Global Payments Weekly | 2026W43 | October 19–23, 2026
Author / Editor: WANG TAI
1. This Week's Highlights
The main thread this week is that "official currencies on-chain" moved from pilots to rules and products: the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued the final rules for the GENIUS Act, HSBC launched the first retail licensed HKD stablecoin in Hong Kong, the Bank of Thailand published its THB stablecoin licensing framework, and the People's Bank of China upgraded digital RMB into an open smart-contract infrastructure. Issuance rights are concentrating toward licensed banks and central banks, while payment companies' position shifts to distribution, acceptance, and compliance.
The first signal is that rules are landing faster than expected. The final rules published on October 21 take effect on January 18, 2027: one-to-one reserves, redemption within two business days, and reward programs judged case by case. The rulebook for U.S. issuers is now in place, though the application window has not yet opened.
The second signal is that banks are becoming the retail entry point for stablecoins. On October 23, HSBC's RedCoin launched on PayMe, covering more than 3.3 million users; on October 19, JPMorgan put JPM Coin on the Ethereum mainnet, open only to approved institutions. Thailand's plan, meanwhile, stipulates a limited number of issuers and wallet service providers licensed in rounds. Issuance is a club; distribution depends on licenses.
The third signal is that card networks and processors are positioning themselves at the compliance and acceptance layers. On October 19, Mastercard launched a stablecoin risk intelligence product, first in North America; on the same day, Euronet and Fireblocks offered a white-label stablecoin funding card solution on their issuing platform. Issuers' processor options are increasing.
Key Data
| Indicator | Data | YoY / MoM | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly digital RMB transaction value | Approx. RMB 1.87 trillion, September 2026 | +123% YoY | Disclosed at the PBOC Digital RMB Annual Conference; 99.67 million transactions in the same month |
| American Express billed business volume | USD 454 billion, Q3 2026 | +8% YoY | American Express quarterly report; growth was 9% in the first half |
| Stablecoin on-chain adjusted transfer volume | USD 891 billion, Q3 2026 | — | Coinbase-commissioned research, excluding non-end-user transfers; Q1 2023 was USD 216 billion |
2. Key Events
| No. | Event | Area | Impact | Related Parties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | October 21: The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued the final rules for the GENIUS Act, effective January 18, 2027; the application window will be announced separately. | Regulation / U.S. | Issuance costs are fixed: one-to-one reserves, redemption within two business days, and case-by-case review of rewards. The path for foreign issuers is set but still awaits supporting rules from the Treasury. | Stablecoin issuers, custodian banks, exchanges and wallets |
| 2 | October 20: The UK Competition and Markets Authority launched a consultation on forcing Apple to open iPhone NFC, closing November 17. | Regulation / UK | Third-party wallets can directly use iPhone contactless payments, and fees must be significantly lower than current levels; both the entry point and costs for issuers will change. | Issuers, digital wallets, acquirers |
| 3 | October 19: The Bank of Thailand opened a public consultation on regulatory principles for THB stablecoins, closing November 17. | Regulation / Thailand | Issuers and wallet service providers are licensed separately; reserves may initially only be bank deposits and may not pay interest. The path into Thailand is a wallet license. | Stablecoin issuers, wallet and on/off-ramp service providers |
| 4 | October 23: HSBC's RedCoin HKD stablecoin launched on PayMe, covering more than 3.3 million users and 100,000 merchants. | Crypto / Hong Kong | Retail stablecoins go through banks' own wallets, with the customer entry point in the bank's hands; merchant acceptance requires no new interface. | Hong Kong banks, acquirers and merchants, stablecoin issuers |
| 5 | October 21: The PBOC released the digital RMB integrated infrastructure DCEPS and smart contract ecosystem framework, expanding operating institutions to 30. | Traditional / Mainland China | Digital RMB becomes a programmable settlement layer, with the cross-border platform "ShuBiDa" built on it; settlement paths for prepaid custody and supply chain finance change. | Commercial banks, payment institutions, cross-border settlement service providers |
| 6 | October 20: GCash parent Mynt listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange, raising PHP 60.9 billion with a market value of PHP 441.5 billion. | Capital / Philippines | Southeast Asia's first publicly priced wallet, with about 40 million monthly active users corresponding to about USD 7 billion; more funding is available to enter savings and lending. | Southeast Asian wallets, banks, investment institutions |
3. Impact Analysis
Traditional Payments
The UK is requiring Apple to open iPhone contactless payments and significantly lower fees. Apple Pay currently charges issuers about 0.15% on credit transactions; once this cost falls, the bargaining relationship between issuers and wallets will be reshuffled. Within six months of the EU opening up, Vipps, PayPal, Klarna and others have launched their own NFC wallets, and the UK will likely repeat this; issuers must decide whether to make their own apps the default entry point.
The digital RMB upgrade changes who owns the settlement layer. With operating institutions expanded to 30 and smart contracts opened externally, prepaid fund custody, payroll disbursement, and supply chain finance can automatically settle according to conditions directly within the central bank system. Payment institutions' intermediary income in these scenarios will be compressed, but the role of access and scenario operations still requires people to do it.
Crypto Payments
The final rules hard-code three issuer costs: one-to-one reserves with restricted structure, redemption within two business days, and case-by-case review of rewards. For licensed banks it is a checklist they can follow; for issuers and exchanges that rely on rebates to attract users, past projects have no safe harbor. The rules take effect in January 2027, and product and compliance budgets must be set this quarter.
RedCoin and JPM Coin launched in the same week, showing that bank stablecoins have two distribution routes: their own retail wallets, where customers and merchants do not leave the bank; or public-chain settlement open only to approved institutions. Under both routes, customer ownership stays with the bank. What third-party wallets and payment companies can do is acceptance, on/off-ramp, and compliance, and Thailand's licensing framework has written this into the system.
4. Recommended Actions
| Target | Recommended Action | Indicators to Watch |
|---|---|---|
| UK issuers and digital wallets | With November 17 as the deadline, calculate the development cost and customer migration benefits of connecting their own apps to iPhone NFC, and decide whether to submit comments and launch their own wallets against current Apple Pay fees | Timing of the CMA's final decision; Apple's new fee schedule; share of transactions by own NFC wallets in the EU |
| Banks and payment institutions with mainland China settlement business | Compare against the eight core services of digital RMB DCEPS, check whether interfaces for prepaid custody, payroll disbursement, and supply chain finance can migrate, and assess conditions for accessing "ShuBiDa" | List of operating institutions; number of overseas institutions connected to ShuBiDa; smart contract transaction volume by scenario |
| Stablecoin issuers and distributors targeting the U.S. market | Go through the final rules item by item on reserve structure, redemption timelines, and reward programs, reclassify rebate programs by "whether interest is paid solely for holding," and prepare Part 15 application materials | Announcement of the application window; final rules for Section 3 of the Treasury; supporting rules from the Fed and FDIC |
| Wallet, on/off-ramp, and card program operators in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong | Submit comments on Thailand's plan before November 17, clarify going the wallet service provider license route; assess how to accept RedCoin through the PayMe merchant network | Thailand's first-round wallet license quotas and conditions; RedCoin circulation and merchant data; timing of Hong Kong's second issuance license |
5. What to Watch Next Week
Covering October 24–30, 2026.
| Item | Time | Verification Method | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visa, Mastercard, and Coinbase quarterly reports | Visa on October 27; Mastercard and Coinbase on October 29, confirmed | Investor relations pages of the three companies | American Express growth has slowed from 9% to 8%; watch whether card network payment volumes keep pace and the disclosure standards for stablecoin card programs |
| Hong Kong's 12 offshore RMB primary liquidity providers take effect, with repo quotas increased to RMB 22 billion | October 27, confirmed | HKMA press release and list | Liquidity upgrade for the cross-border RMB settlement hub, affecting funding costs for cross-border payment links and digital RMB cross-border business |
| Consultation deadlines including the European Banking Authority's MiCA penalty methodology | October 26, confirmed | EBA consultation page | Determines the scale of violation costs for EU stablecoin issuers and links to direct supervision of USDC from November 12 |
6. In-Depth Observation | After Banks Issue Their Own Stablecoins, What Position Is Left for Payment Companies?
This Week's Evidence
On October 23, HSBC's RedCoin launched on PayMe, with issuance, wallet, merchant network, and custody all within the HSBC system; reserves are cash and disclosed daily; it is not protected by the deposit protection scheme, and one-to-one redemption is promised by the issuer. On October 19, JPMorgan put JPM Coin deposit tokens on the Ethereum mainnet, running on a public chain but open only to approved institutions; its Kinexys platform has cumulatively processed more than USD 4 trillion, which is the platform total rather than a JPM Coin-specific figure. On the same day, the Bank of Thailand's plan split issuers and wallet service providers into two license types: a limited number of issuers, and wallet service providers applying in rounds with no cap.
How the money flows, who charges fees
In the RedCoin chain, users exchange Hong Kong dollar deposits for stablecoins, funds move from deposit accounts to reserve accounts, and the wallet, acceptance, and custody are all at the same bank; what the bank gets is not fees, but customer relationships and reserve management rights. In the JPM Coin chain, institutional clients convert deposits into on-chain tokens, settle with tokenized assets on the public chain, and then convert back to deposits; the bank charges institutional service fees, and the public chain is merely a settlement venue. In both chains, customer ownership never leaves the bank.
| Stage | Form of funds | Customer ownership | Fees and risks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Issuance and reserves | Deposits converted into stablecoins, reserves held as cash or deposits | Issuing bank | The issuer bears redemption and reserve risks, and earns reserve income or service fees |
| Retail wallet | Stablecoin balance | The issuing bank's own wallet | The wallet provider controls user data and incentive budgets, with no deposit protection |
| Merchant acceptance | Stablecoins converted into merchant account funds | Bank merchant network or third-party acquirer | The acquirer charges acceptance fees and bears settlement and fraud risks |
| Institutional settlement | Deposit tokens circulate on the public chain | Institutional clients approved by the issuing bank | The bank charges service fees, and the public chain does not bear customer relationships |
What it means for both sides
For traditional payment institutions, bank stablecoins do not change the fundamentals of merchant acceptance; merchants still need acquiring, reconciliation, and dispute handling. RedCoin's reuse of the PayMe merchant network shows precisely that the acceptance layer does not need to be rebuilt; but as banks bring both wallets and acceptance in-house, third-party acquirers are left with only merchant-side service space. For crypto payment companies, the Thailand plan is the most direct signal: issuance licenses will not be opened to most companies; what can be pursued are wallet licenses, on-ramp and off-ramp channels, and compliance services. Mastercard's stablecoin risk intelligence product launched this week is also competing for this position.
What evidence is still missing
RedCoin's first-week merchant transaction volume, activation rate, and average balance have not yet been disclosed; the phased opening of wallets means the first batch of figures does not represent a steady state. JPM Coin's independent transaction volume on Ethereum has not been published. The number and conditions of Thailand's first round of wallet licenses await final rules, and the timetable for Hong Kong's second issuer is also unclear.
How to verify
Look at three sets of data: whether the circulation disclosed by the issuer continues to grow after the launch incentives end; whether an independent reconciliation standard for stablecoin settlement appears on the merchant side; and whether third-party wallets or acquirers other than the issuer connect to the same stablecoin. HSBC has committed to daily disclosure for the first two items; the third can only be observed after Thailand's first round of wallet licenses is issued.
7. Global developments
Singapore: On October 23, the Monetary Authority of Singapore announced that the central banks of Malaysia and Thailand joined the BLOOM cross-border digital currency settlement project, while nine institutions including Visa, Mastercard, Airwallex, Nium, and Ripple also joined.
South Korea: On October 23, the Bank of Korea said it would propose a plan within the year to amend the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act to bring stablecoins as cross-border payment tools under regulation.
Japan: On October 21, JPYC, SBJ Bank, and LINE NEXT signed a memorandum to verify the use of JPYC as a top-up medium 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 London outage disrupted card payments at Revolut, Lloyds, and HSBC for several hours.
UAE: On October 22, Ziina obtained the central bank's third-category retail payment services license, covering merchant acquiring and domestic transfers.
This article is compiled from public reports and institutional announcements; the analysis and recommendations are the views of the editorial team.
