A Canadian dollar-backed stablecoin is coming, but it may get stuck in a regulatory quagmire.

Visa launched the Trusted Agent Protocol, infrastructure meant to facilitate secure communication between AI agents and merchants to complete transactions, per a press release. Fully operationalized agentic commerce will take time to get off the ground. However, Visa’s endorsement of agentic commerce demands reluctant AI-adopters to quickly gear themselves for a new age of payment facilitation, or face irrelevance. Major payment rails especially need to convince merchants not to abandon their infrastructure to pursue things like blockchain-based transactions, as major retailers like Walmart and Amazon try to save money on fees. Offering seamless agentic commerce can entice these retailers to stay loyal.

Mastercard and Coinbase are reportedly in talks to acquire BVNK for approximately $2 billion, per an exclusive from Fortune Crypto. The scale of this deal underscores stablecoin’s acceptance into the mainstream of payments. Mastercard’s eagerness to seize BVNK’s capabilities suggests that traditional payment rails can no longer ignore stablecoins, and must integrate with the payment method to avoid being left behind.

In today’s episode, we talk about how stablecoins differ from the crypto hype cycles of the past like bitcoin and NFTs, the risks stablecoins introduce for traditional financial institutions, and from the consumer side, do people actually want or need stablecoin payments. Join the discussion with host and Head of Business Development, Rob Rubin, Senior Analyst, Grace Broadbent, Vice President of Content, Suzy Davidkhanian, and Principal Analyst, Tiffani Montez.

The news: Google Cloud is creating its own blockchain, named Google Cloud Universal Ledger (GCUL), for payments and financial products. Our first take: The post-GENIUS Act environment has major institutions scrambling to get a first-mover advantage on stablecoins. Google likely is betting that it’s better positioned to offer clients and financial institutions than Stripe’s Tempo or Circle’s Arc because its blockchain service simplifies integration for multiple currencies and assets, stabilizes fees, and is designed for safety—as a private and permissioned system, it benefits from Google’s tech security stack.

The news: The State of Wyoming debuted its Frontier Stable Token (FRNT) across seven blockchains in partnership with LayerZero. Our take: While stablecoins were originally framed as a faster and cheaper alternative to traditional payment methods, the crowding field of available tokens—coupled with their limited acceptance networks—appears to create more transaction disruption than streamlining.

The news: Stripe is developing a blockchain called Tempo with crypto venture capitalist Paradigm, per an exclusive from Fortune. Our take: Even after the completion of its ecosystem, Stripe still faces steep competition with a crowd of existing public and private blockchain networks.

The news: Circle reported $658 million in total revenues and reserve income in its first quarterly earnings as a public company, amounting to 53% growth YoY. USDC in circulation also jumped 90% YoY to 61.3 billion by the end of the quarter. Net losses hit $482 million, which largely accounted for IPO-related non-cash charges totalling $591 million. Our take: Circle’s early mover status and the newly passed GENIUS Act are working in the stablecoin issuer’s favor. Circle anticipates a 40% annual compound growth rate for USDC. If it can establish the most efficient and easy-to-use infrastructure for the nascent stablecoin industry, it can garner lasting loyalty from financial institutions.

Traditional indemnity insurance isn’t keeping pace with climate change fallout, forcing P&C insurers to withdraw coverage from affected areas. Data-driven parametric insurance can help them plug coverage gaps and defend profits.

Banks are focused on B2B opportunities and generative AI to drive revenue as they usher crypto out the door.

It launched crypto transfers between Venmo users and through external wallets and exchanges.

Digitization has reduced consumers’ remittances costs worldwide, reshaping the competitive battlefield. Money transfer operators must follow new playbooks to monetize this $800 billion market.

The South by Southwest festival returned to Austin, Texas, in full force this year, with discussions on the future of technology, brands, and marketing. Here, we lay out the top trends and takeaways.

The scale of FTX’s bankruptcy has placed it among the biggest bankruptcies in financial services history, where it sits fourth behind only WorldCom, Enron, and Lehman Brothers. However, there’s a chance of an even bigger disaster if Tether goes down.

Complex sanctions, elaborate money laundering schemes, and powerful tech give financial criminals an upper hand.

CBDCs are considered a more viable application of blockchain technology, bringing together the best attributes of fiat and cryptocurrencies. Mainstream usage is years away—but established payments players can start preparing for their launch now.

As the economy continues to roil, brands will look to some of the most hyped technologies—including generative AI, clean rooms, and Web3—to solve real problems.

Their strategies must address business challenges, hiring hurdles, and new technologies.

Taking risk on technology is crucial to competitive advantage: Banks are challenged to counter emerging threats, seize opportunities, and build an innovation pipeline. While digital organizations evolve, corporate labs, ventures, accelerators, and strategic investors lead the charge.

Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Nomura have all expanded into NFTs.