Paysend Partners with BVNK to Expand Stablecoin Payments
Hey Payments Fanatic!
Paysend has partnered with BVNK to introduce stablecoin payments and settlement capabilities across its consumer and enterprise platforms.
For Paysend, the partnership represents a strategic step toward expanding its digital payments ecosystem and reinforcing its position in the cross-border payments market. For BVNK, it is an indicator of continued demand for stablecoin infrastructure.
Delivering trusted, scalable interoperability (connecting legacy systems, fiat, and multi-chain digital currencies) is now the critical priority.
Payment providers that master this integration early will gain a massive head start in the race to make tomorrowโs cross-border payments better, faster, and cheaper.
Last Wednesday, we covered Mastercardโs acquisition of BVNK, and todayโs news is more proof that the industryโs biggest players are betting on hybrid finance.
Keep scrolling ๐ Thereโs more updates across the Payments landscape below. I will be back tomorrow in your inbox.
Cheers,
NEWS
๐ฎ๐ณ Mastercard promotes Rahul Agrawal to Engineering Leadership Role. In this expanded role, Rahul will lead software engineering strategy, platform development, and technology innovation initiatives, with a focus on building scalable, secure, and high-performance solutions to support Mastercardยดs evolving global digital payment ecosystem.
๐ Paysend partners with BVNK to expand stablecoin payments and cross-border settlement. By integrating stablecoin rails, Paysend aims to enhance the speed and flexibility of its global payments network, which already spans more than 170 countries and supports over 80 currencies.
๐บ๐ธ Venmo has expanded globally by integrating with PayPal, allowing users to send and receive money with PayPal users across 90 markets. The move simplifies international peer-to-peer payments using just a phone number, reducing friction and expanding Venmoโs reach to a global audience.
๐ณ๐ฌ Moniepoint acquires Orda Africa to enter Nigeriaโs $19bn restaurant market. The deal folds Orda into Moniebook, Moniepointโs point-of-sale and business management platform, giving the FinTech a direct play in a food service sector valued at $50 billion across the continent.
๐ช๐น M-PESA Ethiopia expands into tax collection with Amhara region deal. The agreement paves the way for the over 450,000 individuals and businesses across Amhara to pay taxes through M-PESA, which relies on in-person services that have historically entailed manual processing and multiple visits to revenue offices.
๐ฟ๐ฆ Cape Town startup Happy Pay raises $5M seed round to scale the first ad-subsidized payments network, to deliver cost-free Buy Now Pay Later payments for SA consumers. The startup is building what it calls an ad-subsidized payments network, shifting the cost of instalments to the merchants and brands that actually benefit from the resulting sales.
๐น๐ฟ Visa supports digital payment innovation in Tanzania and Ethiopia. The new capability allows M-Pesa customers to make contactless payments using their Android mobile phones at any Visa-enabled point-of-sale terminal, both locally and internationally.
๐ง๐ท BTG suspends Pix after hacker attack diverts R$ 100 million. The case adds to a series of breaches targeting third-party providers, underscoring increasing pressure on the ecosystem to strengthen real-time fraud detection and security measures.
๐ฎ๐ณ India and Bhutan collaborate on UPI-linked postal remittances. The initiative is designed to enhance financial connectivity and make digital remittance services more accessible to citizens in both countries. As part of the collaboration, the two countries signed a MoU, establishing a formal framework between India Post and Bhutan Post.
๐จ๐ฆ Deloitte Canada and Stablecorp announce strategic collaboration on industry-first stablecoin infrastructure for Canadian financial institutions. Leveraging the inherent advantages of blockchain technology, speed, immutability, traceability, and efficiency will enable solutions that are robust, compliant, and scalable.
๐ Cathay Pacific expands global partnership with Adyen. This expansion marks a significant milestone, with Adyen now providing direct acquiring services for the airline in markets including Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Japan, and most recently, India.
GOLDEN NUGGET
๐ ๐ข๐๐ญ ๐๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ฌ ๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐๐ญ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐๐จ๐ข๐ง ๐๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ฌ โ ๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐ฒ๐ฉ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ซ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐๐ก๐๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ Created by Arthur Bedel ๐ณ โป๏ธ

At checkout, everything looks the same.
โณ Tap. Approve. Done.
But behind the scenes, the settlement path can be completely different... and that's what stablecoin/crypto cards are really changing:
โ Not the user experience...
โณ The ๐ซ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ฌ.
1๏ธโฃ Most "crypto cards" still settle like traditional cards:
โ user pays
โ issuer converts assets to fiat
โ merchant receives fiat
โ settlement happens on fiat rails (T+1 / T+2)
So yes, it works globally. But it still inherits the classic constraints:
โณ timing, intermediaries, cost, and conversion friction.
2๏ธโฃ Now compare that with ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐๐จ๐ข๐ง ๐ฌ๐๐ญ๐ญ๐ฅ๐๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ:
โ user pays
โ stablecoins are routed to a merchant wallet (i.e. Dfns)
โ settlement happens on supported blockchain rails
โ merchant receives stablecoins (often T+0)
= Same card swipe.
โณ Completely different settlement engine and once settlement becomes programmable, the implications get wild:
โ๏ธ faster merchant access to funds
โ๏ธ new treasury + liquidity models
โ๏ธ real-time cross-border settlement
โ๏ธ lower operational friction (reconciliation, prefunding, trapped cash)
โ๏ธ stablecoins becoming a real global liquidity layer
This is also where the "modern stack" shows up: you need secure wallet infrastructure and policy controls to move value at scale. Platforms like Dfns are becoming critical infrastructure for #issuers and #fintechs to manage wallets, keys, permissions, and transaction governance behind these flows.
"๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ฆ๐" โ crypto cards" are not all built the same. The differences matter:
โ ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ข๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ (debit / prepaid / credit)
โ ๐๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐ (prefunded vs sell-at-transaction-time)
โ ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐๐ฒ (custodial vs non-custodial)
โ ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ (stablecoins vs multi-asset vs yield-bearing)
โ ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐๐ซ ๐ญ๐ฒ๐ฉ๐ (exchange, neobank, protocol, fintech)
In other words:
2 cards can look identical in a wallet...
โณ but behave completely differently in settlement, economics, and risk.
And on the merchant side, we're also seeing new models emerge โ like Breeze โ rethinking how merchants can accept and settle using stablecoin rails (and what "Merchant-Of-Record" can look like in a programmable world).
๐จ One stat in this infographic that jumped out:
โณ Visa now represents ๐จ๐ฏ๐๐ซ ๐๐% of onchain card volume.
That's a big signal that stablecoin settlement through card distribution is scaling fast and that networks are taking this seriously.
โณ
๐๐ฒ ๐ญ๐๐ค๐:
1๏ธโฃ Cards are still the best distribution layer in payments.
2๏ธโฃ Stablecoins are becoming the best settlement layer.
3๏ธโฃ Stablecoin / Crypto cards are simply the bridge between the two.
Source: Artemis
Want your message in front of 100.000+ FinTech fanatics, founders, investors, and operators?
Shoot me a message on LinkedIn or send me an e-mail.

Comments ()