#payments

Singapore Gulf Bank is preparing to acquire a company specializing in stablecoin payments. To fund the acquisition, the bank aims to raise at least $50 million in a new financing round. The deal is expected to close by early 2025.

On November 17, the Dutch blockchain firm Quantoz Payments officially launched two new stablecoins, USDQ and EURQ, pegged to the US dollar and euro, respectively.

Detroit is gearing up to become the largest U.S. city to accept cryptocurrencies for tax and city fee payments.

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has collaborated with central banks from Australia, Singapore, South Korea, and Malaysia to test Project Mandala—a system designed to enhance cross-border payment speed and efficiency.

Financial services company Stripe has reenabled crypto payments after halting them in 2018. The announcement came from Jeff Weinstein, Product Lead at Stripe, via his post on X (formerly Twitter).

The Connect Token (WCT) serves as the native token of the WalletConnect Network, aimed at securing and upholding the network's decentralization. WCT will be utilized for payments, rewards, staking, and governance voting.

Anthropic, an AI development company, broadened its bug bounty program to reward those who discover vulnerabilities in AI models.

Tangem, a company specializing in card-based crypto wallets, is collaborating with Visa to create a new hardware wallet incorporating Tangem Pay technology. This will enable users to make payments at standard terminals.

Bloomberg sources report that Apple won't be paying OpenAI for using its artificial intelligence features (ChatGPT) in its products, at least at the start of their collaboration. Apple believes that the value of embedding OpenAI’s technology into millions of its devices outweighs monetary payments.

With the integration of Multi-Token Network (MTN) and Kinexys (previously Onyx), Mastercard and JPMorgan are advancing blockchain-driven asset management.

Blockchain-based and stablecoin-focused payments platform BVNK aims for a new funding round. According to Bloomberg, the startup, which is backed by Tiger Global Management, is in talks with potential buyers to raise at least $50M.

Stripe, a payments services company, acquired the stablecoin platform Bridge for $1.1 billion, according to TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington’s post on X.

Visa, the leading company in the banking payments sector, is working on a solution to tokenize traditional assets on the blockchain. The Visa Tokenized Asset Platform (VTAP), a platform for creating tokens on Ethereum, was announced in a report published on October 3, 2024.

At the end of September, Ripple got a major update related to its Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin. The blockchain payments company minted 800,000 RLUSD, or 99% of the total supply in 24 hours, according to an X post by XRP Ledger validator Vet.

WhiteBIT, Europe’s leading crypto exchange and the official sponsor of the Ukrainian national football team, started a pre-sale of tickets for the upcoming Ukraine vs Georgia home match in the UEFA Nations League, accepting payments in cryptocurrency. The game will be held on October 11 at the City Stadium in Poznań, Poland.

The UK financial regulator, FCA, fined CB Payments Limited (CBPL), a subsidiary of Coinbase Group, £3,503,546 (approximately $4.5 million) for servicing high-risk clients.

According to a survey by the Bank of Canada, only 2.5% of Canadians used cryptocurrencies for everyday payments last year. Predominantly, individuals continue to favor traditional forms of electronic payments such as those made via phone numbers or email over cash and bank cards.

Ripple (XRP) has disclosed plans for launching its own stablecoin, which will be pegged to the dollar and backed by bank deposits along with short-term U.S. Treasury bills. This move aims to expand Ripple Payments' capabilities in facilitating cross-border transactions. The introduction of this stablecoin promises: