payments

Gobi Partners announced an investment in Transak. Founded in 2019, Transak provides fiat and digital asset exchange capabilities through a single API for financial institutions, unifying KYC, AML, risk monitoring, and local payment integration.This investment aims to support Transak in expanding into the Asian market. Transak has established its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Hong Kong and plans to deepen integration with payment networks and banking partners in the ASEAN region.

According to Cointelegraph, Visa has launched the "Intelligent Commerce Connect" service, which supports AI agents to complete purchase payments on behalf of consumers in commercial scenarios worldwide.

Morph's latest report on the status of stablecoins indicates that by 2030, stablecoins are expected to account for about 10% of global cross-border payments. The current annual transaction volume of stablecoins has reached $33 trillion, surpassing the combined $25.5 trillion of Visa and Mastercard.The application of stablecoins in the real economy is continuously expanding, with approximately 60% of the capital flow driven by B2B payments, and significant growth in corporate adoption in scenarios such as cash management and procurement. Morph predicts that by 2026, the annual settlement volume of stablecoins may exceed $50 trillion, and by 2027, AI agents are expected to become the main initiators of transactions, with the market size potentially reaching $1.9 trillion by 2030.

According to Solid Intel, the central banks of France and South Korea are collaborating on a framework for tokenized cross-border payments and digital assets.

Due to the delay in the legislative process of the "Digital Asset Basic Law," several financial institutions in South Korea are providing stablecoin payment services aimed at foreign users to bypass regulatory restrictions and proactively establish infrastructure and partnership networks.Specifically, Hana Financial Group has partnered with Circle and Crypto.com to launch a USDC payment pilot, Danal plans to introduce similar services with Circle and Binance Pay, Crypto.com and KG Inicis have launched a payment gateway, BC Card is testing USDC payment technology with Coinbase, and KB Kookmin Card has applied for a patent for the integration of stablecoin and bank card payments. Analysts say that such services aimed at foreign users are equivalent to a "regulatory sandbox," which helps companies validate their business models before formal policies are implemented.

According to the official announcement, Binance has launched 13 new AI Agent skills, and the AI Agent can now access the full range of Binance products: from advanced derivatives trading and algorithm execution to fiat, payments, yield generation, and tokenized securities.Through a unified interface, the AI Agent can now fully execute end-to-end workflows ------ from research and discovery to trading, settlement, and portfolio management, without the need to switch any tools.

The Central Bank of Cuba (BCC) announced on March 23, 2026, in the Official Gazette, the first authorization for ten enterprises (nine small and medium-sized enterprises and one mixed enterprise) to use cryptocurrency for cross-border payments.The authorized enterprises cover various fields including information technology, catering, transportation, and industry. The license is valid for one year and can be renewed. Enterprises must conduct transactions through virtual asset service providers (PSAV) licensed by the BCC and report transaction details to the central bank on a quarterly basis.

According to Cointelegraph, Mitsubishi Corporation of Japan will adopt the blockchain-based payment system Kinexys developed by JPMorgan for its global business fund transfers, achieving near-instantaneous fund transfers, reducing reliance on traditional banks, and providing 24/7 service.JPMorgan is seeking to expand the platform's daily transaction volume from the current $7 billion to $10 billion, with a cumulative transaction amount exceeding $30 trillion since its launch in 2020.

The Web3 asset data platform RootData has outlined PayPal's Web3 partners, covering key aspects such as wallets, trading liquidity, and on-chain risk control. Structurally, PayPal's crypto layout exhibits a clear "modular assembly" characteristic:User entry side: Wallets like MetaMask and Phantom handle asset management and interaction interfaces;Fund circulation: Crypto infrastructure like MoonPay provides the capability to convert between fiat and crypto assets;Trading and liquidity: Platforms such as Binance and OKX provide market depth and price discovery mechanisms;By integrating mature Web3 providers, PayPal embeds crypto capabilities into its existing payment system, rapidly advancing new businesses such as stablecoins and on-chain payments within a compliance framework. From an industry perspective, PayPal's partnership landscape shows a convergence trend with traditional payment institutions like Visa: that is, building an infrastructure combination around "stablecoin settlement + compliance risk control + user payment entry," accelerating the penetration of crypto assets into the mainstream financial system. Related compilation: PayPal Crypto Partner Network Compilation (Continuously Updated)Crypto projects actively showcasing their partner networks have become a key way to enhance transparency and market trust. It is reported that RootData welcomes Web3 projects to claim data and continues to track and open more project business relationship disclosure channels. The platform has continuously released multiple editions of the crypto project ecosystem map, nominating Web3 ecosystem partners for upstream clients such as Visa, Stripe, and Coinbase.If you wish to nominate your project in future ecosystem maps, please fill out the RootData 2026 Industry Ecosystem Mapping form to supplement your important clients and partners.

Cointelegraph Research's latest report shows that the United Nations Development Programme is applying blockchain technology to the construction of public digital infrastructure, focusing on addressing issues of transparency, collaborative efficiency, and trustworthy data sharing in government systems.The report "New Tech, New Partners" outlines 42 practical cases covering areas such as digital payments, financial inclusion, climate funding, data governance, and community investment, among which 7 focus on digital identity and data systems, primarily distributed in developing economies in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Eastern Europe. The research points out that UNDP adopts a "pilot---validate---scale" approach, collaborating with governments, developers, and local businesses to first implement small-scale projects and then gradually promote them based on actual results. It also emphasizes a "platform-agnostic" architecture to maintain system openness and interoperability. Furthermore, the report highlights the importance of governance and risk control, stating that the application of blockchain in public systems requires accompanying privacy protection, regulatory frameworks, and audit mechanisms to prevent data misuse and smart contract risks. Overall, blockchain is extending from financial scenarios to public governance infrastructure, becoming one of the important technological options for digital transformation in various countries.

Guy Wuollet, a partner at a16z crypto, stated in Fortune's Crypto Playbook that the crypto industry is maturing and is currently in the "shirt era," not yet fully formalized but having moved beyond the early stages. He pointed out that the dominant trend in the current crypto industry is Wall Street's rapid adoption of blockchain, with traditional financial giants like BlackRock and Fidelity not only offering Bitcoin ETFs but also embracing blockchain technology in the areas of stablecoins and tokenized stocks.Wuollet also noted that the integration of blockchain and AI is laying the groundwork for on-chain agency commerce. He mentioned that a large number of talents from the consumer AI sector are entering the crypto industry because they believe that the first agency payments will occur on-chain, and Stripe also discussed agency payments in its annual letter. Regarding the issue of fragmentation that different payment standards might cause, Wuollet believes that AI models are good at understanding different systems, so this is unlikely to slow down the adoption rate.

ARK Invest's Director of Digital Asset Research, Lorenzo Valente, stated, "The importance of Musk recruiting Benji Taylor to join the X platform as Chief Designer may be underestimated by many. Benji Taylor founded the self-custody crypto wallet Family, which was later acquired by Aave, where he served as CPO, and joined Base in 2024 as Head of Design. If you only consider the basic fintech user experience, then this type of talent may not be suitable for you. It is increasingly likely that wallets, on-chain payments, and eventually DeFi will become part of X's development roadmap."

According to CoinDesk, Vibhu Norby, Chief Product Officer of the Solana Foundation, stated at the New York Digital Assets Summit (DAS) that the Solana network has processed 15,000,000 on-chain payments from AI agents, primarily for machine-to-machine commercial interactions, with stablecoins becoming the default settlement tool for AI agents' payment computing power and services.Norby pointed out that the programmable nature of AI agent payments gives it a unique advantage in the crypto payment landscape and believes this trend will fundamentally change the monetization model of the internet, supporting micropayments billed by usage down to fractions of a cent, which traditional payment rails cannot achieve. Norby stated that when AI agents choose a crypto payment method, Solana typically ranks highly.He anticipates that in the future, 95% to 99% of crypto transactions will be initiated by large language models (LLM), and the primary way users will interact with crypto networks will shift to being completed through AI agents.

According to Bloomberg, Circle Internet Group announced a partnership with Sasai Fintech, a subsidiary of Cassava Technologies supported by NVIDIA, marking the first collaboration in Africa. The transfer application under Sasai Fintech covers 30 markets in Africa, and users can now use Circle's USDC stablecoin for domestic and cross-border payments through the app.

Web3 asset data platform RootData recently organized Stripe's partner network in the cryptocurrency field, systematically presenting its complete ecological map from underlying blockchain infrastructure to end payment applications.From a structural perspective, Stripe has formed a "three-layer self-built + external ecosystem" closed-loop architecture:The bottom layer consists of its directly controlled crypto infrastructure, including the stablecoin orchestration platform Bridge acquired for $1.1 billion in 2024, the wallet-as-a-service company Privy, and the payment-specific public chain Tempo co-incubated with Paradigm;The middle layer integrates deeply with mainstream networks such as Circle, Coinbase, and Polygon to facilitate on-chain settlement pathways;The outer ecosystem covers dozens of crypto platforms including Crypto.com, Blockchain.com, and Magic Eden, as well as fintech clients like Félix and Dakota that achieve low-cost cross-border remittances through Bridge.Notably, the Tempo mainnet officially launched this month, simultaneously introducing a "machine payment protocol" aimed at AI agents, and hosting the first AI payment hackathon in San Francisco. This marks a significant evolution in Stripe's crypto strategy, accelerating from "enabling merchants to accept stablecoins" to "allowing AI agents to autonomously control the flow of funds." 【View Stripe's Crypto Partner Network Compilation (continuously updated)】RootData stated that it will continue to track and open more project business relationship disclosure channels. For crypto projects, actively showcasing partnerships and business networks is becoming an important way to enhance transparency and market trust. Web3 project parties are welcome to claim data and join the RootData Alliances Hub TG group to collaboratively maintain business alliance data, match BD partners, and explore ecological cooperation!