🗞 Key News of the Week: main developments covered from October 19–23

🗞 Key News of the Week: main developments covered from October 19–23

💳💳 Mastercard and Visa expanded their stablecoin infrastructure. Mastercard and BVNK launched Global Money Platform, combining fiat accounts, stablecoins, conversion and payouts through one API. Visa and StraitsX expanded stablecoin-backed card issuing capabilities, subject to local regulatory requirements.

💳 Mastercard introduced Stablecoin Security to assess fraud and sanctions risks before funds move on-chain. Initial partners include Borderless.xyz and Keyrails; worldwide commercial availability is expected in 2027.

🇪🇺 USDC became the first significant e-money token under MiCA. From November 12, its European issuer will be jointly supervised by the EBA and France’s ACPR, with the EBA overseeing capital, reserves, liquidity and redemption plans.

🇿🇦 Nuvei obtained PASA authorisation for local merchant payment services in South Africa. This expands domestic processing options for South African businesses and global brands entering the market through Nuvei’s existing platform.

🇭🇰 Hong Kong is encouraging AI adoption in transaction monitoring. Authorities are targeting illegal gambling flows, including third-party accounts used to collect deposits and distribute payouts. Banks, wallet providers and licensed crypto platforms remain responsible for appropriate AML controls.

🇧🇷 Brazil’s betting ban prompted 97 proposed amendments, with 92 referred for review after five withdrawals. Proposals include preserving sports betting, tighter advertising rules and blocking registers for accounts and Pix keys. Submission of amendments does not itself change the law.

🇪🇸 Spain reported over €465 million in uncollected fines against illegal online gambling operators for 2022–2026. A parliamentary response cited opaque ownership and cross-border enforcement difficulties. Authorities also point to payment restrictions, domain blocking and reduced advertising visibility as enforcement tools.

🇪🇸 Spain is testing combined deposit limits across licensed operators: €700 daily, €1,750 weekly and €3,300 over four weeks. Full entry into force is scheduled for March 26, 2027. These are default thresholds that users can modify under a prescribed procedure.

🇺🇦 A Kantar survey of 800 gamblers estimated that 55.4% of gambling spending in Ukraine goes to illegal operators. The research was commissioned by an operators’ association. Separately, PlayCity fined Slots U.A. UAH 4.76 million for third-party deposits and failure to comply with a corrective order.

🇰🇿 The AIFC Court issued an injunction against six crypto platforms, including HTX, Coinbase and BingX, covering services within the AIFC without the required licence. The order also requires Google and Apple to apply geographic access restrictions.

🇷🇺🇧🇾 MEXC notified Russian and Belarusian clients of service withdrawal. Notifications cite restrictions on new orders from October 24, position closures on October 28 and recommended withdrawals before November 4. Affected clients should follow their individual notification.

🏦 The channel’s four-part review of The Paypers’ A2A report highlighted refunds, dispute handling, reliable APIs and fallback payment methods. Speed and lower costs alone will not secure adoption.

#news #digest

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