#iso-20022

#iso-20022

SWIFT's new payments scheme is described as the biggest step forward for cross-border retail payments in the network's history, with over 50 banks signed up to participate.

The integration allows developers to build goal-oriented workflows where agents plan and execute swaps across the 1inch network using the Swap Application Programming Interface (API). This update provides rapid access to a suite of 15 APIs, including Portfolio and Gas Price tools, reducing integration time from days to minutes.

The Open Wallet Standard (OWS) is designed to solve fragmentation in the agent economy by allowing artificial intelligence (AI) agents to hold value and sign transactions without exposing private keys. This initiative is backed by over 15 major organizations, including the Ethereum Foundation and Paypal, and is available on platforms like Github and npm.

Reports suggest that Stripe is considering a PayPal acquisition, although negotiations on the subject are in early stages with no guarantee of going through.

The problem was not growth or demand or even competition. It was settlement. Payments took days to clear. Reconciliation took weeks. Cash piled up in the wrong places. Finance teams spent their time explaining why the numbers did not match instead of planning what came next.

Consider this snapshot of the near future: You're in a taxi on the other side of the world. You pay your driver with the same digital wallet you use at home, and he receives the money in his wallet linked to the local instant payments network. He's set a rule in his bank app-"send 30% of every payout to my family back home"-and funds are converted immediately to a third currency and delivered to relatives in a country thousands of miles away.

Starting Jan. 1, 2026, updated reporting obligations require crypto platforms operating in the EU or serving EU users to provide detailed information on users and their transactions to tax authorities. This change aligns digital assets more closely with the transparency requirements long established in conventional finance.

I'm the general manager of Paze, one of the business units of Early Warning Services. The mandate is really to take Paze and bring this new payment checkout system to the masses - both on the consumer side and on the merchant side - really making sure that our goal of becoming one of the top three wallets for checkout in the next five years becomes reality.

Ryan, who had worked for seven years at the Ethereum Foundation (EF), Ethereum's de facto governing body, suggested that Ethereum could be on the cusp of an era-defining shift. Since its founding in 2014, the foundation had prioritized technical upgrades and had avoided centralizing power while its user base was growing, but Ethereum had now grown up, and the cryptocurrency world around it had grown up, too.

Standard Chartered and B2C2, a global provider of institutional liquidity for digital assets, announced a strategic partnership in hopes of improving institutional access to crypto markets. The collaboration brings together Standard Chartered's global banking infrastructure with B2C2's liquidity across spot and options trading, according to a note shared with Bitcoin Magazine. Under the agreement, B2C2 will provide its institutional clients like asset managers, hedge funds, corporates, and family offices with direct connectivity and liquidity access to Standard Chartered's banking network and settlement services.

Picking a payments provider feels like choosing a business partner you will rely on for years. The platform you select handles your revenue, shapes your customer checkout flow, and determines how much control you retain over the money moving through your company. Stripe built its name early and became synonymous with online payments for startups and growing businesses. Finix entered the market with a different proposition, offering companies the infrastructure to become their own payment facilitator without surrendering ownership of the merchant relationship.

Now you're really opening up not only access-especially in places where they need it most- but also cross-border transfers and volume, where the pain is felt so high. Proponents of stablecoins have long touted the tokens' capacity to reduce fees for sending money cross-border, and PayPal's expansion aims to realize that potential by enabling users to keep funds in dollar equivalents.

The Crypto Partner Program, announced Wednesday, gathers more than 85 companies across the blockchain, fintech, and traditional banking sectors, including Binance, Circle, Gemini, PayPal, Paxos, Ripple, BitGo, and Crypto.com. The program is designed to explore practical applications for on-chain technology within existing payment infrastructure, focusing on areas such as cross-border transfers, business-to-business payments, and global payouts.