Mastercard has unveiled a new payment system for AI agents, designed to permit secure and permissioned transactions to be settled across its payment network at machine speed. Agent Pay for Machines (AP4M) envisions a future in which businesses create services AI agents can buy and use. Operating at machine speed, these agents will transact continuously with each other at high speed, executing trains of transactions including microtransactions. Mastercard said in a statement that it believes this will “unlock a massive new wave of innovation, business models and economic activity, where any company, from solopreneurs to the largest enterprises, can become a virtual powerhouse.” It gives the example of a florist…
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Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase Launch Tokenized Deposits
16 banks join forces to fight stablecoins’ ability to poach savings accounts
A group of America’s biggest banks are launching tokenized deposits in order to stave off the threat that stablecoins will poach depositors. Bank of America, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase are among the 16 major banks that have joined forces with The Clearing House to build a tokenized deposit network to enable 24/7 blockchain-based settlement of bank deposits. Banks have been running scared that depositors will turn to stablecoins like Circle’s USDC and Tether’s USDT instead of bank accounts to save their money, particularly if they are able to earn interest (or yield) on their stablecoin savings. Banks have been working to try and ban such yield offerings. The new initiative…
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Binance to Offer 7,000 U.S. Stocks and ETFs
Tokenized U.S. equities are also coming
While a number of crypto exchanges offer access to U.S. stocks, most limit that offering to a few dozens to a few hundred equities and ETFs. Today Binance is upping the ante, offering access to some 7,000 U.S. stocks and ETFs through its trading platform. Binance also announced that it will soon launch bStocks, tokenized securities representing selected U.S. stocks and equities. Both launches are part of the largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume’s goal of turning itself into a financial super-app that acts as a one-stop shop for all investing needs. “We have set out to reach the next 3 billion users, and to do that, we need to make…
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Cash App Adds Stablecoin Payments
The financial super app lets users send and receive USDC
Block, Inc.’s Cash App has added stablecoin payments to its roster of financial services. The financial services app now allows users to send and receive USDC on four blockchains: Ethereum, Solana, Polygon and Arbitrum. The company’s Bitcoin Product Lead, Miles Suter, said on X that “everything runs from your existing USD balance — no separate wallet, no managing multiple chains, no extra setup, and importantly no fees.” You simply send dollars from your wallet to a copy-pasted blockchain address, without any mention of stablecoins. That said, the company remains “singularly focused on bitcoin becoming the native currency of the internet,” Suter said. Block, Inc. Chairman and CEO Jack Dorsey remains…
