Congress Aims to Make Digital Dollars Easier to Use than Bitcoin Solidifying the ‘Digital Gold’ Narrative
Congress is moving ahead with the GENIUS Act, establishing a federal framework for dollar‑backed stablecoins that includes reserve backing, consumer protection, and cross‑border efficiency. The White House and Treasury have labeled these stablecoins as the next wave of payment innovation and a tool to boost demand for U.S. Treasuries, while the OCC’s proposed rule spells out issuance, redemption and supervision requirements. Simultaneously, tax legislation such as the PARITY Act draft offers streamlined treatment for regulated stablecoins but extends wash‑sale rules to broader crypto assets. The policy split positions stablecoins as the preferred on‑chain payment rail, relegating Bitcoin to a scarcity‑based, reserve‑style asset.
BetMGM Is the Latest Gambling Platform to Move Away From Credit Cards
BetMGM announced it will no longer accept credit‑card payments for its online sportsbook, following a Pennsylvania regulator‑imposed settlement over fraud and inadequate identity verification. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board fined the operator $100,000 after uncovering schemes where fraudsters opened hundreds...
Sumsub and Approvely Unite on Identity and Payments
Sumsub, a global verification and anti‑fraud platform, has partnered with Approvely to embed its KYC and AML screening directly into Approvely’s payments and risk‑management stack. The integration gives gaming merchants a single, compliant path from identity verification to transaction processing...
Mastercard's Pivot: A Bullish Strategic Bet on AI and Data
Mastercard's shares have fallen over 15% year‑to‑date as the company weighs selling its real‑time payments unit, acquired for $3.2 billion in 2019. Meanwhile, its high‑margin Value‑Added Services division posted 22% currency‑neutral revenue growth in Q4, far outpacing the 9% rise in...
Wirex Teams With Crossmint to Enable Easier Spending Via Stablecoins
Wirex has deepened its partnership with Crossmint to fuse its card‑issuance platform with Crossmint’s smart‑wallet and stablecoin‑orchestration layer. The integration lets fintechs and consumers spend stablecoins directly from digital wallets without juggling separate wallet and card providers. Crossmint will manage...
U.S. Bank Names Next COO
Toby Clements will assume the role of chief operations officer at U.S. Bank effective April 13, succeeding Souheil Badran, who is retiring after a three‑year tenure. Clements, a 2017 hire, has overseen operations in Europe, cards, merchant payments and client services,...
Ani Tech Launches Free AI Cash Flow App for Advisors
Ani Tech has introduced a free AI‑driven cash‑flow modelling app for UK financial advisers, allowing them to build and compare complex scenarios using natural‑language commands. The tool, powered by an agentic AI called ‘Flo’, automates data entry and provides real‑time...
Zeidler Advises on UCITS Eligibility for Structured Notes
Zeidler Group has highlighted the regulatory hurdles UCITS funds face when seeking exposure to structured debt securities, noting that eligibility must align with Article 50(1) of the UCITS Directive and the Eligible Assets Directive. The firm recently guided a Luxembourg‑based...
Zelle Renews Its Outreach to Minority Deposit Institutions
Zelle is renewing its outreach to minority deposit institutions by expanding partnerships with Velera and Jack Henry, making integration easier for community banks and credit unions. A survey of 250 banking executives shows 99% feel pressure to move money faster,...
Visa’s Stablecoin Ally Falls for Mastercard
London‑based stablecoin infrastructure firm BVNK, which earlier announced a strategic investment and partnership with Visa to power Visa Direct stablecoin pilots, is being acquired by Mastercard for approximately $1.8 billion. The deal, announced on March 17, marks Mastercard’s biggest bet on on‑chain...
EToro Announces Upcoming Launch of eToro App Store
eToro announced the forthcoming eToro App Store, a marketplace that brings together investors, AI‑builders, and developers to share and install custom investing tools. The store will feature live apps from select eToro Pro investors and allow users to connect instantly...
StoneX, Pathfinder Team up to Deliver Institutional-Grade Cross-Border Payment Capabilities for Financial Institutions
StoneX Group announced a partnership with The Pathfinder Group to embed its institutional‑grade payment infrastructure into Pathfinder’s WITS™ platform. The integration enables financial institutions, including community banks and credit unions, to access StoneX’s global payments network without intermediary banks, delivering...
Glia Wins Excellence Award for Safer AI in Banking
Glia, the AI‑powered customer‑service platform for banks, won the 2026 Artificial Intelligence Excellence Award in the Banking and Financial Services category. The company’s solution automates up to 80 % of routine interactions while embedding safeguards against hallucinations and prompt‑injection attacks. Industry...
Nium Launches Dual-Network Stablecoin Card Issuance Platform
Nium has unveiled a dual‑network stablecoin card issuance platform that lets enterprises issue Visa and Mastercard cards through a single API. The service converts stablecoin balances to fiat at the point of sale, extending digital currency spend to hundreds of...
The State Of Stablecoin In Japan
Japan’s first regulated yen‑pegged stablecoin, JPYC, launched in October 2025 after the 2023 revision of the Payment Services Act. Operating under a Type II funds‑transfer license, JPYC can issue and redeem up to ¥1 million (≈US$6,700) per user daily and targets roughly ¥10 trillion...
Progress Ochuko Eyaadah Is Building the Blockchain Infrastructure Africa’s Payments Ecosystem Deserves and Teaching Women to Do the Same
Progress Ochuko Eyaadah, a senior blockchain engineer at Toyow and developer‑relations mentor at Women in DeFi, is designing Africa‑focused blockchain frameworks that tokenise real‑world assets and link fiat with crypto. Her work on platforms like Toyow and Sytemap creates transparent,...
The Evolution of B2B Payments in Europe: Interview with Rene Stynen, SVP of Business Development, EMEA at Boost Payment Solutions
Boost Payment Solutions’ SVP for EMEA, Rene Stynen, says Europe’s B2B payments are moving beyond SEPA’s simple money‑movement to focus on automation, reconciliation and integrated procurement workflows. Finance leaders are balancing working‑capital pressures with supplier liquidity needs, turning to commercial‑card...
PayPal Doesn’t Have a Growth Problem – It Has a Positioning Problem
PayPal’s Q4 2025 results show modest top‑line growth but a stalled premium checkout segment. Net revenue rose 4% to $8.7 billion, while total payment volume jumped 9% to $475.1 billion. Branded checkout – the high‑margin engine – grew only 1% year‑over‑year, far below...
Plaid CFO Says Fintech Company Has Earned the Right to ‘Pick Our Time’ for IPO
Plaid’s CFO Seun Sodipo says the fintech firm can afford to wait for the optimal moment to go public after posting a 40% jump in annual recurring revenue to over $500 million and delivering a full‑year adjusted EBITDA profit. The company...
Credit Card Annual Fees Are Soaring Past $800. Here’s Why People Keep Paying Them—Even as Perks Are Harder to Come...
Premium credit cards are now charging annual fees that top $800, with Robinhood, JPMorgan Chase, American Express, and Citi all offering high‑fee products packed with travel credits, dining allowances and exclusive lounge access. Issuers argue that stacked monthly credits and...
Pay10 Rolls Out Global Payments Platform with New Campaign
Pay10 has secured RBI authorization under the Payment Aggregator‑Cross Border framework and launched Pay10 World, a cross‑border payments platform for Indian businesses. The service lets firms accept multiple foreign currencies and settle in INR while automating FIRA compliance. A concurrent "No...
Buy, License, or Build? Why Most Firms Struggle to Enter the UAE
Global firms are increasingly targeting the UAE as a financial and technology hub, but many stumble because they treat entry options—buy, license, or build—as interchangeable. The article argues that aligning the chosen route with the UAE's fragmented regulatory landscape (DIFC,...
Transforming the Payment Experience: How Consumers Are Steering Payment Innovation
The Discover Network’s Payments State of the Union survey shows that 91% of U.S. shoppers have adopted digital payments, with 61% using a digital wallet in the past 90 days and mobile‑wallet usage climbing to 69% since 2021. Consumers are...
FASTag Annual Pass Price to Go up From 1 April: Check NHAI's New Fees and Benefits
India’s National Highways Authority (NHAI) will raise the FASTag annual pass fee from ₹3,000 (≈ $36) to ₹3,075 (≈ $37) starting 1 April 2026. The increase of ₹75 applies to private non‑commercial vehicles equipped with a valid FASTag and covers access to roughly...
ISDA Selects Gentek AI to Develop DRR Traceability Tool
ISDA has appointed Gentek AI to build a traceability tool for its Digital Regulatory Reporting (DRR) platform, leveraging artificial intelligence to map coding decisions back to regulatory text. The solution will extract insights from ISDA working‑group minutes, creating a full...
Secured Credit’s Next Turn: Unlocking Growth With Dynamic Funding
Secured credit is being reinvented as a growth engine for banks and fintechs through dynamic funding models that lock only the amount actually spent. Traditional secured cards required double funding and separate collateral accounts, creating liquidity friction for underserved consumers....
Gen Z Digital Wallet Use Climbs 21% as Budgets Tighten
A PYMNTS Intelligence survey of 2,108 U.S. adults shows digital wallet usage soaring, especially among Gen Z, where adoption for retail purchases more than doubled to 36%—a 21% increase since March 2024. Consumers experiencing high financial stress are twice as likely...
Why Payroll Is Becoming the Latest Loyalty Product
Instant payouts are evolving from a convenience into core payroll for gig‑economy workers, with the PYMNTS Intelligence report showing that 68% of users who try instant disbursements become regular users. The study highlights that digital wallets deliver the highest stickiness...
CFOs Are Using Stablecoins More Like ACH Than Digital Assets
The latest PYMNTS Intelligence report finds that 88% of firms receiving stablecoins immediately convert them into U.S. dollars, treating the tokens as a fast payment rail rather than a store of value. CFOs are leveraging stablecoins to accelerate cross‑border and...
Tokenization Is Nothing New
The article traces tokenization back to 9,000 BCE clay bullae, the first structured data objects used to record ownership of grain, livestock and other goods. It argues that today’s digital assets and programmable money are not new financial inventions but extensions...
Cedar Hill Capital Leads $1.5 Mn Round in Fraud Intelligence Startup Sign3
Early‑stage VC Cedar Hill Capital led a $1.5 million financing round for Gurugram‑based fraud‑intelligence startup Sign3. The round also included existing backer Smile Group and angels such as Rajesh Sawhney, Dinesh Agarwal, Anup Agarwal and Vinay Bagri. Sign3’s AI‑native platform, used by...
Standard Bank Moved R164-Trillion in Payments in 2025
Standard Bank processed more than R164 trillion (about $9 trillion) in payments during 2025, confirming its status as Africa’s largest transactional franchise. The bank handled 2.3 billion transactions, a 9% increase, driven by electronic channels, merchant acquiring, and rapid adoption of instant and...
UK’s Digital Bank Monzo Reports 15M+ Customers
Monzo announced it has surpassed 15 million customers, marking a major milestone for the UK challenger bank. The growth includes more than one million accounts held by users under 16, reflecting its strong youth‑focused offering. Over half a million customers are...
DeFi Lender Aave Launches on OKX’s Ethereum L2, X Layer
Aave, the leading decentralized lending protocol with $23.5 billion locked, has launched on OKX’s X Layer, an Ethereum layer‑2 solution. X Layer, which holds roughly $25 million in TVL, now enables users to lend, borrow and earn yield without cross‑chain bridges. The integration follows...
Beyond the QR Code: Why Infrastructure Is the Real Key to Digital Equity
The article argues that true digital equity in Asia hinges on robust payment infrastructure, not merely QR‑code adoption. It cites a 1.8% transaction‑failure rate that can cripple cash flow for street vendors and small merchants. By highlighting the disparity between...
CFOs Target Idle Cash as Treasury Shifts to Real-Time Control
Corporate treasuries are moving from batch‑based cash handling to real‑time liquidity management as CFOs target idle cash. While 71% of finance leaders report faster Time to Cash cycles, nearly 30% see no improvement, highlighting a growing divide. Visibility gaps persist...
SadaPay Restored After AWS Bahrain Outage
SadaPay’s mobile app was completely offline on March 25 after a drone strike damaged the Amazon Web Services data centre in Bahrain, a critical hub for the fintech’s infrastructure. The outage halted the app for all users, though debit‑card, ATM and...
Custodia Bank Clarifies Fed Master Account Listing as Hazel Network Partnership Advances
Custodia Bank clarified that its recent appearance in the Federal Reserve’s master‑account database reflects a partnership entry, not a fresh application for direct Fed access. The listing ties to its collaboration with Texas‑based banks in the Hazel Network, which offers...
Stablecoin Payments Go 'Invisible' In Southeast Asia as Crypto Card Business Surges
Singapore‑based StraitsX saw its stablecoin‑backed card program explode, with transaction volume increasing 40‑fold and card issuances rising 83‑fold between Q4 2024 and Q4 2025. The surge mirrors a broader crypto‑card boom, where global monthly volumes jumped from about $100 million in early 2023 to...
Walmart-Backed OnePay Adds Tokens in Push to Serve ‘New to Crypto’ Customers
OnePay, the Walmart‑majority‑owned fintech, has expanded its crypto offering by adding more than a dozen tokens, including SUI, Polygon, Arbitrum, Solana, Cardano, Bitcoin Cash and PAX Gold. Since its January launch with Bitcoin and Ethereum, the platform is targeting customers...
TxFlow L1 Mainnet Launch Marks a New Phase for Multi-Application On-Chain Finance
TxFlow has launched its own Layer 1 blockchain, TxFlow L1, delivering a high‑performance infrastructure capable of processing over 250,000 transactions per second. The network introduces TIP Liquidity Standards that standardize spot, derivatives, and prediction‑market modules, enabling developers to build composable financial Channels....
Cashflows Partners with BDIA to Overhaul Legacy Payments in the UK Dental Sector
Cashflows, a UK‑based fintech payment platform, has announced a strategic partnership with the British Dental Industry Association (BDIA) to replace outdated merchant services used by dental practices. The collaboration delivers a purpose‑built payment suite that addresses complex billing, patient‑prefixed payment...
GlobalFi International Unveils Revolutionary AI Blockchain and Decentralized Exchange
GlobalFi International unveiled an AI‑powered blockchain and a new decentralized exchange called LiquidX. The AI blockchain uses machine‑learning to route transactions, boost security and provide real‑time portfolio insights, while LiquidX aggregates liquidity, offers low‑fee layer‑2 scaling and cross‑chain trading. Together,...
Unlocking Instant Opportunities and Life Upgrades with ABB
ABB promotes a fully digital, instant‑credit platform that removes paperwork and waiting rooms, delivering funds in minutes. The service is designed for consumers and entrepreneurs who need rapid financing for purchases, emergencies, or business expansion. By leveraging a seamless online...
Affirm: A Solid Footing or More Volatility Ahead?
Affirm Holdings posted a strong Q2, with gross merchandise volume climbing 36% to $13.8 billion and revenue rising 30% to $1.12 billion, while net income surged 61% to $130 million. The company expanded its merchant network to 478,000 partners and grew its active...
KPPU Slaps $44m Fine on P2P Lenders over Cartel Scheme
Indonesia's Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) has fined 97 peer‑to‑peer fintech lenders a combined Rp 755 billion (approximately US $44.6 million) for operating an interest‑rate cartel. The firms were found to have colluded on rate caps set well above market equilibrium, violating Article 5 of...
Singapore’s Tazapay Secures $36m Series B to Expand Cross-Border Payment Rails
Singapore fintech Tazapay closed a $36 million Series B extension led by Circle Ventures, bringing its total Series B to $36 million. The round added new backers Coinbase Ventures, CMT Digital and others, while existing investors like Ripple also participated. Funds will fuel licensing...
The Crypto Winners From AI Are Not Be AI Coins at All as Agents Start Spending Autonomously
AI agents are evolving from simple chatbots to autonomous software that can research, purchase, and execute tasks online. This shift creates a demand for a financial system that can handle machine‑to‑machine payments, a niche where crypto—particularly stablecoins, programmable wallets, and...
Tokenized Platform xStocks Brings New Private Shares Fund On-Chain
Tokenized equities platform xStocks is launching a single token, VCXx, that represents the newly public Fundrise Innovation Fund, bringing late‑stage private‑market exposure onto its blockchain marketplace. The fund debuted on the NYSE at $31 per share, spiked to $575, then...
Kalshi Secures License to Offer Margin Trading to Institutional Investors
Kalshi’s affiliate Kinetic Markets received clearance to provide margin trading for professional clients, allowing positions with reduced upfront capital. The feature targets institutional investors and may launch first on new products rather than core event contracts. While the margin capability...