Global Payments Weekly Report | 2026 W43 | October 19–23, 2026
Author / Editor: WANG TAI
1. Key Highlights This Week
This week’s main theme is "official currencies on-chain" transitioning from pilot projects to regulations and products: the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency released the final rule for the GENIUS Act; HSBC launched Hong Kong’s first retail-licensed HKD stablecoin; the Bank of Thailand disclosed its framework for licensing Thai Baht stablecoins; and the People’s Bank of China upgraded digital RMB into an open smart contract infrastructure. Issuance rights are consolidating among licensed banks and central banks, while payment companies are shifting toward distribution, acceptance, and compliance.
The first signal is that the regulations are being implemented faster than expected. The final rules, released on October 21, will take effect on January 18, 2027, requiring one-to-one reserves, redemptions within two business days, and case-by-case evaluation of reward programs. The regulatory framework for U.S. issuers is now in place, though the application window has not yet opened.
The second signal is banks becoming retail entry points for stablecoins. On October 23, HSBC’s RedCoin launched on PayMe, reaching over 3.3 million users; on October 19, JPMorgan deployed JPM Coin on the Ethereum mainnet, accessible only to approved institutions. Thailand’s model limits the number of issuers and issues licenses to wallet service providers in rounds. Issuance is a club; distribution is controlled by licensing.
The third signal is that card networks and processors are entering the compliance and acceptance layers. On October 19, Mastercard launched its stablecoin risk intelligence product, initially available in North America; on the same day, Euronet and Fireblocks introduced a white-label stablecoin-powered card solution on their issuing platform. The number of processors choosing issuing institutions is increasing.
Key data
| Indicator | Data | Year-over-year / Month-over-month | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly transaction volume of digital RMB | Approximately 1.87 trillion RMB, September 2026 | Year-over-year +123% | The People's Bank of China's annual Digital RMB conference revealed 99.67 million transactions for the same month. |
| American Express bill transaction volume | $454 billion, Q3 2026 | Year-over-year +8% | American Express quarterly report, with a 9% growth rate for the first half of the year. |
| On-chain transfer volume after stablecoin adjustment | $891 billion, Q3 2026 | — | Coinbase commissioned research, excluding non-end-user transfers; $216 billion in Q1 2023 |
2. Key Events
| Serial number | Event | Domain | Impact | Parties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | On October 21, the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency released the final rule for the GENIUS Act, effective January 18, 2027, with the application window to be announced separately. | Regulation / United States | Issuance costs are fixed: one-to-one reserve backing, two-business-day redemptions, and rewards subject to case-by-case review. The path for offshore issuers is established, but awaits supporting regulations from the Ministry of Finance. | Stablecoin issuers, custodian banks, exchanges, and wallets |
| 2 | On October 20, the UK Competition and Markets Authority launched a consultation on requiring Apple to open iPhone NFC, with a deadline of November 17. | Regulation / United Kingdom | Third-party wallets can directly use iPhone contactless payments, with fees required to be significantly lower than current levels, changing the entry points and costs for issuers. | Issuing bank, digital wallet, acquiring institution |
| 3 | On October 19, the Bank of Thailand opened a public consultation on regulatory principles for Thai baht stablecoins, with a deadline of November 17. | Regulation / Thailand | The issuer and wallet service provider hold separate licenses; initial reserves must consist solely of bank deposits and cannot earn interest. The pathway to enter Thailand is through a wallet license. | Stablecoin issuers, wallets, and deposit/withdrawal service providers |
| 4 | On October 23, HSBC's RedCoin HKD stablecoin launched on PayMe, reaching over 3.3 million users and 100,000 merchants. | Crypto / Hong Kong | Retail stablecoins flow through the bank’s own wallet, with customer access controlled by the bank; merchants can accept payments without requiring new integrations. | Hong Kong banks, acquiring and merchants, stablecoin issuers |
| 5 | On October 21, the People's Bank of China released the Digital RMB Integrated Infrastructure (DCEPS) and the Smart Contract Ecosystem Framework, expanding the number of operating institutions to 30. | Traditional / Mainland China | Digital RMB becomes a programmable settlement layer, with the cross-border platform "Shuibi Da" built on this foundation; settlement pathways for prepaid custody and supply chain finance are transformed. | Commercial banks, payment institutions, cross-border settlement service providers |
| 6 | On October 20, Mynt, the parent company of GCash, listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange, raising PHP 60.9 billion and achieving a market capitalization of PHP 441.5 billion. | Capital / Philippines | Southeast Asia's wallet has received its first public valuation, with approximately 40 million monthly active users corresponding to about $7 billion; funds for savings and lending are now more abundant. | Southeast Asian wallets, banks, and investment institutions |
3. Impact Analysis
Traditional payment
The UK is requiring Apple to open up iPhone contactless payments and significantly lower fees. Apple Pay currently charges issuers approximately 0.15% on credit transactions; once this cost decreases, the bargaining dynamics between issuers and wallets will shift. Within six months of the EU’s opening, Vipps, PayPal, Klarna, and others launched their own NFC wallets; the UK is likely to follow suit, forcing issuers to decide whether to make their own apps the default entry point.
The upgrade of the digital RMB changes the settlement layer's ownership. The number of operating institutions has expanded to 30, and smart contracts are now open to the public, enabling automatic conditional settlement within the central bank’s system for prepaid fund custody, payroll disbursement, and supply chain finance. Payment institutions will see their intermediary revenues compressed in these scenarios, but human involvement is still required for integration and scenario operations.
Cryptocurrency payment
The final rule locks in three costs for issuers: reserves must be one-to-one and structurally restricted, redemptions must occur within two business days, and rewards are subject to case-by-case review. For licensed banks, this is a checklist to follow; for issuers and exchanges that attract users with rebates, past projects have no safe harbor. The rule takes effect January 2027—product and compliance budgets must be set this quarter.
RedCoin and JPM Coin launched in the same week, demonstrating that bank-issued stablecoins have two distribution models: either using proprietary retail wallets where customers and merchants remain within the bank, or settling on public blockchains but restricting access to approved institutions only. In both models, customer ownership remains with the bank. Third-party wallets and payment companies can only handle acceptance, fiat on/off-ramps, and compliance—Thailand’s licensing framework has codified this distinction into regulation.
4. Action Recommendations
| Target | Recommended Action | Monitor metrics |
|---|---|---|
| UK issuing banks and digital wallets | By November 17, evaluate the development costs of integrating iPhone NFC into our own app versus the customer migration benefits, and decide whether to submit feedback and launch our own wallet based on current Apple payment fees. | Competition and Markets Authority's final decision timeline; Apple's new fee schedule; EU's share of NFC wallet transactions |
| Banks and payment institutions with settlement services in mainland China | Compare the three scenarios—prepaid custody, payroll disbursement, and supply chain finance—with the eight core services of the Digital RMB (DCEP) to assess whether their interfaces can be migrated and evaluate the access conditions for "Digital RMB Reach." | List of operating institutions; Number of overseas access institutions for Digital Currency; Smart contract transaction volume across various scenarios |
| Stablecoin issuers and distributors targeting the U.S. market | Break down the reserve structure, redemption timelines, and reward program according to the final rule; reclassify the rebate program based on whether interest is paid solely for holding; prepare materials for Part 15 application. | Announcement of Open Application Window; Final Rule Section 3 of the Department of the Treasury; Joint Rules by the Federal Reserve and the Deposit Insurance Corporation |
| Wallet, deposit/withdrawal, and card project operators in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong | Submit feedback on the Thailand proposal by November 17, clearly opting for the wallet service provider license; evaluate the integration method for RedCoin via the PayMe merchant network. | Thailand's first round of wallet license slots and requirements; RedCoin circulation volume and merchant data; timing of Hong Kong's second issuance license |
5. What to Watch Next Week
Covers October 24–30, 2026.
| Item | Time | Verification method | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visa, Mastercard, and Coinbase Quarterly Earnings | October 27: Visa, October 29: Mastercard with Coinbase, confirmed | Investor relations pages of three companies | American Express's growth rate has slowed from 9% to 8%; check whether card network payment volumes have moved in tandem, and review the disclosure methodology for stablecoin card projects. |
| Twelve offshore RMB primary liquidity providers in Hong Kong have taken effect, with repurchase quotas increased to RMB 22 billion. | October 27, confirmed | MAS press release and list | The liquidity upgrade of the cross-border RMB settlement hub affects the funding costs of cross-border payment channels and cross-border digital RMB services. |
| European Banking Authority consultation on MiCA penalty methods and others has ended | October 26 has been confirmed. | European Banking Authority consultation page | Determine the scale of penalties for EU stablecoin issuers in violation, aligned with direct oversight of USDC effective November 12. |
6. In-Depth Analysis: What Role Remains for Payment Companies After Banks Issue Their Own Stablecoins?
This week's evidence
On October 23, HSBC RedCoin launched on PayMe, with issuance, wallets, merchant network, and custody all within HSBC’s ecosystem; reserves are held in cash and disclosed daily; it is not protected by the Deposit Protection Scheme, and a one-to-one redemption is guaranteed by the issuer. On October 19, JPMorgan deployed JPM Coin deposit tokens on the Ethereum mainnet, operating on a public blockchain but accessible only to approved institutions; the associated Kinexys platform has processed over $4 trillion in total volume, representing the platform’s aggregate volume, not JPM Coin alone. On the same day, Thailand’s central bank categorized issuers and wallet service providers into two distinct licensing types: issuers are limited in number, while wallet service providers may apply in rounds with no cap on their quantity.
How does the money flow, and who is charging fees?
In the RedCoin pathway, users exchange Hong Kong dollar deposits for stablecoins; funds are transferred from deposit accounts to reserve accounts, with wallet, processing, and custody all handled by the same bank—the bank gains not transaction fees, but customer relationships and reserve management rights. In the JPM Coin pathway, institutional clients convert deposits into on-chain tokens, settle against tokenized assets on a public blockchain, and then redeem their deposits; the bank charges institutional service fees, with the public blockchain serving merely as a settlement venue. In both pathways, customer ownership remains with the bank.
| Stage | Fund format | Customer Attribution | Fees and Risks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Issuance and Reserves | Deposits are converted into stablecoins, with reserves held in cash or deposits. | Issuing bank | The issuer assumes the redemption and reserve risks, and receives reserve income or service fees. |
| Retail wallet | Stablecoin balance | Issuer's own wallet | The wallet provider controls user data and incentive budgets, with no deposit protection. |
| Merchant Acceptance | Convert stablecoin to merchant account funds | Bank merchant network or third-party acquiring | The acquirer charges an acceptance fee and assumes settlement and fraud risks. |
| Institutional settlement | Deposit tokens circulate on public blockchains. | Institutional clients approved by the issuing bank | Banks charge service fees; public blockchains do not manage customer relationships. |
What does it mean for both sides?
For traditional payment institutions, bank-issued stablecoins do not alter the core merchant acceptance landscape—merchants still require acquiring, reconciliation, and dispute resolution; RedCoin’s adoption of the PayMe merchant network demonstrates that the acceptance layer does not need to be rebuilt. However, since banks integrate both wallets and acceptance within their own systems, third-party acquiring services are left with only merchant-side service opportunities. For crypto payment companies, Thailand’s approach serves as the most direct indicator: issuance licenses will not be widely available; instead, opportunities lie in obtaining wallet licenses, fiat on/off-ramps, and compliance services. Mastercard’s newly launched stablecoin risk intelligence product this week is also targeting this space.
What other evidence is needed?
RedCoin’s first-week merchant transaction volume, activation rate, and average balance have not been disclosed; phased wallet rollouts mean initial figures do not represent steady-state conditions. JPM Coin’s standalone transaction volume on Ethereum has not been published. The number and terms of the first batch of wallet licenses in Thailand await final regulations, and the timeline for Hong Kong’s second issuer remains unclear.
How to verify
Review three sets of data: whether the circulating supply disclosed by the issuer continues to grow after the launch incentive ends; whether merchants have adopted an independent reconciliation method using stablecoins for settlement; and whether any third-party wallets or acquirers outside the issuer have integrated the same stablecoin. The first two items have been committed to by HSBC for daily disclosure; the third item can only be observed after Thailand issues its first round of wallet licenses.
7. Global Updates
Singapore: On October 23, the Monetary Authority of Singapore announced that the central banks of Malaysia and Thailand have joined the BLOOM cross-border digital currency settlement initiative, alongside nine institutions including Visa, Mastercard, Airwallex, Nium, and Ripple.
South Korea: On October 23, the Bank of Korea stated that it will propose amendments to the Foreign Exchange Transaction Act this year to bring stablecoins used as cross-border payment tools under regulation.
Japan: On October 21, JPYC, SBJ Bank, and LINE NEXT signed a memorandum of understanding to validate JPYC as a medium for funding between bank accounts and digital wallets.
Europe: On October 20, Checkout.com launched in-person payments in the UK and the European Economic Area; on the same day, a Google Cloud outage in London caused payment disruptions for Revolut, Lloyds, and HSBC cards for several hours.
UAE: On October 22, Ziina received a Class III license from the central bank for retail payment services, covering merchant acquiring and domestic money transfers.
This article is compiled from public reports and institutional announcements; the analysis and recommendations reflect the editorial team's views.