Visa, Stripe and Zodia by Standard Chartered are notable early additions for Tempo as it begins to build out its validator set.
For most of the past two years, debate about stablecoins in payments has focused on the checkout screen: will consumers ever tap a wallet instead of a card? Visa, Stripe, and Mastercard have answered with their capital. Visa now settles in USDC, Stripe bought Bridge, and Mastercard is acquiring BVNK. Each move reflects the same […]
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Seven financial institutions launched sandbox testing regulated Swiss franc stablecoin, running through 2026 as stablecoin usage accelerates globally.
Circle's biggest selling point may be becoming its biggest liability. On-chain investigator ZachXBT's “Circle Files” allege that the USDC issuer has inconsistently applied its freeze powers. Circle was too slow in 15 cases involving more than $420 million in allegedly illicit funds since 2022, yet broad enough to sweep 16 operational business wallets in a […]
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XRP is in its deepest losing streak in more than a decade, even as Ripple aggressively expands into corporate finance and institutional infrastructure. The disconnect is forcing a key market question: why isn’t that momentum showing up in price? XRP price is in its longest losing streak since 2014, a slide that has left one […]
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XRP enters an identity crisis as oil, inflation fears, and dollar strength hit the market all at once XRP has reached the hardest phase of the cycle. The asset spent much of the year carrying a cleaner institutional narrative than most large-cap altcoins. CryptoSlate has already tracked institutional migration into Ripple-linked products, ETF resilience tied […]
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SoFi has launched a new enterprise banking platform with 24/7 payment support, combining fiat and crypto services.
Washington is building a cleaner lane for digital dollars, and the consequence for Bitcoin is becoming easier to map. Over the past year, U.S. lawmakers, regulators, and the White House have moved in the same direction. The GENIUS Act framework advanced in the Senate with language built around payment stablecoins, reserve backing, consumer protection, and […]
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AI agents are moving beyond chatbot duty and into a bigger role across the internet. As software starts researching, buying, coordinating, and completing tasks with limited supervision, a new question arises: how does a non-human user pay, prove who it is, and operate within clear rules? That question opens an unexpected lane for crypto, especially […]
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Crypto companies eager to attract new users have been sponsoring sports teams across various leagues for years.
Mizuho maintained its outperform rating and kept a price target of $666 following news of Mastercard's BVNK acquisition.
The firm’s application was approved on March 23, three days after it was submitted, appointing Visa the highest Super Validator weight.
Bitget Wallet launched the Onchain Payments Matrix, connecting Ripple, Mastercard, and Tether within a global stablecoin payments network.
The platform offers three API modules to help issue RWAs, support payments, and enable onchain swaps supported by 20 launch partners.
MoonPay has introduced the Open Wallet Standard, a framework that lets AI agents hold assets, sign transactions, and make payments.
Major Wall Street investors poured $500 million into Ripple in 2025 — a figure that reflects just how embedded XRP has become in the company’s financial backbone, and why analysts say Ripple has little reason to walk away from it. Related Reading: Another Bitcoin Buy Coming? Saylor Sparks Speculation With ‘Orange Dots’ Post A newly circulated academic paper, published in Advances in Economics, Business and Management Research, argues that XRP’s role in Ripple’s cross-border payment network makes abandonment not just unlikely, but structurally difficult. The paper was brought to wider attention by XRP community researcher SMQKE. The Case Against Cutting Ties Ripple Payments — formerly known as RippleNet — uses XRP as a bridge asset to move money across borders quickly and cheaply. According to the paper, that dependency runs deep. XRP helps guard against double-spending risks while cutting the delays that plague traditional payment systems. Banks like Bank of America and Santander are among the financial institutions connected to Ripple’s network. That kind of institutional footprint makes any sudden pivot away from XRP a complicated proposition, reports indicate. ‼️ WHY RIPPLE WILL NEVER ABANDON XRP‼️ Read closely.????????️ “Because RippleNet DEPENDS much on XRP, the XRP will coexist with Ripple Labs.”✅ “In this way, as long as Ripple Labs is widely used for its cross-board real-time payment business, the XRP market will ALWAYS work as a… pic.twitter.com/9YZvBLoExt — SMQKE (@SMQKEDQG) March 13, 2026 The paper stops short of declaring XRP untouchable. It points to regulatory tightening and rival technologies as real threats that could reshape how Ripple operates in the long run. Still, its central conclusion is that XRP and Ripple are likely to remain tied together for the foreseeable future. XRP’s Broader Ambitions Beyond payments, Ripple has explored positioning XRP as a neutral go-between for central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs. The idea is that XRP could connect different national digital currencies without requiring the parties to rely on traditional financial intermediaries. That ambition signals something important. Ripple isn’t treating XRP as a legacy product to be quietly retired. Based on reports, the company has been actively expanding its use cases rather than winding them down. CEO Brad Garlinghouse has publicly described XRP as the company’s guiding purpose. His exact words, often repeated in the XRP community: “XRP is our north star.” Related Reading: XRP Moves Into ‘Scarce Zone’ As Exchange Supply Dries Up Stablecoin Launch Adds A New Layer Ripple’s rollout of RLUSD, its own stablecoin, has fed speculation that XRP might be getting sidelined. Some observers read the move as a sign that Ripple is hedging its bets with a more stable asset. Ripple executives have pushed back on that reading. They maintain XRP is not being replaced — that RLUSD operates alongside it, not instead of it. The academic paper largely supports that position. It frames XRP as central to both network security and overall system efficiency, not as a technology on its way out. Whether that holds as stablecoins gain ground across the broader payments industry remains an open question. Featured image from Pexels, chart from TradingView
Visa CLI provides automated bots with the ability to pay for web services without having to manage API keys or needing human interaction.
RedStone will provide continuous FX and stablecoin feeds enabling applications to price and settle transactions in local currencies.
PayPal has expanded access to its PYUSD stablecoin to 70 markets, enabling wallet access, transfers, and rewards for eligible users.
The blockchain firm is adding custody, payments and brokerage tools for digital asset management and tokenization as it plans to apply for regulatory approval from the central bank.
The brave new world of autonomous, micro-transacting AI agents is where programmable cryptocurrencies will shine, according to stablecoin experts.
Mastercard’s crypto partner push is really a plan to keep stablecoins inside its network Mastercard is trying to make sure the stablecoin era still needs its card services. On Wednesday, the company launched a program with more than 85 crypto-native firms, payments providers, banks, compliance vendors, custody companies, exchanges, and infrastructure groups. On its face, […]
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The Singapore-based company provides services that bridge traditional fiat payment rails and stablecoin settlement infrastructure.
Ripple has launched a share buyback of up to $750 million at a $50 billion valuation, a source told The Block.
The infrastructure race for agentic commerce is already producing winners. Anthropic's Model Context Protocol now runs on more than 10,000 public servers and pulls 97 million monthly SDK downloads, connecting AI applications to external tools and data. Google's Agent-to-Agent protocol launched in April 2025 with 50 partners and scaled to more than 100 supporting companies […]
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Agentic commerce holds promise, but data shows that x402 is still in the trial phase
As regulation advances and institutions adopt blockchain settlement, stablecoins are expanding beyond crypto trading into payments infrastructure.
Financial services firm Aon accepted USDC and PYUSD stablecoins for Coinbase and Paxos's insurance premium payments.
Funding will support product expansion, licensing and compliance as the company scales a platform for cross-border stablecoin payments.
The approval places Strike among a small group of firms authorized to operate in the state under NYDFS supervision.