Cross-border Payments

The Kingdom of Bhutan is making a bold statement by integrating cryptocurrency payments into its tourism infrastructure, essentially saying Bhutan is opening up to modern travelers and eliminating friction in its payment infrastructure.

Binance Pay has teamed up with French fintech Lyzi to introduce cryptocurrency payments to over 80 businesses across the French Riviera, including the glamorous cities of Cannes, Nice, Antibes, and Monaco.

Leading prime brokerage platform FalconX has joined forces with Crypto.com, Galaxy, Wintermute, and other major industry players to launch a next-generation settlement network called Lynq.

Israeli authorities have arrested a 27-year-old Tel Aviv resident on suspicion on espionage charges after he allegedly completed intelligence tasks for Iranian operatives in exchange for crypto payments.

Mastercard and Chainlink have teamed up to let over 3 billion cardholders buy crypto directly on-chain using their bank cards. The system is already live and involves several partners to handle payments, compliance, and crypto swaps.

Elon Musk is continuing his transformation of X into a multifunctional super app, modeled on Chinese like WeChat.

Visa has partnered with Yellow Card to use stablecoins like USDC for faster, cheaper cross-border payments in Africa. This move aims to help tackle currency issues and improve money transfers across the continent.

Shopify has teamed up with Coinbase and Stripe to let merchants in 34 countries accept USDC payments through its platform. The system uses Coinbase’s Base network and allows payouts in either USDC or local currency, with no cross-border fees.

Stripe has bought Privy to integrate its crypto wallet technology into Stripe’s payment services. The deal aims to make Web3 payments smoother for developers and businesses by reducing friction in wallet setup and transactions.

Uber’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the company is exploring stablecoins to make international money transfers cheaper and easier. Although still in early research with no set plans, Uber sees stablecoins as a practical option for its global payments.