magazine

Latest Issue

Digital Currency Convergence

Subscribe now

Daily Insights

Global payments news direct to your inbox

Sign up free

DAILY NEWS

ALL NEWS

Visa brings stablecoin settlement into the US Mainstream

17 Dec 25 @ 13:28

Visa has taken a decisive step towards embedding stablecoins into core financial infrastructure, launching US-based settlement in Circle’s USDC for participating issuers and acquirers. While consumer cardholders will notice no... read more

Why B2B payments are becoming the next acquirer battleground

17 Dec 25 @ 11:55

Mastercard is urging acquirers to rethink long-held assumptions about B2B payments and commercial card acceptance, arguing that some of the most attractive margins in payments are now emerging far from... read more

PayPal’s US banking ambition signals a strategic shift

17 Dec 25 @ 11:40

PayPal’s decision to apply for a US banking licence marks a pivotal moment in the gradual convergence between big fintech and regulated banking. By submitting applications to the Utah Department... read more

Crypto National Trust Banks move into the federal mainstream

16 Dec 25 @ 16:47

A quiet but consequential shift is under way in US financial regulation. Five prominent digital asset firms — Circle, Ripple, Fidelity Digital Assets, BitGo and Paxos — have secured conditional... read more

Italy’s card business: an EU leader in volume – and growth

16 Dec 25 @ 14:29

As the European Union (EU)’s third largest economy and a world top ten economic force, Italy has experienced rapid modernisation of its payment systems in recent years, in parallel with... read more

A ‘Stablecoin Supercycle’ and the coming re-architecture of banking

16 Dec 25 @ 13:24

For centuries, money has been reassuringly simple. Central banks issued currency, commercial banks intermediated deposits and credit, and payments followed well-worn rails. That clarity is now dissolving. Stablecoins — blockchain-based... read more

Why do consumers prioritise value above all else at online casinos?

16 Dec 25 @ 10:56

Everyone loves a good bargain. It’s a rare delight to feel like you’ve beaten the odds and scored yourself a great deal, whether that’s buying a new car, making a... read more

AI as buyer: From assisted search to autonomous spend

15 Dec 25 @ 16:21

The first trend in Global Payments’ 2026 Commerce and Payment Trends Report marks a decisive shift in how transactions are initiated and executed: AI is evolving from a passive recommendation... read more

Agentic AI and the rewiring of financial services power

12 Dec 25 @ 16:15

Agentic AI represents a decisive break from the assistive technologies that have defined the past decade of fintech innovation. These systems do not merely recommend or optimise; they evaluate options,... read more

Payment is everywhere: The quiet reinvention of Point of Sale

12 Dec 25 @ 16:05

For decades, the Point of Sale was a fixed destination: a counter, a terminal, a moment at the end of the customer journey. That mental model is now obsolete. As... read more

Mobile payments are on the rise among UK sports bettors

12 Dec 25 @ 16:01

Mobile payments continue to reshape how consumers interact with digital services, and nowhere is this shift more evident than in the UK’s burgeoning sports betting market. As in-play wagering grows... read more

The dark web’s discount identity market for bank biometrics

11 Dec 25 @ 15:58

The commodification of identity on the dark web is reshaping the economics of financial crime — and exposing the limits of biometric verification. New analysis from AMLTRIX, an open-source anti-money... read more

Agentic commerce to transform shopping as consumer trust rises

11 Dec 25 @ 11:40

Christmas 2025 may be remembered as the moment agentic commerce truly entered the mainstream, with new research from Checkout.com signalling a decisive shift toward agentic AI. Nearly half of consumers... read more

Mollie closes in on GoCardless as European payments consolidation accelerates

11 Dec 25 @ 11:08

Dutch payments processor Mollie is on the brink of acquiring UK fintech GoCardless in what would be one of Europe’s most consequential private-market payments deals this year. According to people... read more

A step closer to reality: An update on the UK’s National Payment Vision

10 Dec 25 @ 17:21

On 07 November 2025, the Payments Vision Delivery Committee (PVDC) published its “Strategy for Future Retail Payments Infrastructure.” As a quick refresher, the PVDC was set up in November 2024 to... read more

The global currency contest: Why stablecoins deserve closer scrutiny

10 Dec 25 @ 11:06

Stablecoins have long been marketed as the digital bridge between volatile crypto assets and the perceived solidity of fiat money. Yet their accelerating adoption — particularly in the US —... read more

Are global markets accelerating real-time payment adoption too rapidly?

10 Dec 25 @ 11:00

The pressure on payment service providers to find ways of dealing with the burgeoning demand of real-time payment settlement services has been tremendous, with real-time transaction volumes rising 42.2% across... read more

Tap-to-Pay: Can smartphones fully replace traditional POS in 2026?

10 Dec 25 @ 10:47

Think about your smartphone. Now imagine it’s not just a digital wallet, but the entire checkout counter. No big machines to buy, no setup headaches. Just tap your phone, pay,... read more

Trending

Mastercard and BVNK Launch Platform Linking Fiat and Stablecoin Payments

20 Oct 26 @ 09:06

Mastercard has launched a new platform with BVNK that brings fiat currencies and stablecoins together through a single API, marking the first major integration ... more

Visa Builds Agentic Commerce Infrastructure as Credentials Reach 5.2 Billion

29 Oct 26 @ 19:39

Visa is expanding its payments infrastructure around agentic commerce, stablecoins and tokenisation as its global credential base reaches 5.2 billion and ... more

Starling Builds UK-Sovereign AI Model With Nvidia and Civo

15 Oct 26 @ 19:41

Starling is developing a transactional foundation model with Nvidia that will be trained and hosted entirely within a UK sovereign cloud, as the digital bank lo... more