Funding
Japan's second-largest telecom, KDDI, will spend $65M on 28.5M newly issued Coincheck Group shares at $2.28 each, plugging Japan's largest crypto exchange into 72M mobile subscribers and 39.67M au PAY wallets — and launching a joint-venture Web3 wallet by summer 2026.
AI Agents
At Consensus Miami, PayPal's May Zabaneh and Google Cloud's Richard Widmann declared AI agents structurally locked out of banking — making PYUSD, AP2, and multi-party custody the inevitable default stack for machine-to-machine commerce.
Funding
Payward, Kraken's $20B parent, agreed to acquire Hong Kong stablecoin payments firm Reap Technologies for $600M — its first Asia infrastructure deal. Reap nearly tripled revenue in 2025 and spans HK, Singapore, Mexico, Africa. The move plants a regulated payments stack at the core of Kraken's pre...
AI
Anthropic has released 10 ready-to-deploy AI agent templates targeting finance's most repetitive workflows — from pitchbook assembly to month-end close. The move signals that frontier AI labs are pivoting from general-purpose chat to verticalized, workflow-native automation where enterprise stick...
AI
PayPal CEO Alex Chriss told Q1 2026 investors the company is accelerating AI adoption as the primary driver of a $1.5B+ gross cost-savings program over 2-3 years, alongside a structural shift to three business units and a 20% workforce reduction. The company is moving to cloud-native architecture...
Web3
SoFi Bank is expanding its SoFiUSD fully reserved stablecoin from Ethereum to Solana, citing speed, cost, and transaction capacity advantages. The move is part of SoFi's Big Business Banking platform, which integrates fiat accounts, SoFiUSD, and crypto payments for banks, fintechs, and enterprise...
Web3
Kraken and MoneyGram have partnered to let Kraken users convert and withdraw crypto as cash at approximately 500,000 MoneyGram locations across 200+ countries in 100+ currencies. The multi-phase rollout begins in the US, Europe, and Latin America, and expands to include local bank deposits over t...
Stablecoins
Tetra Trust launched CADD — Canada's first CAD-backed stablecoin issued by a financial institution — on Base, Ethereum, and Tempo, backed by Shopify, National Bank of Canada, Wealthsimple, ATB Financial, and Shakepay. The token targets 24/7 institutional settlement replacing legacy batch clearing.
Stablecoins
Western Union launched USDPT, a USD-backed payment stablecoin on Solana issued by Anchorage Digital Bank N.A., targeting cross-border payments in 40+ countries. The company also plans to launch Stable by Western Union, a consumer-facing product, later in 2026.
Funding
Tether Investments proposed merging Twenty-One Capital (43,514 BTC, $3.3B), Jack Mallers' Strike (operating in 100+ countries) and Raphael Zagury's Elektron Energy (~50 EH/s mining capacity) into a single publicly listed Bitcoin platform. XXI shares jumped 8% in after-hours trading.
AI
Stripe launched Link, a digital wallet for both humans and autonomous AI agents, at its Sessions 2026 conference. Agents access funds through an OAuth flow with per-transaction approvals and per-agent virtual cards issued via Stripe's new Issuing for agents.
Funding
MoonPay acquired Israeli key-management firm Sodot in an all-stock deal worth roughly $100M and launched MoonPay Institutional, led by former CFTC Acting Chair Caroline D. Pham. Sodot already secures $50B+ in transactions for clients including eToro, BitGo, Flow Traders and Exodus.