Money20/20 US: Vegas spins the stablecoin story forward

This year's Money20/20 conference in Las Vegas brought together over 11,000 attendees from more than 85 countries in Las Vegas to discuss the latest trends shaping the payments and fintech space. The event drew a diverse mix of participants, including banks, merchant acquirers, payment processors and gateways, card networks and clearing schemes, banking technology providers, digital lenders, blockchain innovators, and big technology vendors. We share our key takeaways and observations from the gathering and discuss major announcements, emerging themes and strategic directions shaping the global payments segment.

In general, fintechs are an optimistic bunch, and this year's Money20/20 struck a decidedly more optimistic tone than in 2024 amid a favorable regulatory regime for stablecoins and a profusion of generative AI capabilities. Unsurprisingly, most participants sought to showcase their latest initiatives around stablecoins and agentic AI. Both are no longer differentiators but baseline expectations as the industry is hurrying to pivot from experimentation to commercialization.

As always, panel discussions painted a picture of what the next generation of fintech looks like — a distant future that offers dazzling opportunities and seismic systemic risks. The optimism also stems from an improving capital market environment that rewards those that operate across multiple jurisdictions and rails. With greater investor backing, we anticipate an acceleration in product development and strategic collaborations.

The world of payments comes to Vegas

Among the highest-tier sponsors at the conference were global payments giants such as Adyen NV, Checkout.com LLC, Convera Holdings LLC, Discover Financial Services, Mastercard Inc., PayPal Holdings Inc., Privy, Stripe Inc. and Visa Inc. Stripe stood out with a large presence, as its subsidiaries Bridge and Privy also featured independently.

Other notable attendees included core banking providers (e.g., Fiserv Inc., Fidelity National Information Services Inc.), modern issuer processors (Galileo, Marqeta Inc., Thredd Group Ltd.), crypto-native firms (Circle, Fireblocks Inc., Ripple Labs Inc., Uphold, Inc.), open banking players (Plaid, Trustly), and alternative payment specialists (DLocal Ltd., Ebanx). Interbank networks such as Federal Reserve Financial Services — which operates FedNow — and SWIFT also participated, alongside cross-border players like Euronet Worldwide Inc.'s Dandelion Payments, Thunes Financial Services Inc., Nium Pte. Ltd. and Airwallex Pty. Ltd.

Many Europe- and Asia-based companies appear keen on fast-tracking their expansion in the US, the world's most prized fintech market, by securing banking charters and money transmitter licenses, as well as eyeing M&A opportunities. For instance, Checkout.com has applied for a limited-purpose banking charter in Georgia to gain direct access to card networks, reducing reliance on intermediary banks. Airwallex, headquartered in Singapore, recently acquired Openpay Group Ltd. to enter the billing space, while Australia's Xero Ltd. purchased Melio Payments Inc. in June to bolster its US footprint.

It's also notable that several exhibitors came in fresh off funding rounds, which indicates that companies are using industry conferences as go-to-market and partnership platforms. Examples include Airwallex ($300 million, series F), Pliant ($40 million, series B), Thunes ($150 million, series D) and Rain ($58 million, series B).

The lone elite bank sponsor was U.S. Bancorp, although the broader banking industry maintained a strong presence with Bank of New York Mellon Corp.. (BNY), Citigroup Inc., Fifth Third Bancorp, JPMorgan Chase & Co., KeyCorp and Standard Chartered PLC among the exhibitors. While few banks made major announcements, incumbents were eager to emphasize that they are not passive consumers of fintech innovation, spotlighting initiatives in AI and blockchain. JPMorgan and Standard Chartered remain early movers in digital assets, while Citigroup and Coinbase Global Inc. announced a collaboration to enhance fiat-to-crypto payment rails for institutional clients, reflecting a deepening convergence between traditional and digital finance.

It's worth noting that global banks' payments arms still dwarf most fintechs. J.P. Morgan Payments, for instance, recently reported nearly $5 billion in third-quarter net revenue alone, compared with Airwallex's $1 billion annualized run rate, although the latter is growing at a faster clip.

Legacy firms look to leapfrog upstarts with stablecoins

Numerous banks and fintechs are honing their stablecoin strategies. One of the most significant announcements came from a nearly 175-year-old remittance company that moves half of its transactions via its vast agent network.

Amid years of revenue decline, The The Western Union Co.'s launch of a US dollar stablecoin issued on Solana Co. dominated the headlines. While most agree that stablecoins are great for instant, low-cost, dollar-based settlement, the real problem is getting cash into/out of the hands of underserved customers. This is where, at least in theory, the money transfer operator's massive agent footprint gives it a prebuilt physical on/offramp network, which is potentially the missing piece for driving real consumer adoption in cash-centric markets. Meanwhile, its 500,000-plus agent locations across 200 countries act as the distribution capability, which is likely the larger strategic lever than the token itself.

Regarding how this works, we speculate that a user could top up a compatible wallet with cash at a Western Union agent, have those funds represented as U.S. Dollar Payment Token (USDPT) on-chain, and send them instantly across borders. On the receiving end, the beneficiary could either keep the stablecoin in their wallet or redeem it for local cash through a nearby agent. However, implementation requires navigating diverse regulatory regimes; strong transaction monitoring; incentives for agents to run cash rails; and managing reserve transparency, as well as counterparty and custody risks.

The move should help Western Union close a parity gap with peers such as MoneyGram International Inc. and PayPal, both of which are already experimenting with token rails. Western Union's decision to own the issuance via a bank-regulated partner like Anchorage Digital contrasts sharply with MoneyGram's approach of leveraging Circle's USDC. Moreover, its strategy is weightier from a compliance and operational standpoint, while locking in strategic autonomy and greater control at the same time.

Other incumbents are also stepping up. Fiserv, which earlier this year unveiled its digital assets platform, told us that its FIUSD stablecoin is designed to integrate directly into both Fiserv and non-Fiserv cores through open APIs. The goal is to give banks and credit unions a compliant way to issue and transact with stablecoins while keeping deposits within the regulated system. Fiserv plans to leverage its pending acquisition of StoneCastle, one of the largest deposit networks in the US, to distribute FIUSD reserves across a broad network of banks and credit unions rather than concentrating them in a few institutions. Initially launched on the Solana blockchain, FIUSD will also be interoperable with PYUSD and USDC, reflecting a collaborative approach with players like PayPal, Circle and Paxos Trust Company LLC.

AI agents and the rise of agentic commerce

The rapid formation of an agentic payments stack drove a wave of announcements at Money20/20. Mastercard, PayPal and Worldpay LLC each unveiled infrastructure to support AI-driven payments. Mastercard's Agent Pay will be integrated with PayPal wallets, allowing AI agents to access and use stored payment credentials securely. PayPal also announced an instant checkout integration within ChatGPT, employing Stripe and OpenAI LLC's new Agentic Commerce Protocol to move users seamlessly from conversation to purchase. Worldpay joined this ecosystem as well, adopting ACP to support credential management, tokenization and instant checkout across acquirer networks. Collectively, these moves mark the early formation of interoperable standards for agentic commerce — and strong early momentum for ACP.

With AI-driven payments comes the need for verified digital identity. Prove Identity Inc. launched its Verified Agent tool to bind identity, intent and payment credentials, while Incode Technologies Inc. introduced Agentic Identity, linking each AI agent to a verified human or enterprise owner and enforcing consent boundaries. These offerings aim to build the trust layer required for autonomous financial interactions.

The product launches at the event highlighted just how pervasive agentic AI is becoming in the financial services sector. For instance, small business lender Ibusiness Funding, LLC unveiled iBuild, an AI-powered code development platform for financial institutions. In another example, banking infrastructure provider Prometeo launched its agentic AI banking infrastructure in Latin America, enabling AI agents to perform a variety of financial tasks such as validating bank accounts, moving money, and managing treasury operations.

Trust and security are necessities

Just as financial technology has the power to radically improve financial processes, it can wreak havoc if it gets into the wrong hands. Building trust in financial services with strong security and fraud prevention was a major theme guiding conversations at the confab. For instance, Mastercard announced its Mastercard Threat Intelligence product in partnership with Recorded Future Inc., which it acquired in December 2024. Mastercard Threat Intelligence provides real-time risk insights that can help organizations proactively prevent, detect and respond to fraud.

Additionally, several startups at the event presented their innovative approaches to preventing fraud and ensuring compliance. Ideem, for example, is on a mission to make two-factor authentication "effortless, invisible and universally trusted" with its Zero-Trust Secure Module technology. Meanwhile, Virtue AI offers technology that protects AI agents, models and applications from fraud across the entire AI life cycle, from pre-deployment to production.

Consistent with recent years, fraud prevention vendors were among Money20/20's most prominent sponsors, reflecting the segment's enduring commitment to building robust identity frameworks. Notable five-star sponsors included SHIELD, Socure Inc., Trulioo Information Services Inc., Persona, Incode and Alloy.

Commercial payments becoming more streamlined

AI, stablecoins and virtual cards are reshaping how businesses move money, making commercial payment operations faster, smarter and more efficient. For example. Mastercard recently announced key enhancements to its commercial payments suite. Its clearing controls feature allows transaction rule enforcement at the clearing stage, improving compliance and flexibility. Meanwhile, the Commercial Connect API enables B2B platforms to embed commercial payment capabilities directly into their offerings, leveraging Mastercard's issuer ecosystem and extensive commercial payments infrastructure.

Convera shared how generative AI is being deployed to streamline cross-border payments, improving accuracy, speed and data reconciliation. Similarly, Conduit Holdings Ltd., a stablecoin infrastructure specialist, noted rising adoption of stablecoins in accounts payable, treasury and payroll functions as businesses seek real-time settlement and lower transaction costs.

Even traditional issuer processors are leaning into this momentum. Long known for its consumer payments focus, i2c reported substantial growth in its commercial payments division, reflecting the broader shift toward digitized, embedded and programmable business payment offerings. Overall, these developments point to a clear trend: the once fragmented and paper-heavy world of commercial payments is rapidly evolving into a more intelligent, interoperable and on-chain-enabled ecosystem.

A need for payment flexibility drives new partnerships and offerings

Providing flexible payment options has become essential to attracting and retaining customers, a theme that resonated throughout this year's Money20/20. PayPal highlighted this trend with the announcement of a partnership between Venmo LLC and Bilt that allows users to pay housing costs directly via Venmo while earning rewards. The collaboration extends Venmo's utility beyond peer-to-peer transfers, embedding it more deeply into everyday financial life.

Additionally, DLocal Ltd. unveiled BNPL Fuse, a "buy now, pay later" orchestration product that connects multiple local BNPL providers across Latin America, Asia, and Europe, the Middle East and Africa through a single API. This unified approach helps merchants and partners offer regionally relevant BNPL options without complex integrations, meeting consumers' growing demand for choice and convenience in payments. The BNPL trend carried over to B2B, as Liberis Ltd. introduced Pay with Liberis in the US, a BNPL offering for SaaS platforms that allows merchants to finance hardware purchases via future revenue.

Together, these initiatives underscore a clear industry direction toward greater flexibility, integration and user-centric design in the global payments landscape.