Payments
Every Payments read CryptoBloggers has picked: 130 so far, 112 in the last 30 days, strongest first under “Start here” and newest first below.
Payments picks in the 6:30 email
The day’s five best crypto reads, plus AI agents doing real things on-chain. Free, every morning at 6:30 a.m. Central.
Every Payments card
newest first · page 4 of 5- 1
Mastercard unveils Stablecoin Security tool to screen payments for fraud and sanctions risks
Mastercard launches a stablecoin risk screening tool for fraud and sanctions, rolling out in North America first.
- 2
Agentic payment space is dominated by Solana, Base and Polygon
Token Terminal data show Solana, Base and Polygon carry about 96% of agentic x402 payment transfers, though total activity fell sharply after a late-August surge.
- 3
Lessons from trying to buy from ~1,900 x402 APIs in one day (1,255 delivered)
A Reddit builder had an agent buy from about 1,900 x402 endpoints on Base for $12.19; 1,255 delivered, and the failures led to new pre-payment checks.
- 4
Stablecoin supply stalls, but payments jump 45% as Visa, Mastercard and Stripe connect crypto to cash
Allium data puts stablecoin payments at $482 billion year to date, up 45%, as Visa, Mastercard and Stripe add crypto rails.
- 5
What 68 x402 endpoints taught us about agent-payability
A probe of 68 live x402 endpoints finds common failure classes that stop stock buyer clients from paying, with a 10-point checklist.
- 6
Polygon sees Coinme acquisition as entry to payments sector dominated by Visa, Stripe
Polygon is acquiring Coinme to move into payments and capture revenue from intermediaries.
- 7
Circle’s Allaire says stablecoin issuer looking to enter 40 developing markets: Report
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire reportedly says the stablecoin issuer plans to expand into about 40 developing markets, including Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.
- 8
Stablecoin remittances cost 84% less than traditional transfers, report finds
Borderless.xyz data shows stablecoin cross-border business payments cost 84% less than traditional transfers and settle faster than wires.
- 9
AI agent payments are they dying?
Token Terminal data shows x402 agent payments fell 84.7% from an August peak, with most volume likely small test or spam transactions.
- 10
Mizuho, MUFG and SMBC Complete Joint Yen Stablecoin Pilot
Mizuho, MUFG and SMBC completed a joint yen stablecoin pilot covering issuance, transfer and redemption.
- 11
Coinbase and Marqeta Expand Partnership for Enterprise Stablecoin Cards
Coinbase and Marqeta plan enterprise stablecoin cards, with Coinbase holding balances and Base handling onchain settlement.
- 12
Visa Direct moves USDC prefunding into commercial production with Inyo Global
Visa Direct moved USDC prefunding into commercial production with Inyo Global as its first commercial enabler, a notable stablecoin payments step.
- 13
Circle targets 40 new markets as stablecoin demand grows globally
Circle's CEO says it is targeting 40 new markets as stablecoin demand grows across Asia, Africa and Latin America.
- 14
Mastercard brings stablecoin balances into traditional banking and card payments
Mastercard's Global Money Platform with BVNK lets banks and fintechs hold and spend stablecoin balances in card and bank payments, with Nuvei and Marqeta among early adopters.
- 15
Visa Direct Moves USDC Prefunding Into Production With Inyo Global
Visa Direct moved USDC prefunding into production with Inyo Global for around-the-clock cross-border payouts.
- 16
I'm trying to sell tools to AI agents (not people) for 1–25 cents a call. Two weeks in: 1 real customer, 7 cents, and a lot of bots that only look.
A solo developer sold 12 x402 data tools to AI agents for $0.01–$0.25 per call on Base; after two weeks, one paying customer and 7 cents earned.
- 17
Stripe and Plasma to Develop Multi-Currency Stablecoin Cards
Plasma moving to Stripe card infrastructure for multi-currency stablecoin cards, including euro spending.
- 18
Fireblocks Opens Stablecoin Marketplace for Payments Firms, Says It Takes No Spread
Fireblocks launched a Liquidity Market where payments firms collect quotes from several stablecoin trading desks and settle with the one they choose, with no spread taken by Fireblocks.
- 19
Why raw x402 payments break when upstream agents hallucinate (and how we handled it on Base)
Builders open-sourced NullClear to stop x402 payments being lost when upstream agents fail, and note wash-trading in ERC-8004 reputation on Base.
- 20
DriveWealth Turns to Ripple’s RLUSD Stablecoin for Client Funding, With Europe First
DriveWealth will let clients fund collateral accounts with Ripple's RLUSD, starting in Europe with a U.S. rollout undated.
- 21
BVNK Launches Global Money Platform Linking Stablecoins to Mastercard Rails
BVNK launched a platform connecting stablecoins to Mastercard rails, with Nuvei and Marqeta among the first planned integrators.
- 22
Polygon gains US payments licenses after closing Coinme deal
Polygon gains 37 money transmitter licenses and 11 state exemptions by closing its Coinme deal, expanding US payments reach.
- 23
Tempo Takes Zones Privacy System Into Production With Deel
Tempo's Zones privacy system is in production with Deel, keeping contractor balances and payouts private while Deel keeps records for audit.
- 24
AI Agents Made 138 Million Crypto Payments in a Year. Most Were Tiny
Chainalysis finds x402 agent payments grew from about 1,500 in mid-2025 to over 138 million, mostly small and US-linked.
- 25
The gap between "store of value" marketing and actually using crypto as peer-to-peer money
Argues the peer-to-peer cash use case for bitcoin is blocked by fee and routing friction, not store-of-value framing.
- 26
Polygon Labs completes Coinme acquisition, bringing regulated payments coverage across 48 US states
Polygon Labs completed its Coinme acquisition, adding 37 state money transmitter licenses to its stablecoin payments infrastructure.
- 27
DriveWealth to use Ripple’s RLUSD for stablecoin settlement, cross-border payments
DriveWealth will use Ripple's RLUSD on the XRP Ledger for stablecoin settlement, collateral and cross-border payments, starting in Europe.
- 28
Canada crypto remittances to Asian countries surge 141% to $2.36B: Chainalysis
Chainalysis data shows Canadian crypto remittances to three Asian countries rose 141% to $2.36B.
- 29
North America: Inside the Growth of Agentic Commerce
Chainalysis regional report on North America's crypto economy and the growth of agentic commerce.
- 30
Privy Wallets Are Coming to the XRP Ledger, Aimed at Stablecoin Payments and AI Agents
Privy and Ripple will bring embedded wallets to XRPL, with AI agent payments on the roadmap; a product announcement.