Real-time Payments

January, 2026

• 27 January

  Nuvei Teams with Wex and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 1/27/26

  

  Payments provider Nuvei Corp. said it will offer virtual card technology from WEX Inc. to its merchant base under a new agreement. Forter Inc., a developer of anti-fraud technology, said it will offer fraud prevention and identity technology to the McDonald’s Corp. for transactions conducted digitally with the hamburger chain. Mastercard Inc. announced …
• 23 January

  CapOne To Acquire Brex and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 1/23/26

  

  Capital One Financial Corp. said it will acquire Brex Inc., a San Francisco-based specialist in corporate cards and expense-management software, for $5.15 billion in stock and cash. Brex founder and chief executive Pedro Franceschi will continue in that role. The deal is expected to close by mid-year. Visa Inc. said it will …
• 22 January

  Stablecoins Are a Mainstream Form of Digital Payments, Zerohash Finds

  

  Stablecoins have moved into the mainstream of digital payments, according to a report from cryptocurrency platform provider zerohash. In 2025, stablecoin transaction volume as measured in U.S. dollars increased nearly seven-fold year over year, while the average transaction size rose 157%. In addition, the number of customers actively transacting with …
• 22 January

  FedNow Tallies More Than 1,600 FIs in its Real-Time Payments Service

  

  FedNow, the real-time payments service from the Federal Reserve, has topped 1,600 participating financial institutions in the more than two years since the network’s 2023 debut. The Fed says more than 100 of them, plus two service providers, joined in the fourth quarter. FedNow, which enables instant payments between accounts, …
• 22 January

  PayPal To Acquire Cymbio and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 1/22/26

  

  PayPal Holdings Inc. has agreed to acquire Cymbio Ltd., a payments-orchestration platform, with a closing expected in the first half of the year. Terms were not disclosed. Lightspeed Commerce Inc. announced Lightspeed AI along with a number of other new services. The AI service is aimed at aiding merchants in decision making …
• 19 January

  How Steak ‘n Shake Slashed Costs With Crypto; MEXC Launches a Crypto Credit Card

  

  Restaurant chain Steak ’n Shake says it has reduced its transaction fees by nearly 50% compared to credit card acceptance costs, while at the same time increasing sales by 15%, since it began accepting bitcoin last May. Steak ‘n Shake has nearly 400 locations in the United States. Steak ‘n …
• 15 January

  An ETA Report Calculates How Digital Payments Drive the U.S. Economy

  

  Digital payments last year generated $354 billion in economic output and supported more than 2 million jobs in the United States, says a report from the Electronic Transactions Association. In addition, each job directly related to digital payments supported an additional 2.6 jobs in the economy outside the digital- payments …
• 15 January

  A World Cup Betting Boom? and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 1/15/26

  

  Research from the processor Paysafe indicates strong interest in online betting during the 2026 World Cup, with 19% of consumers globally planning to place their first online bet during the tournament. Block Inc.’s buy now, pay later service, Afterpay, said 96% of pay-in-four users who shopped during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday …
• 12 January

  Worldpay Sale Closes and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 1/12/26

  

  The private-equity firm GTCR said the previously announced $24.25-billion sale of processor Worldpay to Global Payments Inc. has closed. As a result of the transaction, GTCR will own roughly 15% of Global Payments’ equity, the investment firm said. GTCR acquired a majority stake in Worldpay in July 2023 from the processor FIS Inc. Global …
• 9 January

  An ISV Deal for PointsKash and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 1/9/26

  

  Payments and rewards platform PointsKash Inc. said it has signed a new independent software vendor (ISV) agreement with payments processor Paysafe, allowing PointsKash to integrate Paysafe’s processing capabilities into its app. NCR Voyix Corp. announced it has begun to outsource its self-checkout and point-of-sale hardware businesses to technology firm Ennoconn Corp. under a …