Topic
Use of blockchain tokens pegged to fiat currencies, mainly the US dollar, to transfer and settle money faster and cheaper than bank rails.
Coinbase and Marqeta announced on October 16 an expanded deal for stablecoin-backed enterprise cards, with Coinbase handling custody and Base settlement. Merchants see a normal card transaction, so the stablecoin work falls to the two providers.
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Tether and CMCC Global's Titan Fund have invested in Saber Money, a stablecoin payments firm that says volume grew more than sixfold in nine months. The amount and valuation were not disclosed, so the size of Tether's commitment is unknown.
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FinteqHub says the share of companies settling directly in crypto fell from 62% to 39% between the first halves of 2025 and 2026. Its definition of direct excludes conversion and routing, so part of the drop may be payments moving into routed stablecoin settlement.
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Mastercard and BVNK launched a platform on Oct. 15 that lets stablecoin balances be spent through cards issued in more than 130 countries. The reach figures are large, and only transaction volume will show whether the BVNK price made sense.
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Stripe is extending its stablecoin card infrastructure to more fiat currencies and stablecoins, with Plasma as design partner, in more than 30 countries. Stripe's release says a cardholder holding euros can spend in euros without converting through dollars first.
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Polygon Labs completed its Coinme acquisition, gaining 37 state money transmitter licenses and 11 exemptions that cover 48 states. Polygon says the deal brings regulated U.S. money movement into its payments stack, though Coinme arrives with a California enforcement record.
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Noah says it won a MiCA crypto-asset licence in about two months and a PSD2 payment licence in about one, covering all 27 EU states. The timings are the company's own and come from one licensee, so they describe Noah's experience and leave the sector's pace untested.
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Samsung plans USDC transfers in Wallet for late October on 82 million compatible US Galaxy devices, a count its own footnote limits to compatible devices. Funding, fees and the identity screen decide how many phones ever send a dollar.
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Rain announced embedded stablecoin wallets for partner apps on Oct. 13, with non-custodial wallets live and earning on balances due by year-end. Partners can keep a third-party wallet, so whether Rain's becomes the core account is for each of them to decide.
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KB Kookmin Card and SBI Holdings signed an MOU with two security firms to test AI-agent identity checks and study stablecoin spending by Japanese tourists. The agent tests come with a sequence and a product; the stablecoin side is a study list.
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dtcpay has closed a $25m Series A with Japan's SBI Group joining as a strategic investor, and the money buys a minority position in a company whose MAS payment licence equity cannot transfer. So far the Japan corridor is an intention.
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Crypto card spending rose 33% to $4.31 billion in the third quarter, Cryptopolitan reported. The outlet credits USDC with the growth, though its own September figures suggest the two big stablecoins paid for under half of that spending.
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Merchants, issuers and payment firms among 75 RBA submitters said chargeback liability is unclear when an AI agent exceeds its authority. Amazon's AgentCore Payments already lets agents pay in stablecoins, so for now merchants and networks are left to price the risk of a disputed order.
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SAP unveiled Joule Assistants for five business areas at Connect, with most due via early adopter and GA releases by the first quarter of 2027. Controllers get a pilot calendar, while SAP Pay already moves money in the US and UK.
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Gwangju Bank and Toss have completed a trial letting customers pay merchants in stablecoins by scanning a QR code, Yonhap reported. Lawmakers review digital-asset legislation in November, and the Korean bank and fintech stablecoin work on record so far consists of tests and study agreements.
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OpenPayd, a London payments firm with $73 million of revenue, expects its Titan merger to close by year-end and fund a US launch by April 2027. With 43 state licenses already bought, the listing mainly supplies cash and shares for the acquisitions its CEO says come next.
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Visa says stablecoin-linked card volume grew nearly 200% in a year across more than 160 programs. Its one dollar figure, a $20 billion settlement run rate, counts money moving between Visa and participating institutions, so the size of card spending is still unknown.
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Binance Pay opened USDT spending at PayPay merchants across Japan to about 48 million eligible overseas users, with TBCASoft's HIVEX settling stores in yen. Shops see an ordinary PayPay sale, so volume depends on how many of those users actually travel to Japan.
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HIFI, Atum and MeshWallet raised $60.5 million for stablecoin payments in the week to Sep. 25, most of crypto's disclosed private funding. The week's one direct bet on a token price came from Forward Industries selling $25 million of stock to buy more Solana.
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HIFI raised a $37 million Series A led by Left Lane Capital for rails that settle the dollar side of tokenized trades around the clock. The settlement work is already running on those rails, but HIFI's own volume figures look more like payouts than settlement.
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