud and Nexi to Build Agentic Commerce Infrastructure
Google Cloud and Italy’s Nexi Group have signed a memorandum of understanding to create an agentic commerce infrastructure across Europe. The deal merges Google Cloud’s artificial‑intelligence and data platforms with Nexi’s payment‑processing network, and backs open‑source standards such as the Universal Commerce Protocol and Agent Payments Protocol. Together they aim to enable AI agents that can manage the entire shopping journey—from product discovery to payment—while also boosting fraud detection, compliance automation, and merchant onboarding. The partnership follows Google Cloud’s recent five‑year AI pact with Unilever, underscoring its push into retail AI.
How NFC Is Transforming AML Compliance
Near Field Communication (NFC) is moving beyond contactless payments to become a core tool in anti‑money‑laundering (AML) and know‑your‑customer (KYC) processes. By reading encrypted chips in e‑passports, ID cards and digital badges, NFC provides instant, tamper‑evident verification of identity data....
Piero Cipollone: The Digital Euro - Enhancing Payments in the Euro Area
In a February 2026 speech to Italy’s Parliamentary Committee, ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone outlined the digital euro initiative, stressing its role in modernising payments and reinforcing trust through democratic legitimacy. He framed the project as a strategic response...
DXtrade Integrates theScreener Investment Intelligence and Research
Devexperts announced that its DXtrade multi‑asset trading platform will integrate theScreener’s investment intelligence, giving brokers instant, actionable research within the trading interface. The partnership adds multi‑language equity, sector and market insights to DXtrade’s existing support for stocks, options, futures, crypto...
Safaricom's Ziidi Smashes Records on Nairobi Exchange
Safaricom’s Ziidi Trader, launched on the M‑Pay platform in early February, sparked a surge in Nairobi Securities Exchange activity, with daily equity trades climbing from under 8,000 to more than 25,000. The app gives roughly 38 million M‑Pay subscribers the ability...
What Does Programmable Money Mean for Treasury Operations?
Programmable money embeds conditional logic into cash movements, turning treasury processes from batch‑based to event‑driven. It leverages a mix of digital instruments—CBDCs, stablecoins, and tokenised deposits—to meet varied operational needs. AI‑guided payment libraries add automation while preserving governance, and quantum‑resistant...
European Wealth Management Must Master Five Execution Priorities
European #WealthManagement has a execution problem: The wealth industry has moved past the era of pilots and proof-of-concepts. Five execution priorities now define who wins and who falls behind: 1) Cloud resilience; 2) Asset #tokenization; 3) Direct indexing; 4) Advisor-ready wealth aggregation; 5) #AI at scale. 🆕#WealthTech...
UAE Banks Replace SMS OTPs with Biometrics, AI Security
UAE banks ditch SMS OTPs: biometrics, in-app approvals, and tighter AI governance become the new security baseline UAE banks must stop using SMS and email OTPs by end-March 2026 More UAE banks now tighten security with biometrics logins, AI fraud checks -...
Governance Is the Real Differentiator in AI-Led Lending: Markandey Upadhyay, Piramal Finance
AI governance is emerging as the key differentiator for Indian NBFCs, according to Piramal Finance’s Chief Data & Analytics Officer Markandey Upadhyay. Piramal has built an AI‑native operating model that embeds unified data, agentic decision systems, and risk‑specific scorecards across...
Counting Down to MPE2026: Join Us in Berlin
14 sleeps until #MPE2026 with my @chyppings hat on! Join me in Berlin: https://t.co/9CufQZHi6S Move payments forward, #MPE2026 is your place. @mpecosystem #Payments #Fintech #MPEBerlin #ILoveMPE https://t.co/RUvU7kFcyZ
Asset Managers Prioritize Customer Experience for 2026 Growth
🌏External asset managers target 2026 growth through new markets and partnerships: Improving customer experience and engagement ranked the top priority by 63% of the respondents. Survey by @BankofSG v/@finews_asia: https://t.co/hM7kRNOqAV #WealthManagement #WealthTech
Supporting Additional Payment Methods for Agentic Commerce
Stripe announced expanded support for its Shared Payment Tokens (SPTs) to include Mastercard Agent Pay, Visa Intelligent Commerce, and buy‑now‑pay‑later providers Affirm and Klarna. The new capabilities let AI‑driven agents initiate payments using network‑issued tokens and BNPL options without exposing...
Quavo Enhances Fraud Dispute Operations for Apple FCU
Quavo Fraud & Disputes has partnered with Apple Federal Credit Union to deploy its AI‑driven QFD platform, automating the entire fraud dispute lifecycle. The solution, trained on more than 20 million real‑world cases, promises faster claim resolutions, reduced manual workload, and...
Consark Unveils Its Noa Suite of Autonomous AI Agents for Finance Operations
Consark.ai announced the Noa suite, a collection of autonomous AI agents that continuously prepare and execute financial close, reconciliation, and variance analysis tasks. The agents ingest structured data, apply accounting routines, draft journal entries and explanations, and present outcomes for...
Bitget’s Layer-2 Network Morph Sharpens Payments Focus with USDC and CCTP Integration
Bitget’s Ethereum layer‑2 network Morph has partnered with Circle to issue USDC directly on the chain and integrate the Circle Cross‑Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP). The native USDC token becomes the canonical settlement asset, while CCTP’s burn‑and‑mint mechanism enables instant, verifiable...
NFC-Based IDV with Liveness Delivers Zero Fraud, Fewer Support Calls for BankID Norway
BankID Norway, serving 4.7 million users, processed nearly 901 million transactions in 2025. Since mid‑2024 it has layered NFC‑based biometric ID verification with iProov’s liveness check, completing one million activations that now represent about half of all new enrollments. The combined approach has...
Amazon Seller Wallet Launches in Europe
Amazon has launched its Seller Wallet in seven European marketplaces—Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands—extending the U.S.‑originated tool that consolidates earnings and payout scheduling. The service lets sellers hold balances in euros or U.S. dollars, view real‑time...
Cake Wallet Launches Self-Custodial Lightning
Cake Wallet introduced self‑custodial Lightning support, allowing users to send and receive Bitcoin instantly on mobile without managing channels, liquidity, or staying online. The integration leverages the Breez SDK and Spark, keeping funds under user control while offering privacy‑by‑default features....
Real-World Assets on Ethereum Top $15 Billion
Ethereum’s real‑world asset (RWA) ecosystem has surged to $15 billion, representing 58 % of the global RWA market. The growth is driven primarily by tokenized gold products such as Tether Gold (XAUT) and Paxos Gold (PAXG). XAUT now holds the largest market...
Santander and Mastercard Pilot Agentic Commerce
Santander and Mastercard completed Europe’s first fully agentic payment when an AI‑driven agent bought a T‑shirt in Spain, marking the inaugural regulated‑bank transaction of its kind. The pilot used Mastercard’s Agent Pay platform, demonstrating that AI agents can transact while...
Crypto Gives Everyone Global Access to Financial Tools
You have zero control over where you're born, yet billions of people in the world are shut out of accessing financial tools because of it. Finally, this is changing with crypto. Getting access to sound money, loans, stocks, etc from your...
Mercury's Paid Personal Account Signals Fintech’s Subscription Shift
Mercury charges for a bank account while others give it away. Immad Akhund explains why Mercury Personal targets the mass affluent—and what that says about fintech’s next fight. (0:00) Why Charge for a Bank Account Now? (0:23) Akhund: Who’s the “Mass Affluent”? (0:56)...
Eye on Crypto: N3XT Partners With YouHodler; Barclays Eyes a Blockchain
N3XT Inc., a blockchain‑powered narrow bank, has teamed up with Web3 lender YouHodler to connect its regulated USD Coin settlement infrastructure with the platform’s crypto‑collateral services. The collaboration will extend instant, programmable stablecoin payments to institutional clients across Europe and Argentina,...
I'm Opening a Private Deal Room. 50 Seats.
Lex is launching a private “Intelligence Circle” limited to 50 members, priced at $50,000 per year with no carry. The circle delivers 6‑12 deep investment memos, founder introductions and quarterly briefings focused on the “Machine Economy” where AI, crypto and...
Eltropy Launches Agentic AI Platform for Credit Unions
Eltropy unveiled the industry’s first Agentic AI platform designed specifically for credit unions, offering a secure environment where AI agents can be created, governed, integrated, and deployed. The solution ties together credit unions, FinTech developers, and core system providers through...
Getting Paid Faster in Construction
Payra, a Nashville‑based fintech startup, announced a $15 million growth investment from Edison Partners to accelerate its accounts‑receivable automation platform for construction and building‑materials suppliers. The solution plugs into virtually any legacy ERP, even systems up to 30 years old, allowing contractors...
Superform - User-Owned Neobank for Onchain Yield
Superform introduced its user‑owned neobank platform with the February 2026 token generation event (TGE) of the $UP token, a 1 billion‑supply asset that powers governance, validator rewards, and vault upkeep. The protocol’s two‑layer design separates Superform Core—leveraging ERC‑7579 smart accounts, hooks,...
The Evolution of Payment and the Flavour of the Decade
The article traces payment evolution and argues that account‑based payments have become Nigeria’s “flavour of the decade.” It shows how each historic method—from barter to paper money—addressed frictions, but cards introduced new complexities that were overcome by direct bank‑to‑bank transfers....
OneJourney Launches SwiftPay in Spain, Turning Hotel Supplier Payments Into a New Income Stream
OneJourney has launched its SwiftPay platform in Spain, marking the first European deployment of its Hospitality Payment Card (HPC) infrastructure. The digital‑wallet solution lets hotels and restaurants route supplier payments through SwiftPay, generating incremental net income without altering banking relationships...
Payment by ACH: A Secure, Cost-Effective Solution for Modern Electronic Transfers
Payment by ACH has solidified its role as a secure, low‑cost electronic transfer method in the United States. By moving funds in batch‑processed streams, ACH reduces fees and manual effort compared with checks, wires, or credit cards. The network supports...
Nexo Is Back in the US: What Changed After the 2023 Crypto Lending Crackdown?
Nexo has returned to the U.S. market after paying a $45 million settlement for alleged unregistered securities. The company abandoned its direct Earn Interest Product and now delivers crypto‑backed loans and yield services through licensed U.S. partners, notably a partnership with...
Bitcoin ETF Custody Concentrates Power in One Place, and Now a Single Operational Failure Causes Dangerous Ripples
Spot Bitcoin ETFs now hold over $54 billion, roughly 1.5 million BTC, turning the cryptocurrency into a familiar ticker. The ETF structure separates economic exposure from technical ownership, placing the underlying coins in a trust that relies on a custodian’s private‑key control....
Northern Ireland Accelerates as Global Fintech and RegTech Hub
Northern Ireland is emerging as a global fintech and RegTech hub, driven by a collaborative ecosystem linking industry, academia, and government. The region produces roughly 5,500 finance and technology graduates each year, with half of all higher‑education students studying STEM...
Altruist AI Tax Tool Sparks Custodian Stock Selloff
In this month's latest in #AdvisorTech news. @altruist's launch of a new AI-powered tax planning add-on to its Hazel AI notetaker, which triggered a big selloff in the stocks of established RIA custodians like @CharlesSchwab, @LPL, and @RaymondJames: https://t.co/GaoXPwW9F3 And other...
Polymarket Achieves New Trading Volume Milestones Amid Geopolitical Tensions
Polymarket, a decentralized prediction market, has pushed its Iran‑related contract past $529 million in trading volume. The surge places the bet alongside U.S. election markets in activity and highlights the platform’s crypto‑native liquidity. Rival Kalshi, operating under CFTC oversight, is expanding...
AI Agents Are Increasingly Being Leveraged by Crypto Crime Networks, Report Reveals
TRM Labs reports that autonomous AI agents are now handling cryptocurrency fund transfers without human oversight, dramatically accelerating money‑laundering operations. Illegal crypto flows reached $158 billion in 2025, while AI‑powered scams grew roughly 500 % year‑over‑year. These agents can split funds, select...
Google Docs New UCP Checkout Integration for Merchants
Heads-up for ecommerce sites -> Google Publishes Help Page for Universal Commerce Protocol and UCP-powered checkout feature on Google "Now, the new documentation clarifies how merchants can implement the native_commerce attribute to enable a Buy button that moves checkout directly onto...
Pix Set to Dominate Brazil E‑commerce, Eclipsing Credit Cards
🇧🇷Brazil’s Pix payment system now processes >224 million transactions daily: Long a stronghold of credit cards, #Brazil's e-commerce market saw #Pix account for 42% of online purchases in 2025, edging past #creditcards cards at 41%. Pix is poised to capture half...
DTCC to Launch Equities Data Portals
DTCC announced the upcoming launch of next‑generation equities data portals that will give clients a unified view of clearing, settlement and post‑trade processing information from its NSCC and DTC subsidiaries. The portals, built on Snowflake’s AI Data Cloud, feature intuitive...
On-Chain Equity Markets Are Clunky, Illiquid, and Unscalable
“I’m relatively bearish on the current state of spot equity markets on-chain… it’s some sort of SPV… and during off periods you can’t necessarily redeem. There are dislocations… it’s very clunky and it’s really hard to scale.” https://t.co/oUCYvsGuLW
Cliza Lab Launches – Join the Crew Chat Now
My Cliza lab is live. Join my crew in Crew Chat. https://t.co/9jrActgM9q Super new project from @ClizaSystems @basedfk
Payments, Fraud and AI: Why Retailers Can’t Afford to Ignore AML in 2026
In 2026 online retailers must broaden payment options—from e‑wallets and BNPL to crypto—while confronting a surge in money‑laundering and fraud. UK data shows £337 million in AML losses last year, with retail accounting for 49 % of fraud value. Criminals are leveraging...
Earn Fixed Income on Payroll with Rise
Excited for the @Rise_Pay team and especially excited for their customers. Now if you get payroll paid via Rise, you automatically start earning a fixed income % on that balance, putting your money to work for you better.
Tokenized Gold Offers Safe‑Haven Access During Market Closures
Tokenized gold provided access to a safe-haven asset when traditional exchanges were closed this weekend. My research paper updated today. @DukeFuqua @RA_Insights https://t.co/yA7PGaTTgf
Gemini Launches First College Quant Trading Competition
The next gen of quant traders are in college right now, and we want to give them a spotlight. That's why we just launched the first Gemini Quant Leaderboard Competition 🏆 100 university teams trading live on Gemini starting with $3,000...
Polygon Stablecoins Now Spendable at 150M+ Visa Merchants
Stablecoins on Polygon are now spendable at 150M+ merchants worldwide via @Visa courtesy : @oobit
Admin Bundles Crypto Charters with Tailored Regulation
A reminder that this admin is a package deal. Regulatory "tailoring," but also a bunch of new crypto, stablecoin, and ILC charters
Legacy Infrastructure Slows Decisions, Innovation, and Integration
Legacy infrastructure isn’t just a technology problem. It’s a speed problem. It slows decisioning, innovation, and the ability to connect modern solutions across the enterprise. https://t.co/f6tGEUmM7Q
Explainable AI Boosts Trust and Accountability
Trust in AI grows when systems are understandable. The AI Explainability paradigm provides a reference for linking models with accountability, regulation, and human judgment, helping organizations review automated decisions clearly and apply them responsibly Microblog @antgrasso https://t.co/2uitHnlEYc
Scale Agentic AI Fast or Lose Banking Edge
McKinsey says agentic AI could fundamentally reshape global banking. But it warns banks not to get trapped in endless pilots and proofs of concept. The competitive edge won’t go to those experimenting the longest, but to those scaling fastest. https://t.co/rrt7ROCCBl @DigWatchWorld @mckinsey