November 6, 2026

Web, Payments, Bytes & Ventures

WPBV Money & Networks Desk

The Money & Networks Desk explains payments, wallets and blockchain infrastructure.

Latest

Four comparison cards show current interchange fee limits in the EU, United States, Canada and Australia.

Interchange Fee Caps: EU, US, Canada and Australia

How interchange fee limits differ across the EU, US, Canada and Australia—and why the cap is not the total merchant fee.

Diagram: an expired card is crossed out and a reissued orange card feeds a dark token vault at the card network, which links to the same network token and per-payment cryptogram stored by the merchant

Card payments · Oct 30

Network Tokenization Explained: Why a Saved Card Keeps Working

How network tokens replace a stored card number, survive a card reissue and what a merchant still has to check.

A contactless card tapped on a metro fare gate reader beside a waiting train

JCB · Oct 29

JCB and Hanoi Metro Plan Contactless Fares for Early 2027

JCB and Hanoi Metro signed an MOU on October 29 to let JCB cardholders tap in at metro gates from early 2027.

Illustration of an orange name tag branching into smaller name tags, beside a key and a panel of padlocks where only one is open

ENS · Oct 28

ENSv2 Goes Live on Ethereum Mainnet With Nested Name Registries

ENSv2 is live on Ethereum mainnet with nested registries and narrower permissions; existing names keep working.

Diagram of two nodes, each holding its own list of waiting transactions with high-fee entries on top, and an arrow to a dark block with limited space

Mempool · Oct 27

The Mempool Explained: Where a Crypto Transaction Waits

Why a sent transaction can sit unconfirmed, who decides the order, and how fee bumps and expiry rules work.

A card in a payment terminal linked by a dashed line to a long orange hold bar that shrinks to a short graphite final charge, which then posts to an account statement

Card payments · Oct 26

Authorization Hold Explained: Pending Card Charges

Why a card authorization hold reduces available funds, how it becomes a final charge and what reversals do.

Diagram linking three online checkout setups to PCI questionnaires: a processor-hosted payment page to SAQ A, a merchant script on the payment page to SAQ A-EP, and card data received by the merchant site to SAQ D

PCI DSS · Oct 25

PCI SAQ Types: Which Self-Assessment a Merchant Fills In

Which PCI self-assessment questionnaire fits each way of taking cards, and how checkout design sets SAQ A or A-EP.

An illustrative calculation multiplies 42,000 gas by 8 gwei to produce an Ethereum execution fee of 0.000336 ETH.

Ethereum · Oct 24

Crypto Gas Fees Explained: Work, Price and the Final Bill

Read Ethereum fees by separating gas used, price per gas and the final execution charge.

A card terminal with an orange card above it, linked by a dotted line to a long base holding a receipt, a shopping bag and a small bar chart

Euronet · Oct 23

Euronet Launches OLON Merchant Platform, Starting in Greece

Euronet's OLON bundles card acceptance, software integrations and add-on services for merchants; Greece goes first.

A dashed outline of an old gear lifted away above a ledger block, where a new orange gear sits in its place, beside a stopwatch with only a thin orange slice marked

Solana · Oct 22

Solana Alpenglow Goes Live on Mainnet, Replacing TowerBFT

Solana switched from TowerBFT to Alpenglow consensus on October 21; Anza puts finality at about 150 ms.

Two separate ledger blocks joined by an orange bridge, with a receipt on each side.

Crypto · Oct 21

Blockchain Bridge Explained: Assets, Proofs and Risk

Follow a cross-chain transfer from its source transaction to the asset received on the destination chain.

A debit card at the start of a track that splits at a switch lever into two routes, each ending at a different block

Debit cards · Oct 20

Debit Card Routing: Why US Debit Cards Carry Two Networks

The US two-network debit rule, what card networks may not restrict, and the Regulation II fee cap.

Three stacked ledger blocks, the lower two marked with orange wax seals and the top one outlined in dashes, beside a seal stamp and a stick of sealing wax

Blockchain finality · Oct 20

Blockchain Finality Explained: When a Crypto Payment Is Final

How Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana decide when a transaction can no longer be reversed.

Three cables joining into one orange plug beside a monitor showing a checkout page with stacked payment buttons

Visa · Oct 15

Barclaycard Payments Adds Visa Unified Checkout for UK Merchants

Barclaycard Payments is adding Visa Unified Checkout to its Smartpay Fuse gateway for UK merchants.

Drawing of a paper receipt with an orange total line, split into three stacked fee blocks joined by a bracket

Card payments · Oct 13

Interchange Fee vs MDR: Which Part of a Card Fee Is Which

The MDR is the whole charge for accepting a card; interchange is the issuer's slice inside it.

Diagram comparing self-custody with an exchange account: the user holds the key on one side and a provider holds it on the other.

crypto custody · Oct 12

Self Custody vs Exchange: Keys, Recovery and Risk

Compare key control, recovery and provider risk before choosing where to hold crypto assets.

A ring of nine validator blocks, six in orange, around a key tile patterned as a dot lattice

Cosmos · Oct 10

Cosmos Adds Post-Quantum ML-DSA Keys in Ledger Security 2026.1

Cosmos chains can now move validators and accounts to ML-DSA signatures one key at a time.

A payment card crossing a dashed border toward a fee statement with one short bar and two tall orange bars

Visa · Oct 10

Visa and Mastercard Face £700 Million UK Claim Over EEA Card Fees

A £700M opt-out claim says UK businesses overpaid on online sales to EEA cardholders after Brexit.

proof of work · Oct 9

Proof of work vs proof of stake: how the two systems agree

Proof of work spends computation; proof of stake puts validator capital at risk.

Card payments · Oct 4

3D Secure Explained: Why Some Card Payments Ask for a Second Step

Why your bank asks you to approve some card payments, when it can skip the step, and who pays for fraud.

Card payments · Oct 3

Chargeback Fee: What a Disputed Card Payment Costs a Merchant

What Stripe, PayPal and Square charge per chargeback in 2026, and which fees come back when you win.

Two payment statements side by side with an orange swap icon between them: the left shows one large fee block, the right splits the fee into three separate blocks.

Card payments · Oct 2

Interchange-Plus vs Flat Rate: Choosing a Card Pricing Model

Interchange plus vs flat rate: one rate for every card, or the real cost of each card plus a markup.

Card payments · Oct 2

Interchange Fee Explained: Where a Card Payment Fee Goes

Interchange fee explained: one processing fee on the statement, three payments to three different parties.

Tezos · Sep 25

Tezos Launches Experimental Post-Quantum Testnet

Quantumnet tests changes across accounts, consensus and data availability. It is not a production network.