The Real Battle In Payments Is Owning The Merchant Stack

Hey Payments Fanatic!

Building a payments company is one thing.

But building the financial infrastructure merchants never have to leave is another.

That's exactly where Checkout.com appears to be heading.

The company received an in-principle approval for a Stored Value Facilities (SVF) licence from the Central Bank of the UAE, a milestone that brings it one step closer to offering merchants a fully integrated financial platform.

This adds to a strategy that's been unfolding for some time.

Checkout.com first expanded beyond acquiring with Visa Direct Push-to-Card, enabling real-time payouts, before announcing plans to become the first global digital PSP to launch domestic card issuing in the UAE.

Now, stored value completes another piece of the puzzle.

What's interesting isn't just the licence, it's what it says about Checkout.com's broader ambitions.

Payments are becoming less about a single transaction and more about managing the entire flow of money. The more of that journey a platform can handle, the more valuable it becomes to merchants.

Now, let's dive into the rest of today's biggest Payments stories 👇

See you tomorrow!

Cheers,

Marcel

INSIGHTS

📊 American Express 🆚 Visa 

Here is a comparison of 𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝘀:

NEWS

🇦🇪 Checkout.com strengthens UAE offering with in-principle Stored Value Facilities licence. The regulatory milestone will allow Checkout.com to introduce issuing capabilities alongside its existing acquiring services in the UAE on a single platform built for performance.

🇪🇬 The National Bank of Egypt, in collaboration with Mastercard launch USD Corporate Debit Card for seamless cross-border payments. It is designed to empower Egyptian businesses, from large corporates to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), with seamless access to global commerce.

🇮🇳 PhonePe's FY26 revenue grows to ₹7,920 crore, driven by continued growth across its FinTech ecosystem. The company also surpassed 700 million registered users and 50 million merchants while expanding its presence in lending, insurance, wealth management and payment services.

🇺🇸 Fidelity chooses Ethereum for its first stablecoin, Fidelity Digital Dollar (FIDD), marking the firm's expansion into on-chain financial services. Issued by Fidelity Digital Assets, the launch highlights growing institutional adoption of Ethereum as major financial firms build digital asset infrastructure

🇺🇸 Stripe stablecoin card program lead Connor Fitzgerald steps down. Connor Fitzgerald has left Stripe after helping build and scale its stablecoin infrastructure business following the acquisition of Bridge. During his tenure, Stripe expanded its stablecoin card program to more than 100 markets. 

🇮🇳 bKash deploys largest Bangla QR network nationwide to accelerate cashless payments. Customers can now make cashless payments using bKash as well as other digital wallets. The initiative has also significantly boosted merchant payments, with transactions worth more than Tk200 crore on average every day.

🇰🇷 South Korean FinTech Hanpass is exploring stablecoin-based payment services as it expands beyond remittances into a broader digital finance platform. The company aims to improve the speed and cost of cross-border transactions while supporting services for foreign residents and global payments.

🇺🇸 NectarPay launches a non-custodial crypto payments platform built on the TEXITcoin Chain, enabling merchants to accept digital asset payments with zero transaction fees and instant settlement. The platform supports multiple cryptocurrencies and offers payment acceptance through QR codes, payment links, point-of-sale terminals, and API integrations.

🇦🇪 Yalla strengthens its UAE presence with CBUAE in-principle approval for a Retail Payment Services Category II License. Yalla aims to contribute to one of the world's fastest-growing digital economies while supporting the increasing demand for secure, scalable, and locally compliant financial technology solutions.

🇳🇿 Xero partners with Revolut Business on cross-border finance. The partnership is aimed at businesses with overseas operations and multi-currency transactions. Businesses can also pull bills from Xero into their Revolut Business account for payment, with transaction details then syncing back into the accounting platform.

🇪🇸 Getnet integrates WeChat Pay to streamline payments for Asian tourists in Spanish businesses. With this integration, establishments will be able to more easily accept payments from tourists from Asia, especially those of Chinese origin. Continue reading

🌎 OKX launches all-in-one app for crypto, payments, and more. The new OKX app consolidates multiple functionalities into a single platform, allowing users to trade cryptocurrencies, manage payments, and access institutional infrastructure all in one place.

🌎 Western Union to shut down its digital bank. Customers must withdraw remaining funds, update payment details, and download account records before their accounts are closed, while Western Union's money transfer services will continue to operate separately.

🇺🇸 Circle acquires IBM’s blockchain patent portfolio, including more than 680 patent families and nearly 1,000 issued patents. The intellectual property will support products including USDC, the Circle Payments Network, Arc, and other onchain financial infrastructure.

🇺🇸 TSG announces strategic partnership with Stripe to accelerate payments-driven growth. The partnership is designed to help platforms, software providers, and their investors turn payments into a disciplined growth lever: driving monetization, improving activation, and strengthening long-term performance.

🌍 Zedcrest Group completes acquisition of Leatherback, strengthening its international financial services platform and expanding its cross-border payments capabilities. The deal builds on Zedcrest's existing investment in the company and supports Leatherback's global expansion.

🇧🇷 PicPay receives approval from the Central Bank to acquire Kovr following suspicions of an irregular agreement. The deal will strengthen PicPay's insurance platform as it expands beyond distribution into a more integrated insurance business serving its 68 million customers.

🇺🇸 Byline Bank and Lithic partner to expand FinTech banking capabilities. This partnership will enable Lithic to connect technology companies with Byline Bank and enable them to launch consumer and commercial card programs and banking services.

🌍 MoonPay and Tempo announce ecosystem partnership to power stablecoin payments. The collaboration adds MoonPay's on-ramp and Virtual Accounts to Tempo Wallet, enabling users and developers to fund wallets, move money, and settle payments more seamlessly across fiat and digital assets.

GOLDEN NUGGET

🚨 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞?👇 Created by Arthur Bedel 💳 ♻️

Step 1 : Adding your card.

→ You submit your card to Apple Wallet. Apple Pay servers send the PAN to the card network.

→ The card network requests validation from your issuing bank.

→ The bank validates and returns a token to the network.

→ The network sends the token back to Apple Pay servers, which store it in your device's Secure Element as a DAN (Device Account Number).

Your real card number never stays on the device.

Step 2 : Making a payment.

→ You authenticate via Face ID or Touch ID.

→ The Secure Element sends the DAN, a Dynamic Cryptogram and a Dynamic CVV to the contactless POS terminal via NFC.

→ The POS forwards everything to the merchant bank.

→ The merchant bank sends it to the card network: Visa, Mastercard, American Express.

→ The card network decrypts the token with the Token Service Provider and sends everything to the issuing bank.

→ The issuing bank verifies funds and validates the transaction.

→ Authorization flows back through the network to the merchant bank to the POS.

→ The POS notifies Apple Pay, transaction approved.

Eight steps. Under two seconds. Your real card number never touches the merchant's system at any point in this flow.

Source: Gotechtor

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