payments

The "China Business Journal" issued a statement saying: "Recently, our company discovered that illegal individuals are impersonating 'China Business Journal' and sending emails to some companies through non-official company email accounts, falsely claiming to have obtained significant negative information about the companies through so-called 'undercover investigations,' and threatening that if financial compensation (in Bitcoin) is not paid, the related 'undercover articles' will be published."The "China Business Journal" stated that all its news reports strictly comply with national laws and regulations, and interviews and communications are conducted through official channels. Such behavior is suspected of fraud and has been closely monitored, with evidence collected, and all rights to pursue legal responsibility are reserved. The statement reminds relevant companies to remain vigilant; if they receive such impersonated emails, they should not pay any financial compensation, and should immediately preserve all evidence and report to the local public security authorities.

According to The Block, MoonPay has launched the AI payment tool PayBox, allowing users to integrate it with ChatGPT or Claude, enabling the AI assistant to directly prepare payment transactions for booking flights, restaurants, or online shopping. Users can choose to require a passkey approval for each transaction or set a limit for the AI to complete transactions autonomously.PayBox integrates cryptocurrency wallets with payment cards, supporting cross-chain transactions based on the x402 smart entity payment standard. It initially supports Solana and EVM-compatible chains, including Ethereum, Hyperliquid, Tempo, Base, Robinhood Chain, Arbitrum, and Polygon, with plans to support more AI platforms and DeFi features, such as token exchanges and perpetual contract trading, within the next month.MoonPay states that wallet private keys are protected through multi-party computation (MPC) and trusted execution environments (TEE), ensuring that no single party (including MoonPay or the AI assistant itself) can independently access the complete private key or sign transactions; payment card information is processed and stored, allowing the AI entity to complete purchases without accessing the underlying card details; this system is built on the key management infrastructure acquired by MoonPay earlier this year from Sodot.

According to Cointelegraph, the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has released a policy research report titled "Stablecoin Sprint," gathering opinions from industry participants such as banks, payment companies, and stablecoin issuers.The report points out that stablecoins have recently shown significant advantages in the field of cross-border payments, especially providing substantial assistance to emerging markets with limited access to US dollar channels; however, in the domestic retail payment scenario in the UK, the existing payment systems are already relatively fast and inexpensive, leading to a lack of motivation for consumers to switch, and the adoption speed is expected to lag behind. The findings of the above research have been incorporated into the final regulatory rules released by the FCA on June 30, which require that stablecoins issued in the UK must be fully backed by reserve assets and redeemable at face value.

American fast food chain Steak n Shake tweeted that Bitcoin payments will be counted towards its Bitcoin strategic reserves."Compared to credit cards, the savings on processing fees allow us to reinvest the funds into improving the quality of our products and services. The loyalty of Bitcoin users is unparalleled."

Cryptocurrency payment infrastructure company Moonpay has supported payments from the U.S. card network Discover, allowing Discover Network cardholders to buy and sell cryptocurrencies through the Moonpay platform. Discover Network becomes the third major card brand supported by Moonpay in the U.S., alongside Visa and Mastercard. Moonpay stated that this support covers over 500 of its business partners, including wallets, exchanges, and applications. Moonpay also supports Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, Venmo, bank transfers, and regional payment channels. Founded in 2019, Moonpay serves over 30 million customers across 180 countries and holds a BitLicense from New York, a limited purpose trust license from New York, multi-state money transmission licenses in the U.S., and MiCA authorization in the European Union.

According to PR Newswire, stablecoin operator Notabene announced a strategic investment from Ripple, with the specific investment amount not disclosed. The two parties will collaborate on enterprise-level stablecoin payments, including the integration of Ripple's USD stablecoin RLUSD into Notabene Flow B2B stablecoin payment platform.They also plan to further expand the application of RLUSD in institutional payment networks, accelerating the adoption of compliant stablecoin infrastructure by banks, payment institutions, and fintech companies.

According to DigitalToday, the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) and the Ministry of Science and ICT have launched the "Deposit Token Payment Infrastructure Expansion Project," which will extend the results of South Korea's CBDC pilot "Project Hangang" into the private payment sector.The project is overseen by the Financial Settlement Agency, with participation from 9 banks, 8 payment gateways, and 2 large demand-side entities, with a total budget of 9.6 billion KRW, aimed at reducing payment fees for small and micro merchants. The project utilizes existing payment systems rather than building new infrastructure, allowing users to complete payments through bank deposit token wallets without requiring merchants to change terminals.The government also plans to apply deposit tokens to a pilot for official travel expenses and explore a treasury fund management model linked with dBrain. Approximately 3 billion KRW of the total project budget will be invested in the development, operation, and promotion of small and medium-sized enterprises, startups, and IT companies, while participating banks will separately advance about 4.5 billion KRW in related businesses.

According to Cointelegraph, Japanese logistics company AZ-COM Maruwa Holdings plans to use the JPYC stablecoin to make payments to approximately 2,300 business partners, potentially becoming the first large-scale enterprise in Japan to use the yen stablecoin JPYC. This stablecoin will be used to pay transportation contractors (including truck drivers) fees and compensation.Since JPYC does not charge transfer fees, using the stablecoin allows for faster and more frequent payments. AZ-COM Maruwa is also considering establishing a partnership with JPYC and plans to invest over 1 billion yen (approximately 6.2 million USD). AZ-COM Maruwa is a medium-sized Japanese logistics company, with major clients including Amazon Japan.

ESMA has included 14 new cryptocurrency companies, including Ripple Payments Europe, in its MiCA registration list, bringing the total number of licensed cryptocurrency service providers to 294.

On July 17, Interlace and BlockSec jointly held the summit "The Next Decade of Payments: Digital Currency, AI Agents, and the New Global Financial Order." The event brought together industry guests from AI, Web3, security, and payments to discuss the development trends of stablecoin payments, security compliance, AI agents, and global payment infrastructure.BlockSec co-founder Zhou Yajin and Interlace founder and CEO Michael Wu delivered keynote speeches on "Security and Compliance in Crypto Payments" and "Agentic Payment and the New Infrastructure of Global Finance," respectively, sharing their latest observations on the development trends of digital asset payments. As the scenarios for stablecoin payments continue to expand, the security compliance system and the construction of a new generation of payment infrastructure are becoming key supports for driving industry development. In the future, payment infrastructure will not only serve the function of capital flow but will also further evolve into a programmable, trusted, and verifiable value transfer system, providing underlying support for the connection between digital assets and real-world commerce.At the event, Interlace also officially released the white paper "The Value Transmission Layer of the AI Economy: From Concept to Implementation." The white paper was jointly initiated with ecosystem partners such as Bitget, BlockSec, Cobo, Conflux, Stable, Xagent, and Hetu, systematically defining the architecture, standards, and implementation paths of Agentic Payment infrastructure, providing a reference for value transfer in the era of the AI economy.

According to the Ethereum Magicians forum, developer Leo Glisic officially released Privacy Guardians 2 and announced the open-sourcing of its design. The project is positioned as a decentralized privacy payment system aimed at maximizing privacy protection for on-chain payments to combat issues such as freezing and monitoring present in centralized payment solutions (like OUSD launched by Corpo Consortium).The current V1 version includes multiple modules such as private payment mechanisms, insurance mechanisms, honeypot designs, exchange rate management, liquidity pools, and metadata processing. Glisic stated that this version is still in the early stages and has significant room for optimization in areas such as cryptographic security, incentive mechanism alignment, and capital efficiency, and he called on the community to participate in its improvement. The white paper has been simultaneously published on glisic.xyz.

Cryptocurrency payment company BitPay announced that it has obtained approval from the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets to acquire a cryptocurrency asset service provider license, allowing it to operate in EU member states under the regulatory framework for cryptocurrency markets. BitPay stated that this license will support the company's expansion of cryptocurrency payment and stablecoin payment services in Europe.According to relevant requirements, starting from July 1, all entities providing cryptocurrency-related services must be regulated. BitPay's European head, Jonathan Arler, stated that Europe is one of the most important regions for the future development of payments. Previously, Ripple announced that it had obtained a cryptocurrency asset service provider license issued by the Luxembourg financial regulator.

The global stablecoin payment infrastructure platform WasabiCard, in collaboration with WIDTH, held the CCO Leadership Edition compliance high-end exchange event in Hong Kong. WasabiCard CMO Jack Derong gathered with executives and experts from the fields of digital assets, payments, fintech, and regulatory compliance in Hong Kong to engage in in-depth discussions on topics such as the evolution of global regulations, the development of stablecoin payments, and corporate compliance practices.As Hong Kong's Web3 ecosystem continues to develop and the digital asset regulatory framework becomes increasingly refined, stablecoin payments are ushering in new development opportunities. With the continuous improvement of compliance requirements surrounding the HKMA stablecoin licensing system, Travel Rule, AML, KYT, and others, companies are increasingly focused on how to build payment infrastructure that combines global payment capabilities, risk management capabilities, and compliance capabilities to achieve the scalable implementation of stablecoin payments.WasabiCard believes that the future competition in stablecoin payments will hinge on whether companies possess the infrastructure capabilities to cover global compliance, risk management, and cross-border payment networks, rather than just payment efficiency.In the future, WasabiCard will continue to enhance global payment infrastructure based on the highest standards of compliance systems and risk management capabilities, helping clients confidently respond to the evolving global regulatory requirements and expand their international business more securely.

According to CoinPost, JCB has reached a partnership with a Circle affiliate, planning to test USDC payments at a store in Tokyo that attracts many foreign tourists within the year and evaluate the promotion to more franchise merchants.The pilot aims to reduce the currency exchange process for tourists and lower payment transaction fees. JCB has previously tested USDC and JPYC offline payments with Digital Garage, Resona Holdings, and others; Japan has also accelerated stablecoin merchant payment trials recently, including Lawson's plan to test JPYC in-store settlements in August.

Coinbase co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong posted on the X platform, publicly acknowledging that the creator coin previously promoted by the Base chain has not succeeded and that a strategic adjustment was completed earlier this year.Armstrong stated that Base's current core focus areas are trading, payments, and AI agents, which are interconnected—payments require foreign exchange trading, and AI agents will also involve a large number of trading and payment scenarios. Currently, most resources have been concentrated on the trading track.

According to The Block, the Benchmark Report released by Borderless.xyz for Q2 2026 shows that the delivery quotes for stablecoin cross-border payments in each month of the second quarter were all below the interbank foreign exchange rate midpoint. Data covering 108 countries and 260 payment corridors indicates that the median "parity spread" for the quarter was -3.2 basis points, further widening to -5.9 basis points in June, marking the deepest negative value of the year.The report also shows that the typical delivery cost for a $10,000 cross-border payment in the second quarter was approximately $27, and it has remained around this level for five consecutive months. If companies only connect to a single service provider in the long term, they will pay an average of about $2,330 more compared to the optimal quote for every $1 million payment scale, known as the "routing tax."Regionally, the African market showed the most significant fluctuations, with the price point spread widening by 166 basis points to 512.8 basis points; Latin America compressed to 89.0 basis points, while Asia remained relatively stable at 6.1 basis points. In specific corridors, Malawi experienced a one-day repricing of 5.8% on April 9, with the typical spread jumping from about 296 basis points to 1975 basis points.

Gate US officially launched the Gate Card, collaborating with Visa, Stripe, and its stablecoin infrastructure company Bridge to create a new generation of digital payment products for U.S. users. The card is issued by Lead Bank (a member bank of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, FDIC) under a Visa license, supporting eligible stablecoins (such as USDC) as a source of funds for consumption, and enabling payments through the Visa global merchant network.The Gate Card offers both virtual and physical card options, supporting Apple Pay, Google Wallet, NFC contactless payments, and ATM withdrawals. Stablecoin exchange and fund settlement are supported by Bridge's infrastructure, and eligible purchases can earn points, which can be redeemed for USDT within the Gate US App.Gate US stated that the launch of the Gate Card further promotes the application of stablecoins in real-world consumption scenarios. In the future, the company will continue to collaborate with partners such as Visa and Stripe to expand the application scenarios of digital assets in global payment and financial services.

According to official news, Swift announced that its blockchain-based ledger is ready, and 17 banks from six continents are preparing to pilot the use of tokenized deposits for 24/7 cross-border payment trials.The ledger provides a secure orchestration layer for participating banks, supporting them in issuing tokenized deposits on their own ledgers, enabling around-the-clock fund movement before final settlement through existing systems. Participating banks include ANZ, BNP Paribas, BNY Mellon, Citibank, DBS Bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank, FirstRand Bank, HSBC, Itaú Unibanco, Lloyds Bank, Mashreq Bank, MUFG, OCBC Bank, Standard Chartered, UBS Group, UOB, and Wells Fargo.

According to reports, the U.S. "Digital Asset Market Clarity Act" (CLARITY Act) is expected to enter the next stage of the legislative process on July 4, 2026. As the regulatory framework for digital assets continues to improve, the market's expectations for the development of stablecoin payments have become clearer, providing businesses with more explicit policy references for adopting stablecoins for global payments.In this regard, WasabiCard CEO Ray Yang stated, "For businesses, regulatory transparency is more important than regulatory leniency. Companies can adapt to strict compliance requirements, but it is challenging to formulate long-term development plans in an environment where regulations are unclear. The advancement of the CLARITY Act will create a clearer and more predictable development environment for stablecoin payments."As an enterprise-level stablecoin global payment infrastructure platform, WasabiCard continuously enhances its compliance capabilities and global payment network, establishing a risk management system covering KYB, KYC, KYT, and AML, and holds U.S. MSB and MTL licenses, providing businesses with one-stop payment solutions for global card issuance, stablecoin payments, global remittances, and fund distribution.Regarding the development prospects of stablecoin payments, Ray Yang believes, "As the global regulatory environment continues to improve, stablecoin payments will accelerate their integration into the global payment systems of enterprises. WasabiCard will continue to help businesses conduct global operations more robustly through compliant and reliable payment infrastructure."