Shifts in cards, crypto, and cross-border payments reflect changing priorities
At Money20/20 Europe 2025 press lunch, the story was in the systems.
While previous years saw an emphasis on consumer apps and flashy fintech brands, this year’s headlines reflected a shift towards payments infrastructure: real-time rails, open banking, account-to-account wallets and strategic partnerships aimed at long-term market positioning.
From six key announcements one could argue a picture of Europe’s future payments landscape has begun to emerge.
Paying by bank becomes the norm, not the novelty
Across multiple announcements at Money20/20 Europe, account-to-account (A2A) payments featured as core infrastructure. Both Deutsche Bank and Revolut leaned heavily into the model, aligning with growing momentum behind open banking and domestic instant payment schemes across the continent.
For Deutsche Bank, this came via a new partnership with Mastercard to expand Request to Pay (R2P) functionality for merchants. Built on Mastercard’s open banking platform, the service allows customers to pay directly from their bank accounts with real-time settlement and immediate confirmation. The integration is designed to offer a viable alternative to card payments, particularly in retail and e-commerce contexts.
Killian Thalhammer, Deutsche Bank’s Global Head of Merchant Solutions, described it as a response to changing expectations: “Together, we are delivering innovative merchant solutions that reflect the needs of a digital-first economy—secure, instant, and built for scale”.
Meanwhile, Revolut became the highest-profile fintech to back Wero, the digital wallet developed by the European Payments Initiative (EPI). By integrating Wero into its app, Revolut customers in France, Germany and Belgium will be able to send and request money via A2A, with further expansion into e-commerce and point-of-sale planned for 2026.
David Tirado, Revolut’s VP of Global Business, called instant and free payments “a must,” not a bonus. The move also supports the EU’s ambition to offer sovereign alternatives to global card schemes, especially for domestic flows
Rethinking the card: software-first, flexibility-led
Despite the push toward account-to-account payments and real-time bank rails, the card remains a central tool — just not in its traditional form. This year’s announcements from Klarna and Shuttel show how cards are being reimagined not as standalone products, but as interfaces for broader financial experiences.
Klarna, in partnership with Visa, launched the pilot of its new Klarna Card. The product combines debit and credit-like functionality, allowing users to either pay immediately or split payments over time using Klarna’s Pay in 4 and Pay Later services. Built on Visa’s Flexible Credential technology, the card integrates with an FDIC-insured wallet and offers real-time transfers and deposits.
The goal is to give users choice and control within a single instrument. “They want simplicity, flexibility, and transparency—all in one place,” said David Sandstrom, Klarna’s Chief Marketing Officer. With over five million consumers already on the waitlist, Klarna is clearly betting that hybrid, configurable cards can become a new standard.
Shuttel, by contrast, is applying card innovation to a corporate use case. In collaboration with Enfuce, the company is launching an open-loop mobility card built on Visa Fleet 2.0. Designed for Dutch businesses, the card covers expenses like fuel, charging and parking, and connects with HR and expense platforms for real-time reporting and compliance.
According to Monika Liikamaa, co-CEO at Enfuce, the product reflects a broader shift in business mobility:
“We’re setting a new standard for flexible, compliant, and user-friendly mobility solutions”.
Both launches demonstrate a key trend: the card is no longer just a payment method. It’s a flexible access point to services that live in the cloud — governed by APIs, linked to wallets, and tailored by user context.
Crypto meets compliance, and cross-border gets serious
Payments innovation often emerges at the edges before moving into the mainstream. But this year, the direction of travel was reversed: crypto platforms are aligning more closely with regulated infrastructure, while traditional players are taking a more deliberate approach to cross-border transformation.
Kraken announced a partnership with Ivy, a real-time payments provider, to enable instant SEPA transfers and stablecoin settlement for European users. Ivy, which is licensed as a European Payment Institution, allows exchanges like Kraken to offer instant deposits, withdrawals, and reconciled payouts — with local IBANs and regulatory readiness for the EU’s MiCAR framework.
Kaushik Sthankiya, Kraken’s Global Head of Banking and Payments, framed the move as essential to mainstream crypto adoption: “For crypto to reach its full potential, real-time banking deposits and withdrawals need to be table stakes”.
Ivy’s technology is designed to work across local payment schemes, removing the need for cards or correspondent banking intermediaries. Its integration into the crypto ecosystem suggests a maturing approach to how exchanges interact with the wider financial system.
On the more traditional side, a report jointly released by Money20/20 and FXC Intelligence outlined a 10-year view of Europe’s cross-border payments market. Titled “How Will Europe’s Money Move in the Future?”, the report draws on proprietary data and interviews with over 50 fintech leaders.
It identified five shared priorities among respondents:
- Reducing transaction costs (83%)
- Expanding real-time payments (82%)
- Increasing speed (74%)
- Integrating digital wallets (73%)
- Enhancing transparency (70%)
Europe currently accounts for 46% of global retail cross-border payments, and the report projects outbound flows to reach USD 25.9 trillion by 2032.
Scarlett Sieber, Chief Strategy and Growth Officer at Money20/20, highlighted the scale of coordination required: “This report captures the scale of transformation underway — from real-time payments to digital wallets — and the essential role that collaboration will play.”
