FinTech & AI on 26 September: 9 stories
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- 01Fed proposes stablecoin rulesThe Federal Reserve has proposed rules to implement the GENIUS Act for stablecoin issuers and Fed-supervised firms that safekeep reserve assets. The proposal requires backing with high-quality liquid assets such as Treasury bills, adds capital and risk-management requirements and sets out how banks apply to issue stablecoins; comments are open for 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.Why it matters: Redemption at par "in a range of conditions" is now the supervisory test, so reserve quality and redemption timing will decide which stablecoins banks and payment firms can safely use. The Fed has missed its July deadline and no agency has finalised its rules, so the details can still move.
- 02FedNow Opens Door to Cross-Border Instant PaymentsFederal Reserve Financial Services said on 23 September that FedNow will support cross-border payments, with FedNow carrying the US leg and correspondent banks handling the overseas leg. Early adopters will test new message formats first; there is no general launch date, and the Regulation J change proposed in April is not yet final.Why it matters: An instant US leg inside a correspondent-bank payment makes cross-border transfers faster on one side only, while the foreign side still runs on correspondent cut-offs. Banks and payment firms will have to handle split-speed payments and new ISO 20022 fields, and the early-adopter test is the moment to prepare.
- 03Kraken’s parent Payward is betting billions on becoming financial infrastructure, not just a crypto exchangeKraken's parent Payward is merging trading, banking, asset management and B2B services into what co-CEO Arjun Sethi calls "one platform, one balance sheet, one regulatory stack", after buying NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion and Bitnomial for $550 million and, according to Bloomberg, pursuing a Lithuanian bank. Its Payward Services API business already supports more than 25 external companies, and Q2 2026 adjusted revenue was $508 million, up 17% year on year.Why it matters: With a Wyoming special-purpose depository charter and more than 25 companies on its APIs, Payward is selling a regulated stack as a service, not just running an exchange. Crypto exchanges are becoming infrastructure providers for fintechs, competing with banking-as-a-service platforms on one balance sheet and one licence stack.
- 04Block Joins x402 Foundation to Drive Agentic Commerce StandardsBlock has joined the x402 Foundation, the open-governance body behind x402, a standard that embeds stablecoin payments into web requests through the HTTP 402 "Payment Required" code. The foundation launched in July 2026 with 40 member organisations; Block says it will contribute payments expertise and keep supporting Bitcoin Lightning in x402.Why it matters: Earlier this month the data showed most x402 traffic still isn't from AI agents, yet another major payments company is joining the standard. Standards for agentic payments are being set before the volume arrives, and the companies shaping them now will set the defaults others build on.
- 05FIDO wrestles with agentic trustThe FIDO Alliance, whose members include Visa, PayPal, Apple, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo, is setting up work on authenticating AI agents: tying agent transactions back to a verified human, phishing-resistant sign-in for authorised agents and "know your agent" frameworks. FIDO's Andrew Shikiar expects "very, very gradual" adoption until trust and liability questions such as chargebacks are settled.Why it matters: "Know your agent" is a policy question before it is a cryptography one: someone has to decide what an agent may do, up to what amount and on whose behalf. Until liability for rogue agents and chargebacks is settled, merchants and issuers will limit how far agentic commerce can scale.
- 06Bitget's $352 million hack happened via spoofed transfers, not private keys, CEO Gracy Chen saysBitget lost $351.6 million after attackers compromised its wallet backend, spoofed transaction data and got the exchange's own authorisation process to move funds from hot and warm wallets; private keys and cold storage were not compromised, according to CEO Gracy Chen. Withdrawals are frozen pending a security review, the exchange says its $464 million protection fund covers the loss, and Circle and Tether froze the attacker's stablecoin wallet.Why it matters: The keys held; the approval logic didn't. The system authorised transfers based on data it trusted without independent checks, a control-layer failure that any payment system approving transfers automatically should test itself against.
- 07Tether confirms minimal EQIBank exposure following $89M US asset seizureUS prosecutors have seized $89 million from accounts at Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase belonging to Capstone, a payment processor linked to EQIBank, a Dominica-licensed digital bank that handled wires for USDT purchases and redemptions. Court filings allege Capstone misrepresented its business to banks; Tether says its exposure is under 0.034% of group assets and that it had no knowledge of the alleged conduct.Why it matters: The fiat on- and off-ramp of one of the largest stablecoins ran through a chain of processors and an offshore bank, and US banks only saw the first link. The case shows how quickly a partner's partner can freeze flows, and why banks will look harder at the processors they serve.
- 08IPID Raises US$16 Million for US, Europe and Digital Asset ExpansionIPID, which verifies beneficiary bank-account details before cross-border payments are sent, has raised a $16 million Series A led by Foundation Capital, with Citi and HSBC joining as strategic investors. The company covers more than 50 countries and will use the money to expand in the US and Europe and to add capabilities for US payment rails, stablecoins and digital assets.Why it matters: Checking the payee before the money leaves is becoming standard in instant and cross-border payments, and Citi and HSBC are backing the supplier as both customers and investors. Payee verification is turning into shared infrastructure that payment flows plug into, rather than something each bank builds alone.
- 09Bank al Etihad Signs MoU to Set Up a Lender in ADGMJordan's Bank al Etihad has signed a memorandum of understanding with Abu Dhabi-based Ethmar International Holding and other UAE investors to set up a Category 1 bank in Abu Dhabi Global Market, supervised by the FSRA. The bank will serve regional and international corporate, institutional and high-net-worth clients and facilitate cross-border transactions; the launch is still subject to regulatory approvals.Why it matters: ADGM keeps attracting banks built specifically for cross-border business, adding licensed counterparties for payment flows through the Gulf. For fintechs and payment firms in the region, the pool of potential banking partners is widening.