November 6, 2026

Web, Payments, Bytes & Ventures

Payments & Fintech

Cards, transfers and the systems that move money.

Latest news

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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.

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.

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.

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.

Form3 · Sep 24

Form3 Opens Payment Data to Read-Only AI Agents

Its first MCP adapter lets authorized agents investigate payment information without initiating changes.

Digital banking · Jul 15

Visa Plans an AI Financial Assistant for Bank Apps

Visa's in-app assistant is scheduled for a US bank pilot in August, with a wider rollout planned later.

Explainers & guides

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

interchange fees · Nov 1

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

About this desk

Payments can look simple at checkout while involving several institutions behind the screen. This desk follows the products, people and infrastructure responsible for that journey, from card authorization to international transfers and stablecoin settlement.

Begin with what happens after you tap a card, then explore why a cross-border transfer can still take days. Both guides separate a message arriving from money becoming available.

Our coverage also examines the founders and other contributors shaping fintech. The editorial selection of 10 influential people provides starting points across payments, digital banking and financial health. Product announcements are reported with their actual scope and availability. We pay attention to the complete customer journey: the recipient amount, permissions, fees, refunds and the support needed when an expected result does not arrive.