PaymentExpert

Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is India’s most popular payment method; but how did it become a payment goliath to the envy of the rest of the world? India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is one of payments’ biggest success stories of the last decade. It has become not just India’s largest payment processor, but one of the world’s leading means of payment, reaching its peak in 2025 when, for the first time, it processed more daily transactions in June 2025 than Visa.

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands – 8 October 2026 – SBC Summit Europe will bring together the businesses, regulators and policymakers shaping the future of regulated gambling across the continent when it takes place at RAI Amsterdam from 19–21 April 2027.

Declined deposits do not always mean a player’s payment method cannot be used. Many times, transactions fail because of how they were routed, the data attached to them or the acquiring path they took. Vasos Varnava , Head of Business Development at QORE, tells Payment Expert how this distinction is central to understanding how much room payment optimisation has to recover lost deposit volume. Many factors may interfere with payment declines in a player’s journey.

Time to read: 1 min Blockchain Bulletin: Wells Fargo could soon launch crypto trading via Kraken’s liquidity Published on: October 8, 2026 | Last updated: October 8, 2026, 3:02 pm This week on Blockchain Bulletin, US bank Wells Fargo is in reported talks with Kraken parent Payward to support crypto and digital asset liquidity for its clients.

In a recent speech at an event this week, Pierro Cipollone, Executive Board Member at the European Central Bank (ECB) revealed how the digital euro aims to complement the private sector, how it will not accrue interest, and how it aims to mitigate tokenised fragmentation. The European Central Bank’s (ECB) central bank digital currency, the digital euro, intends not to compete against private banks and payment schemes, but to act as infrastructure for the digitisation of finance.

Erica Stanford, an adviser at CMS UK and author of Crypto Wars, told the Payment Expert Podcast that AI has lowered the barrier to payments fraud, that stablecoin payment volumes are far smaller than headline figures suggest, and that crypto is now more traceable than cash. Stanford works in a non-legal capacity on the international law firm’s crypto team. Stablecoins: hype versus payments Stablecoins settled more on-chain value last year than Visa‘s own network processed.

Midnight Foundation’s Fahmi Syed and Monument Bank’s Mintoo Bhandari say privacy and tokenisation are drawing decentralised and traditional finance together. Large financial institutions will not place client assets on public blockchains because those networks expose every transaction, Fahmi Syed, President of the Midnight Foundation, told a panel at Fintech Week London 2026 on the convergence of decentralised and traditional finance.

TikTok is building in-app checkout and AI shopping agents with Stripe, Shopify, Salesforce and Shoplazza, keeping purchases inside the app. TikTok is building tools to let shoppers buy products without leaving the app, naming Stripe, Shopify, Salesforce and Shoplazza among the payment and commerce providers it is working with. The company set out the tools at Advertising Week New York 2026, with its two main features including Buy Direct and Shopping Assistant.

Monzo is seeking to bring in new investment by selling off stakes to increase its valuation following Nubank’s announcement it will not pursue an acquisition of the UK bank. Among the firms that have reportedly already registered their interest in acquiring a stake in Monzo includes private equity firm TPG, as well as Advent International and DE Shaw. Early indications from reports suggest Monzo is targeting a £8bn valuation from the share sales.

Foldable phones could change how consumers interact with payments, making providers rethink contactless and online checkout. If you’re a self-proclaimed technophile or perhaps you just really like origami, you’ve probably seen the excitement around Apple’s new foldable phone, the iPhone Duo The device allows users to switch between a smartphone-sized screen and a much larger display by opening it up.