CBDC

Finextra TV/payments

How AI and Digital Currencies Are Reshaping the Payments Infrastructure

At Sibos 2025 in Frankfurt, Ramon Villarreal, Head of Payments, Global Payments Industry Lead at Red Hat, discussed the evolving balance between innovation and reliability in the payments industry. He noted that while innovation has accelerated in recent years, trust and operational resilience, reinforced by regulations like DORA, are once again top priorities. Villarreal emphasised the growing need to simplify payment complexity, especially as banks prepare to integrate stablecoins and CBDCs. He predicted a surge in agentic AI use cases, including fraud prevention and intelligent routing, alongside the rise of interoperable faster payment networks. With digital currencies and AI reshaping the landscape, Villarreal called for efficient, scalable systems to meet the demands of a rapidly transforming market.

30 October 2025

News/crypto

Digital euro could get 2027 pilot ahead of 2029 launch

The European Central Bank says it could launch a digital euro pilot in 2027 ahead of a 2029 launch for the CBDC.

30 October 2025

Finextra TV/payments

Speed, Standardisation and Safety: How the G20 is Creating a Better Payments World

Whilst at the Finextra TV studio at Sibos 2025, Simon Eacott, Head of Payments, NatWest described the purpose-led initiatives behind the G20's mission, as well as outlining both the current progresses to be optimistic about and the crucial challenges left to solve. Eacott expressed a positivity surrounding the speed of cross-border payments, as well as the evolving adoption of messaging standardisation and explained how, with so many individual requirements, it takes a coalition of regulators, sharing fundamental principles and frameworks to succeed. Beyond this, he referenced the increase in conversation around the role stablecoins, CBDCs and digital assets within this journey, something that he stressed is good but should not lead to a primary focus on technology as a solution without first addressing the improvement of customer experiences at their core.

15 October 2025

News/crypto

ECB taps Italian tech firms Almaviva and Fabrick to build digital euro app and infrastructure

The digital euro, issued and backed by the Eurosystem, aims to complement cash, enhance financial inclusion, and bolster Europe’s monetary sovereignty. The initiative is also seen as a strategic move to strengthen the EU’s technological autonomy and resilience against cyber threats and technical disruptions.

03 October 2025

News/crypto

ECB turns to AI startup for fraud detection for digital euro

The European Central Bank (ECB) has selected Portugal-based startup Feedzai to provide fraud detection and prevention for its digital euro.

02 October 2025

News/Sibos

Sibos 2025: How to build the bank of tomorrow

Following the popular session on building tomorrow’s bank at Sibos 2024, McKinsey’s Megha Kansal moderated a follow-up session on the year’s developments in Frankfurt.

30 September 2025

News/crypto

Sibos 2025: Unpacking the impact and future of digital assets

Digital assets are one of the key themes at Sibos 2025, and day one featured several sessions covering the intricacies of stablecoins, CBDCs, and the world of crypto.

30 September 2025

News/Sibos

Sibos 2025: AI, quantum, CBDCs, tokenised assets and stablecoins to lead the agenda

In the opening plenary of Sibos 2025 in Frankfurt, executives at Swift and leading German banks Deutsche Bundesbank and Deutsche Bank introduced the themes of the conference and what can be accomplished on ‘the next frontier of global finance’.

29 September 2025

News/devops

People's Bank of China opens digital yuan operation centre in Shanghai

On Thursday, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) opened a digital yuan (e-CNY) international operations centre in Shanghai, in a move to drive CBDC innovation.

26 September 2025

News/crypto

ING digital asset lead: Euro stablecoin could revolutionise music industry with tokenised royalties

Hot on the heels of news that nine European banks have partnered to launch a Euro denominated stablecoin, Finextra spoke to Floris Lugt, digital assets lead at ING, about the catalyst for this launch and why they didn’t want to wait for the ECB’s digital euro launch slated for 2029.

25 September 2025

News/payments

Digital euro could roll out in 2029 - ECB's Cipollone

Work on the digital euro is gaining momentum, with a launch possible by the middle of 2029, according to European Central Bank Executive Board member Piero Cipollone.

24 September 2025

News/crypto

Most traditional asset managers favouring centralised stablecoins

Growing from a market capitalisation of $130 billion to $280 billion since the end of 2023, Stablecoins continue to grow in relevance. Recent regulatory framework introductions have begun to go further and introduce their adoption within broader applications across traditional finance.

19 September 2025

Research/CBDCFuture of Report

The Future of Cross Border Payments 2026: Strategies for Success

17 September 2025 784 downloads

News/crypto

EU weighs public blockchain for digital euro

European Union policymakers are debating whether to launch the digital euro on public blockchains as they accelerate work on the CBDC in response to the passage of the Genius Act in the US and fears that it could see dollar-baked stablecoins dominate cross-border payments, according to the Financial Times.

25 August 2025

News/crypto

UAE closes in on launch of Digital Dirham

The United Arab Emirates is closing in on the phased launch of its Digital Dirham central bank digital currency.

12 August 2025

News/crypto

Diebold Nixdorf joins digital euro innovation platform

Diebold Nixdorf is working with the European Central Bank to integrate its payment processing technology with the digital euro interfaces.

12 August 2025

Finextra TV/crypto

How Digital Assets Are Leading Wealth Portfolios

Joining FinextraTV at Money 20/20 in Amsterdam, Waqar Chaudry, Head of Digital Assets, Financing and Securities Services, Standard Chartered explains the long-term outlook on digital assets in wealth portfolios. Providing examples of how cryptocurrencies, especially, have outperformed other asset classes, Chaudry describes how corporates, specifically, have become key drivers of this popularity. As part of this, he further explains how more traditional institutions can provide unique insights to this more modern innovation.

07 August 2025

News/crypto

Bank of England mulls shelving of digital pound

The Bank of England is considering shelving plans for the creation of a digital pound amid growing scepticism over the project’s benefits.

22 July 2025

Finextra TV/payments

Challenger Differentiation is Now About More Than Just UX & Technology

Following his time hosting a panel, Sulabh Agarwal, Managing Director - Global Payments, Accenture joined the FinextraTV studio at EBAday 2025 in Paris. Sharing his personal insights into the most interesting payment trends of 2025 so far, Agarwal mentioned digital euros, stablecoins, and the general 'reinvention of money' innovations. Later, Agarwal also shared his opinion on the increasingly difficult task of retaining differentiation as a challenger bank.

21 July 2025