News linked to both this project and an event.
According to Reuters, the PayPal board believes the $53 billion acquisition offer ($60.50 per share) jointly proposed by Stripe and private equity firm Advent International undervalues the company, and has concerns regarding regulatory approval risks and financing certainty; it has not yet formally responded to the proposal. The PayPal board believes that if management successfully executes the existing transformation strategy, the company's future potential value will far exceed the current offer. Meanwhile, the acquirers have obtained approximately $50 billion in financing support from JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley, with Stripe and Advent contributing a combined $17 billion in equity. Reportedly, if the parties encounter antitrust hurdles, they may consider divesting assets such as PayPal's Braintree to Advent. Despite differences, Stripe and Advent are still regarded as the most serious potential buyers at present, and negotiations are expected to continue for some time. PayPal will release its quarterly earnings report on July 28, and the market will closely monitor the growth of its core checkout business.
According to Visa's official website, Visa and Artemis jointly released a report that deeply analyzes the current status and trends of AI agent payments based on real-time on-chain data. The report indicates that AI agent payments are divided into two categories: one is "macro commerce" where agents replace users to complete tasks like booking tickets and subscriptions, similar to traditional e-commerce payments; the other is "micro commerce" such as high-frequency, low-value API calls between software, where single transaction amounts are typically less than 1 cent. On-chain data shows that the open protocol x402, incubated by Coinbase and Cloudflare and now hosted by the Linux Foundation, has processed approximately 109 million transactions since launching in May 2025, with an adjusted transaction volume of about $15 million, mainly active on the Base, Solana, and Polygon chains; the Machine Payment Protocol (MPP), jointly built by Stripe and Tempo with Visa's contribution, launched in mid-March 2026 and completed approximately 115,000 transactions within weeks, with a settlement amount of about $25,000. The report notes that blockchain settlement costs have dropped to extremely low levels, making small payments in the 1-cent to 1-dollar range economically feasible for the first time, but agent payments still face significant challenges at the legal and regulatory level regarding trust, liability attribution, and dispute resolution. Visa stated that its goal is to build a unified foundation that simultaneously supports card-native trust authorization and machine-native settlement
: Digital asset management firm CoinShares stated that Open USD directly challenges Circle by distributing yield generated from stablecoin reserves to partners, thereby weakening USDC's distribution economic model. Open USD is composed of over 140 companies, including BlackRock, Coinbase, Mastercard, Stripe, and Visa. The stablecoin is expected to launch in the second half of 2026. CoinShares noted that while Open USD presents competitive pressure, USDC's existing liquidity and integration base may be difficult for new entrants to replicate.
According to Reuters, payment company Stripe and private equity firm Advent International have jointly submitted an acquisition offer to PayPal Holdings (PYPL.O), bidding $60.50 per share for a total valuation exceeding $53 billion, a premium of approximately 28% over PayPal's closing price on Tuesday. The offer is supported by approximately $50 billion in committed bank financing, with both parties planning to hold 50% equity each and not break up the company. The acquisition proposal was submitted earlier this month, following initial contact between the parties in early April. No response has been received from PayPal so far, and Stripe and Advent hope to reach an agreement by the end of the month. Whether the deal will ultimately close remains uncertain.
after Open Standard announced the launch of its new stablecoin, Open USD (OUSD), Circle's stock price fell over 16% on Tuesday. The stablecoin is backed by over 140 companies, including Visa, Stripe, Mastercard, BlackRock, and Coinbase, raising market concerns that it could pose competitive pressure on Circle's USDC.However, William Blair analysts believe the sell-off was an overreaction and reiterated an "Outperform" rating on Circle's stock, suggesting the decline may present a buying opportunity. The firm believes that Circle holds a competitive advantage in the stablecoin space due to its first-mover status, deep liquidity, and mature payment infrastructure, positioning it well even against high-profile competitors like OUSD.Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire stated that the company welcomes competition and will continue to expand the USDC ecosystem. Analysts also noted that the overall stablecoin market is still rapidly expanding, and new entrants may not necessarily only eat into USDC's market share but could also drive broader industry adoption.
Odaily Planet Daily reported that renowned startup accelerator Y Combinator stated that in the future, all of its portfolio companies may utilize crypto technology, particularly infrastructure like stablecoins, and this will not be limited to crypto or fintech startups.YC has previously invested in early-stage companies such as Airbnb, DoorDash, Coinbase, Stripe, Reddit, OpenAI, and Kalshi. Its latest statement primarily urges the U.S. Congress to pass the crypto market structure bill, the "Clarity Act."YC believes that for the crypto industry to enter a new phase, it must achieve deeper integration with traditional financial institutions such as banks and brokerages. The Clarity Act is expected to provide the regulatory foundation for this integration. The bill aims to clarify whether digital assets are securities or commodities, establish a registration pathway with the CFTC, and stipulate that customer assets belong to the customers in the event of bankruptcy.However, the prospects for the bill remain uncertain. Supporters argue that it has a bipartisan foundation, while opponents point out limited support from Democrats, the approaching midterm elections, and ethical controversies arising from Trump's direct association with the crypto industry. These factors could all increase legislative resistance.
According to official announcements, OKX has become one of the first partners of Mastercard’s newly launched Agent Pay for Machines (AP4M). AP4M targets high-frequency, low-value, and automated “machine-level” payment scenarios between AI Agents and supports multiple settlement methods, including bank cards and stablecoins. OKX will integrate into this ecosystem via its Agentic Wallet and the Agent Payments Protocol (APP). AP4M is built upon Mastercard’s Agent Pay, launched in 2025, aiming to provide payment infrastructure for commercial activities among AI Agents. Over 30 organizations are among the initial participants, including Stripe, Ant International, Cloudflare, Coinbase, and OKX—spanning payment, blockchain, and AI infrastructure sectors.
Global payment networks Stripe, Visa, and Mastercard are close to launching a new stablecoin platform.According to sources familiar with the matter, U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is also exploring the possibility of participating in this stablecoin platform. Meanwhile, Binance, Coinbase, Stripe, and Visa have all declined to comment, and Mastercard did not respond to requests for comment before publication. Additionally, the revenue-sharing agreement between Coinbase and Circle Internet is set to expire and be renewed in August of this year, with the current market cap of USDC reaching $76 billion. (CoinDesk)
According to The Block, treasury infrastructure provider Veda announced integration with embedded wallet infrastructure company Privy—the wallet infrastructure firm acquired by Stripe in June last year—making its non-custodial treasury infrastructure available via a self-serve API to over 2,000 developer teams under Privy.
Stripe officially announced on the X platform the launch of its new Machine Payments Protocol (MPP) feature. Users can now complete AI Agent payment-related setup and integration simply by sending a prompt to the AI Agent. Companies such as @zincdotcom, @agentscoretrust, and @ondbai have already begun accepting machine payments from AI agents via the MPP and x402 protocols.It is reported that this feature significantly lowers the barrier for autonomous payment integration of AI Agents, transforming the process from requiring manual code writing in the past to "getting it done with just one prompt."
According to CoinDesk, crypto infrastructure firm Zerohash is seeking new funding at a valuation exceeding $1.5 billion. This comes after Mastercard abandoned its investment plans for Zerohash following its $1.8 billion acquisition of UK-based stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK. Founded in 2017, Zerohash provides APIs and embedded development tools to financial institutions and fintech companies, enabling support for cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and tokenized products. The company now serves over 5 million users across 190 countries, with clients including Morgan Stanley, Stripe, Interactive Brokers, BlackRock’s BUIDL Fund, and Franklin Templeton. In September 2025, Zerohash closed its $104 million Series D-2 round, valuing the company at $1 billion at that time.
Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan stated that privacy is becoming a core infrastructure direction for the next phase of the crypto industry. Recently, three institutional-grade blockchains focused on stablecoins and asset tokenization—Arc, Canton, and Tempo—have accumulated over $1 billion in total funding, indicating a rapidly growing demand from institutions for "privacy-friendly on-chain financial systems."Among them, stablecoin issuer Circle contributed $222 million in funding for Arc, giving it a valuation of approximately $3 billion; Digital Asset’s Canton blockchain is reportedly seeking $300 million in funding at a $2 billion valuation; and Tempo, backed by Stripe and Paradigm, has previously completed $500 million in funding at a valuation of $5 billion.Hougan noted that this funding wave reflects three major trends: the gradual clarification of the U.S. regulatory framework, increased institutional demand for on-chain privacy, and intensified competition among new blockchain networks supported by large enterprises. Current public blockchains still face structural trade-offs between speed, cost, security, and privacy. However, scenarios involving stablecoins and RWA tokenization require systems that simultaneously offer high performance, compliance, and privacy, making “verifiable privacy” a critical prerequisite for institutional adoption of on-chain finance.Hougan further stated that, for enterprises, “all transactions being publicly broadcast” is not an advantage but a potential flaw. In the future, users and institutions may find it increasingly difficult to accept a fully transparent on-chain financial environment. He believes that privacy capabilities could become the “killer app” driving the crypto industry into its next phase of mainstream adoption. Additionally, following the passage of the U.S. Genius Act in 2025, regulatory certainty has significantly increased, providing a clearer policy foundation for institutional funds to enter the crypto infrastructure space. (CoinDesk)
According to The Block, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has partnered with Coinbase and Stripe to launch Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Payments, enabling AI agents to conduct transactions using stablecoins. Coinbase stated that developers can build “agent-based payment” solutions using the x402 protocol, allowing AI agents to make micro-payments in USDC. This feature enables AI agents to instantly pay for web content, APIs, MCP servers, and other agents. AWS noted that developers can choose between Coinbase and Stripe wallets and fund those wallets using either stablecoins or fiat currency.
: Stripe officially announced a partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to provide AI Agent payment capabilities for Amazon Bedrock AgentCore. AWS launched the AgentCore Payments feature on the same day, allowing AI Agents to instantly access and pay for web content, APIs, MCP servers, and other AI Agent service fees. Among them, Privy (a Stripe-owned company) will collaborate with Coinbase to provide wallet infrastructure and payment channels, supporting the initial stablecoin payment capabilities for AgentCore.
: The Solana Foundation and Google Cloud have jointly launched the AI payment gateway Pay.sh, allowing AI agents to pay for API services on a per-request basis using Solana on-chain stablecoins, eliminating the need for traditional account systems. The system is built on the x402 protocol and supports the Machine Payments Protocol developed by Tempo and Stripe.Currently, AI agents can access Google Cloud services such as Gemini, BigQuery, and VertexAI through Pay.sh. The platform also supports AI tools including Anthropic Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, and OpenClaw, along with over 50 community API providers. Additionally, it integrates infrastructure and data services such as Helius, Alchemy, Dune Analytics, and Nansen. (Decrypt)
stablecoin infrastructure startup Rain is now valued at $1.95 billion and has announced a partnership with payment giant Mastercard to issue credit and prepaid cards, while also exploring the use of stablecoins for payment settlements. Previously, Rain primarily relied on the Visa network for its card products. This collaboration with Mastercard marks its entry into a "dual-card network" strategy, further expanding its institutional client market. Rain stated that the partnership will focus on serving large institutional clients already deeply integrated with a single payment network, enabling them to introduce stablecoin settlement capabilities without altering their existing payment systems.Meanwhile, the application of stablecoins continues to expand across the industry, with institutions such as Stripe and Coinbase actively promoting the integration of stablecoin payments and settlements. This indicates that the convergence of traditional finance and crypto payment infrastructure is accelerating. Analysts suggest that as regulatory frameworks gradually become clearer, stablecoins are rapidly transitioning from trading tools to enterprise payment and cross-border settlement infrastructure. (Fortune)
Anchorage Digital has announced a partnership with stablecoin infrastructure protocol M0 to jointly develop a next-generation compliant stablecoin issuance and management system aligned with the U.S. regulatory framework. Anchorage Digital plans to expand its issuance platform capabilities by integrating M0's modular stablecoin protocol, providing institutional clients with infrastructure support to issue stablecoins under the U.S. regulatory system.M0 allows institutions to issue and manage stablecoins based on demand and has already partnered with several payment and crypto platforms, including Stripe, MoonPay, and MetaMask. The protocol supports a highly modular design, enabling various types of institutions—including fintech companies, exchanges, and payment service providers—to quickly issue their own stablecoins. (CoinDesk)
According to The Block, Oobit—a wallet startup backed by Tether—has launched virtual “Agent Cards,” enterprise expense cards powered by Visa and designed for AI agents. These cards enable AI bots to make online purchases directly using their USDT balances, eliminating the need to convert to fiat currency or obtain manual, per-transaction approval. Each agent card features individual spending limits, category-level expenditure controls, and per-transaction or per-merchant caps. Every transaction automatically generates a human-readable record and supports integration with payment platforms such as Stripe for handling subscription billing and vendor payments.
According to Fortune, Meta has quietly launched a stablecoin payment feature, offering select creators in Colombia and the Philippines the ability to receive payments in USDC on the Solana and Polygon networks. Creators can enter their third-party wallet addresses into Facebook’s payout platform to withdraw funds. Meta does not provide USDC-to-local-fiat conversion services and partners with Stripe to handle related tax filings. According to Marc Boiron, CEO of Polygon Labs, the initiative is expected to expand to over 160 countries by year-end. This launch comes more than four years after Meta’s Libra project—later renamed Diem—was discontinued in 2022.
Meta has begun offering select creators the option to settle payments in USDC, allowing users to withdraw their earnings directly to wallets on Solana or Polygon.Creators can link crypto wallets (such as MetaMask, Phantom, etc.) to receive funds. Payment services are supported by Stripe, and users may be provided with crypto-related tax reports.Meta also cautioned that stablecoin payments carry inherent risks, and users are responsible for securing their own accounts and wallets; in the event of technical issues or special circumstances, the company may resort to alternative payment methods to complete settlements.According to previous reports, Meta is planning to further expand its stablecoin-related operations within the year.