Mastercard is making payments work when the power goes out
Hey Payments Fanatic!
Mastercard is making sure payments keep moving even when the power or network goes down.
From February 2027, all newly issued Mastercard cards across Europe will support offline payments, with new and replacement terminals required to support them from May 2027. During an outage, customers will be able to use chip and PIN for essentials like groceries, fuel and medicine, with transactions approved locally up to €200 per transaction and cleared once the connection returns.
The move follows the blackout in Spain and Portugal last year, when around 55 million people were suddenly unable to make digital payments. Mastercard has already tested the approach in Denmark, Sweden, Estonia and Latvia, and is now rolling it out across Europe.
It’s a good reminder that payment innovation isn’t always about making transactions faster. Sometimes, it’s about making sure they still work when everything else stops.
And if you're thinking about where payments are heading next, ACI Worldwide and Finextra asked 162 payments leaders what the industry could look like by 2030. A2A, instant payments, cloud infrastructure, and AI all feature prominently, alongside the growing challenge of compliance.
Here’s what else is happening in payments today👇
See you on Monday!
Cheers,
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INSIGHTS
💡 ACI Worldwide and Finextra asked 162 payments leaders what they think payments will look like by 2030 - and the answers point to a pretty busy few years ahead. A2A payments, 24/7 instant payments, cloud infrastructure and AI all feature prominently, while compliance is becoming harder to separate from innovation. See what payments leaders are expecting by 2030.
NEWS
🌍 Mastercard announces offline payments for Europe. The announcement comes from Mastercard's Europe newsroom and focuses on offline payments across the European market. The press release was published in 2026 as part of Mastercard's regional announcements. The full release sets out the specifics of the offering.
🇦🇪 LuLu Money Business partners with Mastercard to build a connected financial ecosystem for SMEs. The MoU will combine LuLu Money Business accounts, issued by UAE Islamic bank ruya, with Mastercard’s card solutions and advisory services to broaden financial services for SMEs. The partnership aims to connect payments with expense management, cash flow and other business needs as LuLu Money Business expands its SME proposition.
🇺🇸 Gr4vy partners with Unlimit to give enterprises access to local payment methods worldwide. Merchants can offer locally preferred payment methods without separate integrations for each new market. Options include Pix, Mercado Pago and OXXO in Latin America, M-Pesa in Africa, UPI and GrabPay in Asia Pacific, and SEPA Instant in Europe.
🇺🇸 Samsung partners with Solana to deliver stablecoins in Samsung Wallet to 82M U.S. Galaxy devices. U.S. users will be able to send money across borders using USDC starting the last week of October 2026. The feature sits inside Samsung Wallet with integrated conversion to and from local currency. Additional markets will follow, subject to local regulatory requirements.
🇺🇸 Coinbase and Samsung bring USDC to Samsung Wallet. Starting in late October, US users topping up their stablecoin balances will have USDC as the default dollar stablecoin. Coinbase Prime will custody the USDC, with Bastion serving as the licensed stablecoin custodian and infrastructure partner, and Coinbase acting as its official sub-custodian.
🇪🇺 EPI joins nexo standards to support Wero payment acceptance across Europe. The membership will help extend Wero's acceptance across European merchant payment infrastructure using nexo's open, ISO 20022-based specifications. With 60 million users, Wero aims to expand its account-to-account payment capabilities into everyday retail transactions across Europe.
🌏︎ Gate partners with Visa to launch a crypto linked card across 40+ countries and territories. The card converts crypto into fiat currency at the point of sale for spending online and in store wherever Visa is accepted. Users can apply for and manage the card in the Gate app.
🇸🇬 Nium brings global off ramp infrastructure to RedotPay's more than 9M users. Announced at TOKEN2049 in Singapore, the partnership gives RedotPay access to Nium's network spanning 100 currencies and 190 countries. RedotPay will use it to extend its off ramp coverage into new markets. Nium's network moved over $84B globally in the past year.
🇺🇸 Western Union and Publix extend their relationship across the Southeast. The renewal keeps money transfer, bill payment and money order services at Publix stores. The relationship spans more than two decades and supports Publix's expansion into Kentucky.
🇰🇷 Toss and Gwangju Bank complete a proof of concept for stablecoin QR payments. The test verified Gwangju Bank customers paying with stablecoins at offline stores through the linked Toss app with a QR code. Payment and settlement are confirmed at the same moment, with funds going directly to the merchant. The companies are now preparing a second round of verification with actual merchants.
🇭🇺 Revolut users in Hungary woke up to unexpected refunds, after recent card payments were reversed. Visa, Mastercard and Maestro transactions at Lidl, Rossmann and dm were reportedly affected. The incident appears to be a processing error rather than a security breach, though the cause remains unconfirmed.
🇬🇧 Wise to pay customers’ tax bills after software error. Around 4,000 UK users of Wise Assets received incorrect tax statements between 2021 and 2025 because of errors in third-party software used to calculate investment income and capital gains. Wise is negotiating a bulk settlement with HMRC to cover potential tax shortfalls and says it will compensate customers who overpaid, while corrected statements have already been issued.
🇬🇧 London's IMMIX secures €3.12M to build FX infrastructure for stablecoin payments beyond the US dollar. The AI-native trading firm develops foreign exchange infrastructure for payment providers, helping them convert between currencies using stablecoins. The funding will support further development of its technology.
🇳🇱 Adyen shareholders approve Chris Vogelzang's appointment to its Supervisory Board. The board will also undergo a leadership transition on November 1, when Herna Verhagen succeeds retiring Chair Piero Overmars. A separate update to Adyen's executive leadership model will take effect January 31, 2027.
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