Payment Expert’s Fintech Unwrapped delivers the latest and developing news that has shaped the sector over the course of the week.
This week, Stripe is expanding its crypto payment offering with Crypto.com to become widely available to millions of its business customers.
Also this week, PayPal continues its agentic commerce push with Microsoft to assist Copilot customers, BVNK has secured a license enabling SEPA payments, and the Trump Family aims for World Liberty to become a licensed bank to issue its dollar-backed stablecoin.
Crypto.com payments become available on Stripe
Stripe enabled Crypto.com Pay for businesses to accept payments from crypto holdings on January 6.
Customers have the ability to pay with their preferred cryptocurrencies, or stablecoins, to make payments. Stripe converts the payments into the businesses preferred currency to then be deposited into their bank account.
Crypto.com will also leverage Stripe’s client base to deploy its debit and credit cards in the US, expanding on the partnership which began with the crypto exchange becoming the first integrated crypto payment platform for Stripe.
“Increasing everyday accessibility to and utility of cryptocurrencies for consumers and merchants is central to our vision at Crypto.com,” said Joe Anzures, General Manager of Americas and EVP of Payments at Crypto.com. “We are excited to partner with Stripe, a recognised leader in digital payments, to collectively catalyse a new era for crypto-enabled commerce.”
PayPal and Microsoft enables agentic commerce for Copilot
PayPal and Microsoft partnered on January 8 to combine payments with AI to allow Copilot customers to customise their commerce user experience.
PayPal will support merchants with a branded guest checkout with its range of credit card payments, while Microsoft’s intelligent discovery will enable merchants’ product catalogs to become more visible to customers.
Copilot will be supported by both companies to bring an AI-powered shopping experience for its customers and a faster checkout process. This is also PayPal’s latest venture into agentic commerce after its collaboration with OpenAI in October 2025.
“Collaborating with Microsoft marks another step forward in our strategy to support merchants and consumers in AI-powered shopping experiences,” said Michelle Gill, GM of Small Business and Financial Services at PayPal. “By integrating PayPal’s agentic commerce services with Copilot’s intelligent shopping platform, we are enabling seamless, reliable transactions for both merchants and consumers.”
World Liberty makes plans for stablecoin issuance
Trump Family-backed World Liberty Financial applied for a de novo banking licence to prepare for the issuance of its USD1 dollar-denominated stablecoin.
The application was filed with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) on January 7 and if successful, World Liberty intends to make USD1 available to institutional customers, including crypto exchanges and investment firms, as well as digital asset custody and stablecoin conversions.
“Institutions are already using USD1 for cross-border payments, settlement, and treasury operations,” said Zach Witkoff, the proposed President and Chairman of World Liberty Trust Company. “A national trust charter will allow us to bring issuance, custody, and conversion together as a full-stack offering under one highly regulated entity.”
A flurry of crypto companies and fintechs have recently applied for banking licenses in the US. This comes following President Trump’s deregulation of the OCC and opening the doors for greater stablecoin issuance after the passing of the GENIUS Act in July 2025.
Worldline delivers unified payments to the UK
Worldline launched its unified payment service One Commerce in the UK on January 7 to support businesses to deliver a seamless and frictionless payment experience.
The service leverages Worldline’s range of payment services, such as click and collect and subscriptions, in a centralised platform to help scale merchant activities across multiple markets.
“Enterprise merchants increasingly need to manage complex payment environments while delivering seamless experiences across all channels,” said David Gebhardt, Head of Enterprise at Worldline. “With Worldline One Commerce, we provide UK merchants with a unified payments foundation that simplifies operations, supports consistent customer journeys, and is built to scale across Europe.”
BVNK becomes first SEPA and stablecoin EU provider
BVNK announced on January 8 it has gained direct access to the SEPA payment rail to enable both SEPA euro and stablecoin settlements from one platform.
BVNK has gained direct access to the SEPA Credit Transfer and Instant rails, allowing its virtual account users to perform 24/7 payments without the need for intermediaries which will be rolled out to EU and global customers, with UK and US availability to follow.
“Our customers now have 24/7 access to instant euro payments, delivered directly by us, settling in under 10 seconds – 99% in under 5 seconds,” said Catriona Wingate, Head of Banking, Europe and APAC at BVNK.
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