News - page 11

Agentic Payments Protocol Battle Intensifies: Visa, Mastercard, x402, UnionPay Fight for AI Money Standards
Fintech & Ecommerce

Agentic Payments Protocol Battle Intensifies: Visa, Mastercard, x402, UnionPay Fight for AI Money Standards

The race to build the payment infrastructure of the AI-agent economy is entering a new phase, with global payment networks and technology companies competing to define how machines will identify, authorize and execute transactions.

HashKey Exchange Launches Unified Crypto Trading App Across Asia and Global Markets
Blockchain & Crypto

HashKey Exchange Launches Unified Crypto Trading App Across Asia and Global Markets

HashKey Holdings Limited, an Asian digital asset group, has launched a new flagship crypto trading application that unifies its previously separate HashKey Exchange and HashKey Global platforms into a single user portal.

GENIUS Act Stablecoin Rules Miss Deadline, Leaving Issuers Racing Against the Compliance Clock
Blockchain & Crypto

GENIUS Act Stablecoin Rules Miss Deadline, Leaving Issuers Racing Against the Compliance Clock

The initial significant deadline of the GENIUS Act in the USA has been crossed without the authorities issuing the full rulebook that the stablecoin industry anticipated. In spite of the fact that the law is taking effect much later than the July 18 deadline, the federal authorities have not released the bundle of regulations that […]

FOMC July 2026: A “No Dot Plot” Decision With Outsized Stakes for Payments
Finance & Economics

FOMC July 2026: A “No Dot Plot” Decision With Outsized Stakes for Payments

The Federal Open Market Committee began its two-day meeting on July 28. The rate decision lands Wednesday, July 29, at 2:00 p.m. ET, followed by Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s press conference at 2:30 p.m.

Amazon, OpenAI, and Natural Chase Different Cuts of Agentic Checkout
Fintech & Ecommerce

Amazon, OpenAI, and Natural Chase Different Cuts of Agentic Checkout

Autonomous checkout has moved from demo to disputed business model within a single year. Amazon’s Rufus-powered “Buy for Me” now completes purchases on external retailer sites on a shopper’s behalf. OpenAI tried a native 4% checkout fee inside ChatGPT and pulled it after six months. A new startup, Natural, has raised $30 million to build […]

What Investors Need to Know Before the Fed Meeting: Bitcoin’s Cold Signal Meets Warsh’s First Test
Blockchain & Crypto

What Investors Need to Know Before the Fed Meeting: Bitcoin’s Cold Signal Meets Warsh’s First Test

Eight times a year, a room of Fed officials decides one number that quietly shapes what the world pays to borrow money — the federal funds rate. It’s the setting that eventually shows up in your mortgage quote, your credit card APR, and the price of just about every asset investors trade. The decision belongs […]

Bitcoin Today: CLARITY Act Momentum Meets $1B ETF Inflows and US-Iran Risk
Blockchain & Crypto

Bitcoin Today: CLARITY Act Momentum Meets $1B ETF Inflows and US-Iran Risk

Bitcoin investors are weighing two opposing signals this week. On one side, nearly $1 billion in net U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF inflows landed over roughly six trading sessions, and the CLARITY Act (the U.S. bill meant to define a regulatory structure for digital asset markets) has regained momentum in the Senate. On the other side, […]

World AI Show Concludes Landmark Indonesia Edition, Announces Next Chapter in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia this September
Science & Technology

World AI Show Concludes Landmark Indonesia Edition, Announces Next Chapter in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia this September

World AI Show Indonesia wraps up with high-stakes ministerial dialogues, enterprise blueprints, and precision networking as Trescon names Kuala Lumpur the next stop for its global series, scheduled for 9–10 September 2026.

Upstart OCC Approval May Set the Governance Blueprint for AI-Native Banks
Fintech & Ecommerce

Upstart OCC Approval May Set the Governance Blueprint for AI-Native Banks

Upstart Holdings has reached a milestone that could influence how future AI-driven financial institutions are regulated. The company has received conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish Upstart Bank, N.A., entity with potential to become the first nationally chartered bank built from the ground up with AI-powered underwriting. 

Apple and Amazon Push Embedded Finance Further Into the Checkout Experience
Fintech & Ecommerce

Apple and Amazon Push Embedded Finance Further Into the Checkout Experience

Apple and Amazon have put embedded finance back in the spotlight this week. While Apple is preparing to launch a new financing program for its devices, Amazon Business is renewing attention around its existing partnership with Affirm. Such a synchronization among Big Tech players underscore the growing role of installment payments as an integrated part […]

CEE Anti-Fraud and Risk & Compliance Forums 2026 to Bring Regional Leaders Together in Vilnius
Fintech & Ecommerce

CEE Anti-Fraud and Risk & Compliance Forums 2026 to Bring Regional Leaders Together in Vilnius

The CEE Anti-Fraud Forum and Risk & Compliance Forum 2026 will return to Vilnius, Lithuania, on October 6-7, bringing together hundreds of professionals from across Central and Eastern Europe to discuss the latest developments in fraud prevention, governance, risk management and regulatory compliance.

PSE Consulting: 89% Still Trust Seller Brand Over AI Picks
Fintech & Ecommerce

PSE Consulting: 89% Still Trust Seller Brand Over AI Picks

Merchants’ fear of AI shopping agents is just a ‘hallucination’, four-wave international study finds. Based on responses from 4,250 consumers across the UK, US, France and Germany, the research explores the emerging ‘shortlist economy’ and how AI is reshaping the path to purchase.

Native Acquires Frontline Research Group to Expand AI-Powered Retail Intelligence Across Africa
Fintech & Ecommerce

Native Acquires Frontline Research Group to Expand AI-Powered Retail Intelligence Across Africa

Native, a company developing artificial intelligence (AI) tools for offline retail operations, has agreed to acquire Frontline Research Group, an African market intelligence provider, to strengthen its data capabilities across the continent’s traditional trade sector.

Wise’s US Banking Ambitions Hit a Wall as Shifting Payment-Access Rules Sink Trust Bank Bid
Fintech & Ecommerce

Wise’s US Banking Ambitions Hit a Wall as Shifting Payment-Access Rules Sink Trust Bank Bid

Wise, the London-founded cross-border payments giant, saw its US banking ambitions stall on July 24 after the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) rejected its application for a national trust bank charter — a decision the company says was driven as much by a changing regulatory landscape as by its own compliance history.

Ethiopia Takes Centre Stage as the 29th Connected Banking Summit & Innovation & Excellence Awards 2026 Opens in Addis Ababa
Fintech & Ecommerce

Ethiopia Takes Centre Stage as the 29th Connected Banking Summit & Innovation & Excellence Awards 2026 Opens in Addis Ababa

Banking Leaders, Regulators and Global Technology Innovators Unite to Accelerate Ethiopia’s Digital Financial Transformation on 12 August 2026 at Ethiopian Skylight Hotel, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Clearwater Analytics: 66% Of Fund Managers Fear Firms Are Over-Investing In AI
Science & Technology

Clearwater Analytics: 66% Of Fund Managers Fear Firms Are Over-Investing In AI

Vast majority (66%) of fund managers believe their firms are over-investing in AI, while 25% believe their organizations are not investing enough, according to new global AI investment research from Clearwater Analytics.