payment

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.

The important event in the field of financial technology and digital assets in Asia------Wiki Finance EXPO Hong Kong 2026 will be held in Hong Kong from July 23 to 24, 2026. This event will bring together global financial technology companies, digital asset platforms, and industry participants to discuss the development trends of financial technology and the construction of the digital asset ecosystem.As a stablecoin-driven global payment infrastructure platform, WasabiCard will participate in this exhibition to engage in in-depth exchanges with global partners and share innovative practices and implementation experiences of stablecoin payments in the globalization of enterprises.WasabiCard is committed to significantly enhancing global settlement and payment efficiency for enterprises through its core capabilities of global card issuance, stablecoin payments, cross-border fund distribution, and global remittance. Currently, the platform's services cover over 200 countries and regions worldwide, supporting more than 30 mainstream currencies; at the same time, it integrates a full-process compliance risk control system including KYB, KYC, KYT, and AML to build a safe, reliable, and efficient global funding chain for enterprises.Participating in Wiki Finance EXPO Hong Kong 2026 is not only an important opportunity for WasabiCard to engage in in-depth exchanges with global financial technology and digital asset industry partners but also an important opportunity to further expand global ecological cooperation and enhance brand influence. In the future, WasabiCard will continue to promote innovation in stablecoin payment infrastructure and explore new trends in the development of the global payment system together with industry partners.

The Polygon Foundation posted on the X platform that the Ithaca hard fork has been successfully deployed on the Amoy testnet and will go live on the Polygon mainnet at block height 50,185,000 (expected at 22:00 Beijing time on July 29).This upgrade aims to enhance payment reliability: automatic failover during rare stalls of block producers ensures smooth transactions, new protective mechanisms intercept transactions that may cause the network to slow down or become unstable, while providing node operators with clearer visibility to ensure seamless integration of underlying operations. All node operators are required to upgrade as soon as possible to ensure compatibility and network security.

Lightning Labs announced on the X platform that it has launched Wavelength, a self-hosted Bitcoin payment toolkit designed to make integrating Bitcoin into applications as simple as calling an API.The platform is built on a layer similar to Ark, supporting developers, AI agents, and vibe coders to access Lightning payments for any application without the need to run nodes, manage channels, or acquire liquidity. It also supports AI agents using Bitcoin payment APIs, data sources, and other services through MCP tool calls. Wavelength is currently available in alpha version on signet and testnet, with mainnet access requiring an invitation.

According to CoinDesk, cryptocurrency wallet company Exodus Movement (EXOD) announced that it will cut about 25% of its global workforce to reduce operating costs and shift its business towards stablecoin payments and card payment infrastructure.Exodus stated in regulatory filings that this restructuring is part of the company's strategy to build a full-stack payment platform. The company has been continuously integrating the acquired electronic money institution Monavate and cryptocurrency payment company Baanx to expand its payment capabilities and global business layout.Exodus expects that this round of layoffs will result in pre-tax restructuring costs of $2.5 million to $3.5 million, mainly for employee severance and related costs. Affected employees will receive severance compensation, benefits continuation, and transitional support.The company anticipates that after the restructuring is completed, it can reduce cash operating expenses by $10 million to $13 million annually, with related savings fully realized by 2027.In the market, EXOD rose about 2.2% in pre-market trading on Monday, but its cumulative decline over the past year is still close to 85%. This adjustment reflects that cryptocurrency companies are accelerating their transformation towards stablecoin payments, financial infrastructure, and other business directions.

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.

Cryptocurrency trading and liquidity service provider Cumberland announced on platform X that its Singapore subsidiary Cumberland SG Pte. Ltd. has obtained the MPI license issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), allowing it to provide Digital Payment Token (DPT) services and cross-border money transfer services.

Polygon CEO Marc Boiron stated on the X platform that the company is in the final stages of completing the acquisition of Coinme, and will subsequently integrate the relevant teams into Polygon Labs. As part of achieving the profitability goal for 2027, the company has initiated layoffs and is advancing broader mergers and organizational adjustments.Marc Boiron mentioned that Polygon Labs is transitioning from a blockchain foundation-type organization to a blockchain payment company, with the relevant adjustments primarily focusing on organizational structure and talent needs. He also stated that the company's current revenue performance is strong, with stablecoin business volume continuously breaking records, and that compensation and support will be provided to affected employees.

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.

Polygon Foundation CEO Sandeep disclosed that about one-third of the Polygon team paused their daily work last week to participate in a three-day internal AI innovation challenge, with a total reward pool of $15,000 set up by the team.During the three days, 13 projects were produced, of which 6 have officially launched, and 1 has completed real transaction settlement on 5 mainnet chains. Sandeep stated that for the payment sector, the landscape of the next decade will be dominated by teams that truly integrate AI into their daily workflows, and he expressed that this experiment has given him more confidence in the team.

The Linux Foundation, in collaboration with Visa, Mastercard, and 40 other institutions, has launched the x402 payment standard. In the past 30 days, approximately 75 million stablecoin transactions have been processed, totaling 24 million USD.

Miami-based payment infrastructure startup Cyclops announced the completion of a $20 million Series A funding round, led by Nava Ventures, with participation from Castle Island Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Circle, Lasagna Ventures, and GPT Ventures.

According to official news, Tether announced it will lead a $7 million Series A financing for Pact Labs, with Blockchange Ventures and Lasagna participating in the follow-on investment. The funds will be used to support Pact Labs in building infrastructure related to USA₮ and expanding its applications in payroll, earned wage access, credit, and daily payments.Pact Labs primarily provides digital wallet embedding, real-time payroll transfers, and financial service capabilities for enterprise platforms, aiming to improve the low processing efficiency and long settlement periods of the traditional U.S. payroll system. Tether stated that this collaboration aims to promote deeper integration of the digital dollar USA₮ designed for U.S. compliance standards into the daily financial systems of local workers and businesses.

According to Fortune magazine, stablecoin payment infrastructure startup Velocity announced the completion of a $38 million Series A funding round, led by crypto investment firm Dragonfly, with participation from institutions such as Coinbase, Capital One Ventures, and Wintermute. Velocity CEO Eric Queathem did not disclose the latest funding valuation.Founded in 2025, Velocity focuses on providing stablecoin payment solutions for businesses, payment service providers, fintech companies, and financial institutions, helping them optimize cross-border payments, fund settlement, and fund management processes using dollar-pegged tokens. Currently, Velocity has covered markets in the United States, parts of Europe, and Australia, with plans to use the new funds to apply for licenses to expand into Africa and Latin America, while also investing in building a more secure asset custody infrastructure and developing new features, including stablecoin yield products.

The European Central Bank announced the selection of 36 payment service providers to participate in the digital euro pilot, covering both banking and non-banking institutions, spanning multiple countries in the euro area and various business models.The pilot will start in the second half of 2027 and last for 12 months, primarily aimed at testing the technical functionality, operational processes, and user experience of the digital euro, preparing for the potential issuance of the digital euro.This pilot will use a test version of the digital euro that closely resembles the legislative draft proposal, but it will not have legal tender status.