PayPal has been busy. Within days, it plugged into both major AI payment stacks — Google Cloud’s AP2 and OpenAI’s ACP. What’s the real strategy behind these moves? What kind of AI-powered payment future is PayPal betting on? And how might the split between AP2 and ACP reshape the competitive rails of digital payments?

Meanwhile, remittance veteran Western Union is entering the stablecoin race. Its 380,000 cash outlets — once seen as stranded analog assets — now look like the hardest-to-replicate infrastructure of the stablecoin era.

Zooming out, stablecoins stand at a crossroads. The technical advantage is being absorbed by traditional finance, leveling the field. As tech parity takes hold, the next battleground shifts to trust, compliance, and scale. For builders and investors alike, the question is no longer if this transition happens — but how to align with it before it locks in.

Market Overview & Growth Highlights

Total stablecoin market cap reached $307.462b, with a week-over-week decrease of $922.7M. In terms of market structure, USDT continues to maintain its dominant position at 59.64%; USDC ranks second with a market cap of $75.547b, accounting for 224.57%.

Blockchain Network Distribution

Top 3 Networks by Stablecoin Market Cap:

1. Ethereum: $163.663b

2. Tron: $78.59b

3. Solana: $14.946b

Top 3 Networks by Weekly Growth:

1. Frax (FRAX) : +27.44%

2. World Liberty Financial USD (USD1) ：+11.50%

3. Circle USYC (USYC) ：+9.73% Frax (FRAX) ：+27.44%

Data from DefiLlama

🎯PayPal Integrates AP2 and ACP to Lead the Next Wave of AI Commerce Payments

PayPal has completed integrations with both AP2 and ACP, marking its entry into AI commerce payments. Over the past week, the company has moved aggressively, signaling that this traditional financial giant intends to dominate the emerging AI-driven transaction landscape.

Its first step is a deep integration with OpenAI, connecting PayPal’s payment wallet directly to ChatGPT through the ACP protocol, enabling users to shop and pay within chats using cards, transfers, or balances. This instantly makes PayPal’s network of tens of millions of merchants—spanning global brands and small businesses—discoverable and transactable inside ChatGPT, while routing, authentication, and settlement happen seamlessly in the background.

The second move pairs PayPal with Google Cloud to launch the Agentic Commerce Solution, powered by the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) built atop A2A and MCP, which provides a trust and fraud-protection layer for AI-driven payments. Taken together, these steps signal that an AI commerce economy is taking shape. As consumer attention shifts from browsers and apps to AI agents such as ChatGPT—where shopping conversion is roughly 6.8 times higher than Google’s organic search—embedding payments directly into conversation becomes an immediate and strategic opportunity.

Both ACP and AP2 are designed to secure PayPal’s dominance across every major AI shopping environment. In ChatGPT and ACP, PayPal acts as the payment gateway for broad, low-barrier access by small and midsize merchants like Etsy sellers and Shopify stores. Through a single button, they can accept ChatGPT payments without additional API work. In the Google Cloud AP2 model, PayPal focuses on large-scale retailers that value brand control, compliance, and personalized service. AP2 allows them to deploy chat-to-checkout AI agents on their own websites or apps, where merchant agents handle interaction and recommendations, while PayPal agents manage identity, history, and settlement via AP2. In this model, users receive personalized guidance, such as product pairings or upgrades, with auditable, cryptographically secure payments. The AP2 ecosystem is expanding quickly, with partners like Cobo helping to grow and deepen the open AI payments landscape, and is set to roll out AP2-based applications by 2026.

While ACP and AP2 both address the same issue—how to establish trust when AI agents transact on behalf of users—they differ in their technical trust models. In ChatGPT’s ACP setup, PayPal serves as the trusted payment button using secure payment tokens (SPT) to authorize low-risk retail transactions. These tokens carry strict limits—merchant-specific, capped amounts, and expiration controls—keeping risk contained and allowing PayPal to assume compliance responsibility. AP2, in contrast, employs decentralized cryptographic authorization with non-repudiation and legal auditability. It supports enterprise-grade data-sharing under the A2A protocol, letting merchants leverage permissioned shopping histories for personalized service while fully controlling brand experience. This difference reflects the trade-off between convenience and accountability: retail favors speed, enterprise needs security.

Notably, PayPal’s current integrations with ACP and AP2 do not yet enable stablecoin payments and remain limited to fiat transactions. However, stablecoins are the native currency form for AI-driven payment scenarios — and they are also a core pillar of PayPal’s long-term strategy. Its own dollar-pegged stablecoin, PYUSD, is positioned to become a key payment medium in the emerging AI economy. Technically, ACP can simulate stablecoin settlements through restricted digital credentials that convert to fiat in the background, offering a smooth user experience but still dependent on traditional card networks. By contrast, AP2 natively supports x402-based stablecoin payments, enabling ultra-low-cost, instant on-chain clearing suited for machine-to-machine transactions with immutable audit trails. In short, ACP fits fast, low-risk retail flows, while AP2 empowers enterprise-grade AI payments—and in both cases, PayPal aims to anchor itself as the trust and payment hub of the AI commerce era.

🎯Beyond Speed and Cost: The Next Phase of Stablecoin Competition

As early as 2018, the payments industry recognized the potential of stablecoins for faster settlement and liquidity efficiency. Yet their integration into the traditional financial system has long been constrained by regulation. Now, as policy clarity expands from the United States to global markets, what was once considered an “on-chain experiment” is evolving into a practical financial mechanism. This week brought two key signals of that shift: Western Union announced plans to launch a U.S. dollar–pegged stablecoin, USDPT, by 2026 and link it to its global cash infrastructure, while Zelle revealed that it will integrate stablecoins and roll out international payments. Together, these developments show that stablecoins are becoming core payment infrastructure within regulated financial networks.

Western Union (WU), a 175‑year‑old remittance leader with 380,000 agents in over 200 countries, has built one of the world’s most extensive physical cash networks — particularly across Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. For decades, WU’s value came from enabling compliant local on‑ramps and off‑ramps in cash‑dominant economies. In the stablecoin era, that same network becomes a bridge connecting physical currency with digital dollars, giving unbanked populations a secure entry point. Unlike conventional banks, WU’s advantage lies in decentralized reach and globally compliant fiat liquidity, making it one of the hardest infrastructures to replicate in the Global South.

Zelle, founded by JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and other major U.S. institutions through the Early Warning Services (EWS) consortium, dominates the domestic peer‑to‑peer payments landscape. It enables direct account‑to‑account transfers, bypassing card networks, and uses a “credit prefunding” mechanism to deliver front‑end instant settlement while processing ACH reconciliation in the background. Backed by the trust and distribution channels of the U.S. banking system, Zelle processed close to $1 trillion in 2024 across more than 2,200 banks and credit unions.

Both WU and Zelle are tackling the same structural challenge — making funds instantly available without increasing capital requirements or adding costly intermediaries. Stablecoins provide the missing mechanism. By settling on‑chain, they replace message‑based clearing, correspondent‑bank fees, and pre‑funding of cross‑border liquidity. Settlement times collapse to seconds, freeing trapped capital and creating more fluid, programmable liquidity. For WU, stablecoins reduce reliance on correspondent banks, eliminate intermediary and float costs, and allow immediate redeployment of capital. For Zelle’s banking consortium, stablecoin settlement lowers the capital reserves needed for ACH batch processing, enabling true real‑time settlement. In effect, stablecoins convert the legacy profit margins of Visa, correspondent networks, and SWIFT into shared efficiency gains for the network as a whole.

As these technical advantages become industry‑wide standards, competition will shift from speed and cost toward trust and relationships. The disruptive power of stablecoins will no longer lie merely in operational efficiency but in evolving into “social money” — a bearer of credit, reputation, and network effects. That’s precisely why stablecoins still cannot displace credit cards: card issuers’ interchange fees fund not only transaction costs but also credit risk management, fraud prevention, and customer relationships — dimensions of value that remain social rather than purely technical. Today, stablecoins primarily optimize capital efficiency and settlement processes, while the deeper layer of trust still belongs to issuers and card networks.

The next phase of competition will center on stablecoins as social currency. Wallets and platforms will own user relationships; regulated entities will manage issuance and compliance; and organizations with physical reach will handle on‑ and off‑ramps between cash and digital value. When cash networks, bank clearing systems, and on‑chain assets begin to interoperate seamlessly, the technological edge will no longer be the differentiator — trust itself will.

Big Picture

🔮Venture firm 1kx reports that the on‑chain economy has reached $20 billion in scale, driven by real usage, fees, and active users rather than speculation. Analyzing over 1,200 protocols, the study shows DeFi still accounts for 63% of total fees, while wallet revenues rose 260% year‑on‑year, consumer apps 200%, and decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN) 400%. Ethereum’s dominance has declined, with its transaction fees down 86% since 2021, while revenue‑generating protocols have increased eightfold; total on‑chain fees are projected to hit $32 billion by 2026. Fee revenue now diverges from market value, suggesting a shift toward valuing crypto projects as real businesses, with tokenization, DePIN, and consumer apps emerging as key drivers of the next growth cycle.

🔮U.S. bank Citizens reports a surge in crypto mergers and acquisitions as regulation stabilizes and tokenization accelerates. Mastercard is reportedly acquiring Zero Hash for up to $2 billion, while Coinbase plans a similar‑sized deal for London‑based BVNK, signaling that both traditional and crypto‑native firms are scaling digital‑asset capabilities. Given the sector’s technical complexity, compliance demands, and talent scarcity, acquisitions offer the fastest route for institutions to build capacity. The GENIUS Act and upcoming CLARITY Act mark a shift toward policy support, spurring banks, payment processors, and asset managers to consolidate blockchain infrastructure. Citizens projects tokenization could generate $100 billion in annual revenue by 2030, defining a new phase of the digital‑asset economy.

🔮JPMorgan reports that Circle’s USDC has surpassed Tether’s USDT in on‑chain activity as investors and institutions favor more regulated stablecoins. USDC’s market cap has surged 72% this year to $74 billion, outpacing USDT’s 32% growth, driven by MiCA compliance, transparent reserves, and regular audits. Activity on Solana and Base has expanded sharply, while integrations with Visa, Mastercard, and Stripe have strengthened settlement efficiency. With Europe’s MiCA framework prompting exchanges to delist non‑compliant USDT, USDC’s regulatory model is emerging as a global benchmark. The shift highlights how transparency and compliance are redefining the stablecoin market from trading instruments to core payment infrastructure.

🔮Argentina’s stablecoin activity surged ahead of President Milei’s election victory. On Sunday, Argentines rushed to convert pesos into dollar-backed stablecoins, anticipating a currency slump during the vote; Agora’s LATAM head Facundo Werning estimated $13.4 million in daily volume. Crypto app Lemon posted its third-highest day ever and hit a record hourly volume at 9 p.m. local time, serving as a real-time thermometer for peso sentiment while markets were closed. As right-wing coalition LLA’s win became clear, the crypto-dollar rate strengthened from 1,572.5 to 1,350 pesos per USD. The rally signaled investor optimism over Milei’s victory and reinforced stablecoins’ role in high-inflation economies as both a hedge and a live indicator of political-economic shifts.

Market Adoption

🌱Citibank has partnered with Coinbase to offer enterprise clients stablecoin payment capabilities, enabling corporate treasury teams to move funds on‑chain through existing Citi relationships. Integrated into Citi’s Treasury and Trade Solutions platform, the stablecoin rail automatically selects the optimal network based on transaction speed, cost, and finality. With 24/7 global settlement, stablecoins deliver faster, cheaper, and more definitive cross‑border payments than traditional systems. The partnership signals Citi’s response to growing corporate demand for digital settlement, positioning the bank to retain clients while strengthening its “network of networks” strategy. Stablecoin payments are rapidly evolving from fintech innovation to a standard enterprise treasury tool.

🌱African payments giant Flutterwave, valued at $31 billion, has partnered with Polygon Labs to integrate blockchain technology into its new stablecoin‑based cross‑border payment system, cutting costs and improving settlement speed across 30+ countries. The first phase, launching later this year, targets multinational clients such as Uber and Audiomack, with retail remittances planned for 2026. The collaboration will create one of the largest real‑world stablecoin use cases in emerging markets, addressing Africa’s 8% average cross‑border fee. As global players like Western Union, PayPal, and Stripe adopt blockchain rails, Flutterwave and Polygon are driving a structural shift toward faster, inclusive, and blockchain‑powered financial infrastructure in Africa.

🌱JPMorgan has executed its first blockchain‑based private fund transaction using Kinexys Fund Flow, a new platform enabling real‑time settlement of private fund processes with tokenized investor data. The inaugural trade involved JPMorgan Asset Management, its Private Bank, Kinexys Digital Assets, and fund administrator Citco. The system provides fund managers, transfer agents, and distributors with a shared, real‑time view of investor activity, reducing manual reconciliation and settlement delays. Building on JPMorgan’s Onyx and JPM Coin initiatives, Kinexys extends the bank’s blockchain strategy into private markets. As private funds grow amid operational inefficiencies, such infrastructure could become core to institutional digital transformation.

🌱UK clearing bank ClearBank has joined Circle’s Payment Network (CPN) through a new strategic partnership, becoming one of the first European banks to enable near-instant global transfers via blockchain infrastructure. The collaboration expands the use of MiCA-compliant stablecoins USDC and EURC across Europe, giving ClearBank clients access to Circle Mint for on-chain minting and redemption. Both parties plan to explore additional use cases such as stablecoin-based treasury services and tokenized asset settlement to reduce reliance on traditional rails and lower cross-border costs. The move underscores growing integration between banks and blockchain networks, marking a milestone in Europe’s transition toward programmable digital finance.

🌱Visa is quietly turning stablecoins into its next growth engine. The company now supports four stablecoins across multiple blockchains, convertible into 25+ fiat currencies, with stablecoin-linked card spending up fourfold year over year and more than $140 billion in crypto and stablecoin flow since 2020. With 130 card programs in 40 countries and a tokenized asset platform for banks to mint and burn their own coins, Visa is becoming the “network of stablecoins.” As stablecoin rails mature and cross-border B2B payments shift on-chain, Visa’s position as the network‑of‑networks could unlock a $20 trillion market and trigger a “slingshot rebound” in its value.

🌱Japan’s $2 trillion payments giant TIS has partnered with Ava Labs, the developer of Avalanche, to launch a blockchain-based multi-token platform for financial institutions. Built using Avalanche’s enterprise tool AvaCloud, the platform enables issuance, settlement, and management of stablecoins and tokenized assets under Japan’s Payment Services Act, with plans to collaborate with banks, corporations, and public agencies. TIS, which handles half of Japan’s credit card volume—over ¥300 trillion annually—aims to transform traditional payment systems into programmable financial infrastructure capable of 50,000 transactions per second. The initiative aligns with Japan’s push for real‑time digital payments and programmable finance, supporting stablecoin and potential CBDC innovation.

🌱Tether-backed video platform Rumble will launch Bitcoin tipping for its 51 million monthly users in December. The Nasdaq-listed streamer will roll out a non-custodial Rumble Wallet supporting BTC, USDT, and Tether Gold (XAUT), with creator David Freiheit already receiving the first Bitcoin tip. Tether, which invested $775 million for a 48% stake last year, co-developed the feature and plans to promote its new USAT stablecoin via the partnership. The integration marks a major step in bringing crypto payments to mainstream social platforms, aligning decentralized monetization with free-speech media. With $23.6 million in Bitcoin reserves, Rumble is positioning itself as a testbed for censorship-resistant creator economies.

Regulatory Compliance

🏛Crypto. com has applied to the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a national trust bank charter, aiming to expand its custody and staking services across multiple blockchains. The move places it alongside Coinbase, Ripple, Circle, Paxos, BitGo, and Stripe’s Bridge, which have all sought OCC approval. Crypto.com’s trading volume has recently surpassed Coinbase, reaching $83.9 billion in September and $94.3 billion so far in October. With the OCC now led by former Bitfury legal chief Jonathan Gould, the agency has shown openness to digital‑asset banking, signaling deeper integration between crypto firms and the U.S. financial system.

🏛Bloomberg reports that Canada is fast‑tracking its stablecoin regulatory framework, with details expected in the November 4 federal budget update. The Finance Ministry and regulators have held intensive consultations with industry stakeholders to address key issues such as whether stablecoins should be treated as securities or derivatives and how to curb capital outflows into U.S.‑backed tokens. Council of Canadian Innovators co‑chair John Ruffolo warned that delays could dampen demand for Canadian bonds and weaken central‑bank monetary control. The move aligns Canada with global regulatory momentum following the U.S. GENIUS Act, Europe’s MiCA, and frameworks emerging in Japan and Hong Kong, and could define a clearer path for domestic fintech and digital‑currency innovation.

Capital Deployment

💰ZAR has raised $12.9 million in a round led by a16z crypto with participation from Dragonfly, VanEck, Coinbase Ventures, and Endeavor Catalyst to deliver stablecoin access to cash-based economies lacking reliable dollar channels. The platform turns 28 million retail shops, airtime vendors, and remittance agents across Asia, Africa, and Latin America into dollar on-ramps, enabling users to exchange local cash for dollar-backed stablecoins via QR code. Already live in Pakistan and set to expand across Africa by 2026, ZAR offers digital dollar accounts, Visa payments, and low-cost withdrawals. Built by the SadaPay founding team, it uses a decentralized ambassador network and smart contract verification to connect informal cash economies with global digital commerce, serving over 1 billion underserved users.

💰Tokenization platform Securitize will go public via a SPAC merger with Cantor Equity Partners II at a $1.25 billion valuation, expecting $469 million in proceeds. As the only full‑stack SEC‑regulated tokenization firm, it has facilitated over $4.5 billion in assets on‑chain, holding a 20.8% market share—more than double its nearest competitor. The company supports top institutions like BlackRock, Apollo, KKR, Hamilton Lane, and VanEck across 14 blockchains, with BlackRock’s $2.85 billion BUIDL fund marking a turning point for on‑chain finance. The listing signals tokenization’s shift into mainstream capital markets and sets a new standard for transparency and institutional adoption.

💰Mastercard is reportedly in late‑stage talks to acquire blockchain infrastructure firm Zero Hash for $1.5 to $2 billion, according to Fortune. Zero Hash specializes in stablecoin payment infrastructure, processing $2 billion in tokenized flows in the first four months of this year and raising $104 million in September from investors including Interactive Brokers and Morgan Stanley. Mastercard had earlier explored acquiring BVNK but was outbid by Coinbase. With Visa launching a tokenization platform for banks and Stripe buying Bridge for $1.1 billion, Mastercard’s move underscores the race among incumbents to capture a trillion‑dollar stablecoin payments market by 2030.

New Launches

👀Brale has launched a nationwide bank‑to‑stablecoin API, bridging traditional finance with crypto payments. The new API covers all U.S. bank accounts, supporting credit, debit, and on‑chain transfers across 20+ blockchains and 40+ stablecoins, fully connecting banks with digital assets. Its simplified design lets developers specify on‑chain or off‑chain routes using ValueTypes and TransferTypes, turning complex conversions between bank accounts and stablecoins into simple API calls. In partnership with Plaid, Brale adds processor‑token support and a “preferred routing” feature—priced from one‑cent ACH credits to fifty‑cent RTP transfers—while leveraging Solana and Canton to cut costs. The update delivers seamless interoperability between banking and blockchain rails, allowing any Brale‑issued stablecoin to plug directly into fiat channels and marking a key step toward mainstream stablecoin infrastructure.

👀IBM has launched Digital Asset Haven with Dfns, a platform for institutions and governments to manage digital assets across custody, trading, and settlement. Built with Coinbase-backed Dfns, it supports 40 blockchains and programmable multi-party approvals. The platform integrates KYC, AML, and yield tools, offering a unified environment for wallet creation and fund security. Leveraging IBM’s Hyperledger expertise and Hyper Protect Virtual Servers for hardware-based safety, it delivers compliance-grade infrastructure. As digital assets gain traction, IBM positions itself as a key provider of secure, institutional-scale asset management solutions.

👀Circle has launched the public testnet of its Arc blockchain, joined by over 100 major institutions including BlackRock, Visa, HSBC, and Anthropic. Designed as a payment-focused Layer‑1 “operating system for the internet economy,” Arc offers USD‑denominated gas fees, sub‑second settlement, and optional privacy controls for enterprises. The network natively supports USDC and EURC with integrated FX and multi‑currency settlement across global stablecoin issuers. Arc marks a shift from transactional blockchains to full economic infrastructure, accelerating the fusion of traditional finance and Web3. Circle aims to evolve Arc into a decentralized, community‑governed network underpinning tokenized assets and global capital flows.

👀IQ and Frax have launched KRWQ, the first Korean‑won‑pegged stablecoin on Coinbase’s Base network, with a KRWQ‑USDC trading pair on Aerodrome. Built on LayerZero’s omnichain fungible token standard and Stargate bridge, KRWQ is the first multi‑chain transferable won stablecoin. Due to ongoing domestic regulation, KRWQ is currently unavailable to South Korean residents, with minting and redemption limited to approved exchanges, market makers, and institutions. Following pro‑crypto President Lee Jae‑myung’s election, KRWQ positions itself as Korea’s first fully compliant stablecoin, signaling sovereign currency digitalization and the broader shift toward multi‑currency stablecoin ecosystems.