
Coinbase waives fees on PayPal's stablecoin in crypto payments push
April 24 (Reuters) - Coinbase, the largest publicly traded cryptocurrency exchange, is waiving fees on transactions connected to PayPal's stablecoin and allowing its users to redeem the token directly for U.S. dollars, a major milestone for PayPal as the company doubles down on crypto payments.
The move is part of a joint effort by Coinbase (COIN.O), opens new tab and PayPal (PYPL.O), opens new tab to increase the adoption of PayPal's stablecoin, called PYUSD, which it launched in 2023. PayPal says the integration with Coinbase will allow merchants on its network to settle directly in PYUSD instead of traditional financial rails.
Stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a constant value, usually a 1:1 dollar peg, are commonly used by crypto traders to move funds between tokens. Their use has grown rapidly in recent years, and proponents like PayPal say that they could be used to send payments instantly.
"This combination of being able to connect the consumer bases of PayPal and Coinbase, bringing our merchants to the table, bringing [Coinbase's] institutional access to the table -- we think that it creates a really, really powerful combination," said Jose Fernandez da Ponte, PayPal's senior vice president of blockchain, crypto and digital currencies.
The two companies also plan on partnering for future efforts to increase the adoption of stablecoins for payments and explore use cases for PYUSD on decentralized finance platforms, which allow users to transact directly on a blockchain network without intermediaries.
"This is a partnership that is all about advancing the future of global payments, taking stable coins mainstream, pushing forward this technology," said Lauren Abendschein, global head of institutional sales at Coinbase.
Coinbase has previously only offered the same zero-fee treatment for Circle's stablecoin, USDC, the number two stablecoin in terms of market capitalization.
"Definitely there will be cases for payments where people will make a choice between PYUSD and USDC, and we want to make sure that we establish PYUSD as the best stablecoin for payments," said Fernandez da Ponte.
Circle has also doubled down on the use of its stablecoin for payments. On Monday, the company announced the launch of its Circle Payments network designed for cross-border payment and real-time settlement of its stablecoins between financial institutions.
Stablecoins have a market capitalization of more than $238 billion, according to crypto data provider CoinGecko. PayPal's stablecoin has a market cap of only about $872 million, but it could stand to gain greater market share through its integration with Coinbase.
The partnership between the two companies is happening as the U.S. Congress appears likely to pass a bill creating stablecoin rules for the first time. The House of Representatives and the Senate have both advanced bills to create a regulatory regime for stablecoins, and the White House said it wants to see a final bill passed by August.
President Donald Trump has sought to broadly overhaul U.S. cryptocurrency policies after courting cash from the industry during his presidential campaign. In office, he has appointed crypto-friendly leaders to agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission and signed an executive order last month to create a strategic cryptocurrency reserve.
In addition, Trump Media & Technology Group, which is majority-owned by the president, on Tuesday said it had reached a binding agreement to roll out an array of retail investment products, including crypto, in its latest bid to diversify into financial services.

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Coin Geek
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Circle's fiery Nasdaq debut pushes Gemini to file IPO paperwork
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... The explosive Nasdaq debut of stablecoin issuer Circle (NASDAQ: CRCL) is proof positive that irrational crypto exuberance is impeding investors' ability to read a balance sheet. On June 5, USDC stablecoin issuer Circle's first day of trading on the Nasdaq exchange saw the shares soar from their initial price of $31—which was already upsized twice from the original pre-launch range of $24-$26—to above $104 before closing Thursday's trading above $83. The demand was so manic that the Nasdaq's automatic limiting feature halted trading three times in the first hour the shares were available due to the extreme volatility. The shares jumped another 29% on Friday, closing just under $108, and rose again Monday, topping $138 before surrendering some of those gains to close at $115.25 (+7% for the day, +270% since its debut). How overblown is this reaction? Consider that by mid-Monday, Circle's market capitalization was half of USDC's market cap of $61 billion (which, ironically, has fallen slightly from its pre-Nasdaq level). The investor enthusiasm is all the more puzzling given Circle's admission that 98% of its revenue comes from interest generated on the U.S. Treasury bills that it holds as reserves backing that $61 billion of circulating USDC. Unlike its exchange partners, Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) and Binance—to whom Circle pays significant fees for enjoying premium placement and promotion—Circle makes bupkis off secondary USDC transactions. Moreover, while T-bills offered generous returns as interest rates spiked during the pandemic, U.S. President Donald Trump has been pressuring the Federal Reserve to drastically cut interest rates. Current Fed chair Jerome Powell has to date resisted these 'suggestions,' but Powell's term expires next May, and Trump has already teased that he has Powell's more willing replacement picked out. Some analysts have suggested that every quarter-point cut to the Fed's rates will shave $100 million off Circle's annual earnings, requiring 10% growth in either the overall stablecoin market or Circle's slice of that market just to offset each quarter-point reduction. While Coinbase makes major bank off its USDC ties, Circle's prospectus showed its 2024 profits were seriously declining even as its revenue rose. Circle further warned that it expects its expenses to continue to rise 'as we add distributors and approved participants' tasked with helping Circle boost USDC adoption. There's also the fact that USDC now has a significant stateside competitor in the form of USD1, the stablecoin issued in March by World Liberty Financial (WLF). WLF is the decentralized finance (DeFi) platform controlled by a corporation linked to the Trump family. In March, the president issued an executive order suggesting that stablecoins could play a major role in government-issued payments. Given the lack of serious pushback on the Trump family's questionable crypto ventures, USD1 might get preferential treatment for those digital disbursements. Regardless, the Nasdaq feeding frenzy was welcomed by Circle, which withdrew its original initial public offering (IPO) plans in late 2022 due to the unforeseen arrival of 'crypto winter' and its string of bankruptcies, frauds, and highly public meltdowns. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire tweeted his pride and gratitude for the support of everyone who'd helped the company get to this point. Allaire's personal fortune has soared by over $2 billion after selling 1.6 million of his shares, and he retains ownership of another 18 million shares, along with options and restricted units. The momentum behind Circle is such that companies have already filed two applications for Circle-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs). One is based on applying 2x leverage to Circle's share price, while the other is a covered call options strategy. 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However, Circle's IPO prospectus confirmed that Big 4 firm Deloitte & Touche LLP had audited the financial statements contained therein, including the 'financial statements and financial highlights of Circle Reserve Fund.' Tether notably self-reports billions of dollars in profits every quarter, including a total profit of $13 billion for 2024 as a whole. This is over 83x the profit reported by Circle last year, despite USDT's market cap being only ~3x USDC's at the end of last year. Small wonder, then, that Ardoino tweeted that Tether has '[n]o need to go public.' That said, 'no desire' to go public might be more appropriate, given that doing so would force Tether's hand on performing that elusive and overdue audit. Back to the top ↑ Gemini twins say 'me two' The day after Circle's meteoric Nasdaq debut, the Gemini digital asset exchange announced that it had 'confidentially' filed its own IPO paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The confidential angle will allow Gemini to get the wheels in motion without having to disclose the hard numbers behind its operations until closer to its listing launch date. The company said it has yet to decide on the size of the offering or a potential share price range. The news isn't that surprising, as Gemini is one of a handful of digital asset firms that appear newly emboldened to cash in their chips in the infinitely more relaxed market since President Trump was sworn into office in January. Gemini, which is controlled by twin brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, was among the many crypto firms in recent years to be served with an SEC civil complaint for selling unregistered securities to the public. However, that suit was put on the back burner in February following Trump's inauguration and the installation of crypto-friendly individuals at the top of the SEC org chart. Gemini is not a major player in the centralized exchange market, currently ranked #15 on CoinGecko's list of top exchanges by trading volume (U.S. rivals Coinbase and Kraken ranked fifth and sixth, respectively.) But as Circle's Nasdaq coming-out party suggests, investors are in a 'take my money' mood, so why not strike while the iron is hot (and the reasoning is ice cold)? Back to the top ↑ Uphold on a moment… Also reportedly mulling a plunge into the IPO pool is Uphold, a U.S.-based digital asset payment/trading platform that also allows users to trade more traditional assets, including fiat currencies, certain equities, and precious metals. Uphold CEO Simon McLoughlin told The Block that the company had appointed FT Partners to explore various strategic options, including a potential public float. Uphold is an even smaller player than Gemini, with suggestions of a valuation of around $1.5 billion. However, McLoughlin said the company generated over $300 million in revenue last year, up from just $80 million in 2022. Uphold could also become a potential acquisition target for traditional finance companies looking to stake out a position in digital assets without building something from scratch. Last week, Uphold struck a deal to allow U.K.-based investment/trading platform IG Group to offer digital asset trades, with Uphold executing customer transactions and handling pricing data. The deal made IG Group the first U.K.-listed firm to offer such trades to retail customers. Back to the top ↑ Binance bucks the trend Meanwhile, Binance CEO Richard Teng told The Street that his company won't be stampeding toward a market listing anytime soon. Teng said 'very important corporate decisions' like an initial public offering were something that would have to be discussed 'at the board of directors level and discuss with the shareholders what's the intention.' Binance is the unquestioned market-leading digital asset exchange, controlling around two-fifths of all centralized exchange spot token trading volume. Teng said Binance was in 'very healthy financial shape' and continued to enjoy 'sharp growth in terms of user numbers throughout the world, both institution and new retail users.' Binance is also not exactly starving for working capital, having just received a $2 billion investment from the Abu Dhabi state-supported investment group MGX in March. The investment was the first institutional investment deal that Binance struck, and the exchange could likely secure similar large deals from other institutional investors should it choose to pursue those opportunities. 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Robinhood shares fall as S&P 500 inclusion hopes dashed
June 9 (Reuters) - Shares of Robinhood Markets (HOOD.O), opens new tab dipped 5% in premarket trading on Monday, after S&P Dow Jones Indices made no changes to the S&P 500 membership following recent speculation that the online brokerage would be added to the index. S&P Dow Jones Indices announced late on Friday that it will not be making any changes to the components of the benchmark S&P 500 as part of quarterly rebalancing. Robinhood stock rallied in recent weeks, touching its highest level since 2021 market debut on Friday, as investors priced in a possible inclusion in the index. Bank of America analysts earlier this month touted the company as the "prime candidate" to join the S&P 500. Robinhood's shares were down 5% at $71.2 before the bell, while marketing platform AppLovin (APP.O), opens new tab, which also rallied last week on bets of inclusion, dropped 5% to $397. To be included on the index, a company has to be U.S. domiciled, listed on a prominent U.S. exchange and have a market capitalization of $20.5 billion or higher. Robinhood had a market valuation of $66.1 billion as of Friday's close, with shares more than doubling in value this year and trading well above its IPO price of $38 apiece. Crypto-exchange operator Coinbase Global (COIN.O), opens new tab was the latest addition to the S&P 500 last month, making it the first digital asset player to be included in the index.

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The fintech world is entering a new era where AI can do more than chat or make recommendations – it can act. In this 'agentic' age of commerce, autonomous AI agents are increasingly capable of making purchases, managing finances, and executing transactions on behalf of users without direct human intervention. What began as experimental chatbots has rapidly evolved into full-fledged agentic AI systems with 'advanced human-like reasoning and interaction capabilities' that are 'transforming the finance and retail sectors' among others. In just the past few months, major payment networks, fintech giants, and startups alike have unveiled tools to empower these AI agents to shop, pay, and transact in the real world. This deep dive explores how the concept of agentic AI emerged in payments and commerce, what key solutions are being built – from PayPal's Agent Toolkit to Visa's Intelligent Commerce – and what it all means for consumers, merchants, and the broader fintech ecosystem. The significance of this shift is hard to overstate. Some compare it to the leap from physical stores to e-commerce, or from web shopping to mobile. As Visa's Chief Product and Strategy Officer Jack Forestell put it, 'Just like the shift from physical shopping to online, and from online to mobile, Visa is setting a new standard for a new era of commerce' with AI agents. The idea is that soon millions of consumers will trust AI assistants to not only find the perfect product or best deal, but also buy it for them – all while handling payments seamlessly in the background. According to Forestell, 'Soon people will have AI agents browse, select, purchase and manage on their behalf. These agents will need to be trusted with payments, not only by users, but by banks and sellers as well'. In other words, the race is on to build the trust, infrastructure, and standards that will let AI-driven commerce flourish safely. This isn't just hype from incumbents. A wave of startups and developers is also charging into the agentic payments gold rush. In late 2024 and early 2025, 'a surge of launches by startups [aimed] to capitalize on the new AI agent economy' has been evident. Fintech innovators see an opportunity to remove friction from transactions by letting AI do the heavy lifting. But they also recognize huge challenges around security, identity, and fraud when algorithmic agents start handling money. Are we really ready to let AI agents loose on our wallets? This article will delve into how the industry is addressing those questions and reimagining commerce itself – from autonomous shopping assistants to AI-powered back-office bots – all through the lens of factual developments and solutions that have emerged in the past year. The Rise of Agentic AI in Commerce Not long ago, 'autonomous AI agents' sounded like science fiction. Yet the rapid advances in generative AI (GenAI) and large language models over 2023–2024 have made it possible for software bots to carry out complex tasks with minimal supervision. Instead of just answering questions, AI can now be agentic – capable of making decisions and taking actions to achieve specific goals. In practical terms, an agentic AI might not only recommend a product but actually place an order, or not only flag a fraudulent transaction but automatically shut down the affected account. The concept took center stage as companies like OpenAI released frameworks for AI agents that can use tools and APIs. This opened the door for integrating payment capabilities directly into AI workflows. Financial services quickly became fertile ground for these innovations. According to a PwC executive playbook, 'multimodal GenAI agentic frameworks have emerged as transformative catalysts, enabling businesses to accelerate process automation at an unprecedented scale', with finance and retail among the sectors already seeing impact. Early experiments had AI agents assist with things like investment research, loan document analysis, and customer support. By late 2024, attention turned to payments and commerce – arguably the next frontier for agentic AI. After all, shopping and financial transactions involve myriad routine decisions and steps (searching for products, comparing options, entering payment details, etc.) that an AI could potentially handle faster and more efficiently than a human. Crucially, the infrastructure to support such autonomy was starting to fall into place. Payment APIs have proliferated, digital wallets and tokenization are widespread, and e-commerce is API-driven – all of which make it easier to plug an AI agent into the commerce loop. In October 2024, industry observers like Sardine noted that 'AI agents are the hottest trend in banking right now, offering massive productivity gains by automating complex tasks and making decisions at lightning speed – tasks that once required human oversight'. However, as Sardine's Head of Strategy Ravi Loganathan cautioned, this promise comes with challenges: 'How do you know the AI agent is operating within your consent? How do you link each payment back to a verified identity? How do we prevent fraud against the agents or prevent the agents from committing fraud?'. These questions underscored the need for new frameworks and safeguards before handing the keys (and the credit cards) to AI. By early 2025, the concept of agentic commerce had moved from theory to reality. In April and May 2025, a flurry of announcements from top payments companies signaled that autonomous shopping and payments are officially here. Mastercard unveiled its Agent Pay initiative; Visa introduced Intelligent Commerce; PayPal, Stripe, and Coinbase each launched toolkits for AI agent transactions; and startups like PayOS came out of stealth to tie everything together. Each of these efforts contributes a piece to the emerging ecosystem of agent-enabled commerce. Let's examine these key products and solutions driving the agentic AI revolution in payments.