Charting 2026 payments trends

Here are 4 stories that round up our deep dive outlook for this year, including coverage of agentic payments, fraud and personalization.

By Lynne Marek • Jan. 30, 2026

Block opens Dublin office

The location, announced Thursday, will include a demonstration lab to show off products to potential European customers.

By Patrick Cooley • Jan. 30, 2026

Explore the Trendline➔

Digital wallets proliferate as features advance

As more companies aim to offer digital wallets the rise in competition is sharpening their features.  

By Payments Dive staff

Embedded finance to ‘explode’: panel

Tucking financial services, like payments, into a broader range of consumer situations is about to take off, bank executives said Thursday.

By Justin Bachman • Jan. 30, 2026

Visa doles out stablecoin advice

The company began offering clients strategic counsel on the digital assets last month, but doesn’t foresee many U.S. consumer use cases.

By Lynne Marek • Jan. 30, 2026

Fiserv sued over alleged lax security

A Tampa credit union alleged that the processor failed to protect customers from cyber hacks, but charged extra fees for a security upgrade.

By Patrick Cooley • Jan. 29, 2026

Bot payments lag in agentic commerce

Within the emerging world of agentic commerce, a broad gap exists between bot shopping and autonomous payments.

By Justin Bachman • Jan. 29, 2026

State legislatures mull remittance restrictions

Battle lines are being drawn in Florida and Missouri over legislation that would bar money transfer firms from servicing “unauthorized aliens.”

By Lynne Marek • Jan. 28, 2026

Amazon to halt palm payments

The online retailer said all Amazon One palm readers will be removed from physical stores by June 3.

By Patrick Cooley • Jan. 28, 2026

Zelle network expands by 15%

Most of the 337 banks that were added to the network last year were small community banks and credit unions.

By Patrick Cooley • Jan. 28, 2026

Brex CFO Erica Dorfman’s take on the Capital One deal

In a rare look inside a major fintech transaction, Dorfman describes the speed, scale and boardroom logic that led Brex to Capital One.

By Adam Zaki • Jan. 26, 2026

How payment personalization could change the way we pay

The emerging trend will require payment companies to jockey for position in payment suggestions offered by agentic shopping tools.

By Patrick Cooley • Jan. 26, 2026

Payment outages cost $44B in lost sales annually

Payment issues can cause companies to take heavy losses as impatient customers abandon their online and in-store purchases, a new report estimates.

By Tatiana Walk-Morris • Jan. 26, 2026

Microsoft backs court injunction against Google

By contrast, Epic Games and Google are seeking changes to the court order so they can move forward with a settlement to end five years of Android app litigation.

By Justin Bachman • Jan. 26, 2026

Verifone tackles identity challenge

The company seeks to bring the benefits of digital shopping, particularly in consumer identification, to the in-person retail world.

By Lynne Marek • Jan. 23, 2026

Capital One nabs Brex for $5.15B

The deal, expected to close in mid-2026, lets the bank absorb a fintech player that specializes in corporate cards, payments and expense-management tools.

By Justin Bachman • Jan. 23, 2026

PayPal buys Israeli AI firm

The digital payments pioneer said it purchased Cymbio, a company that has been a partner in providing multi-channel orchestration services.

By Lynne Marek • Jan. 22, 2026

Why Shift4 targets big merchants

The processor’s CEO explained why the payment processor looks for merchant customers with multiple locations or vendors with complex software needs.

By Patrick Cooley • Jan. 22, 2026

Klarna to offer after-purchase BNPL

Shoppers will be able to convert purchases into installment loans after the transaction, the company said Tuesday.

By Patrick Cooley • Jan. 21, 2026

Payments fraud risks burgeon with AI

The artificial intelligence threats are mounting, but so are the defenses, as new industry trends take hold, from agentic commerce to passkey adoption.

By Lynne Marek • Jan. 21, 2026

Wyoming has big plans for stablecoin

The first state-issued stable token is being deployed to reduce card interchange costs and simplify payments to vendors.

By Justin Bachman • Jan. 21, 2026

Fraud vs. conversion: How payments can reduce risk without adding friction

How can companies and payment providers meet consumer demand for speed and convenience without compromising security?

By Soumya Chakrabarty, EVP of Product, JCB • Jan. 20, 2026

Bill CFO reflects on PayPal tenure

Jain shares her career path, which spans roles at some of the world’s largest organizations, including PayPal and GE.

By Sandra Beckwith • Jan. 16, 2026

PayPal alums build fraud startup

Veterans from the digital payments pioneer founded Pinch AI and have raised capital for a business that detects fraudulent returns.

By Tatiana Walk-Morris • Jan. 15, 2026

Affirm to offer BNPL for rent

The buy now, pay later player is one of the first to offer pay later installment financing for tenants paying their monthly rent.

By Patrick Cooley • Jan. 15, 2026

Klarna launches P2P payments

The service, which is available in Europe, marks another encroachment by Klarna into the territory of the banking industry.

By Patrick Cooley • Jan. 14, 2026