Monoup News Digest: Main Updates from Fintech Industry
Friday news digest from Monoup — live now, covering the key events of ongoing week, short and to the point, as always.
European Union is set to significantly change its approach to cash payments in business starting summer 2027: no transactions exceeding €10,000 will be permitted in cash. All goods and services fall under this restriction if at least one party is a business entity or sole trader. It may seem like this has always been the case in the EU, but that's not entirely true. Some member states have indeed had strict cash payment limits in place for quite some time, but the majority have not followed such rules. Who will be affected by the new rules and when to expect them — more on that below.
Meanwhile, Mastercard is strengthening its mechanisms for detecting fraudulent merchants — so-called storefront shops or “front stores” — that deceive buyers or steal card data. With the rise of AI, the number of such websites has multiplied, and their quality has improved significantly. As a result, compliance teams of payment systems have found it much harder to screen them out at the registration stage, meaning some of them can still process payments. What Mastercard plans to do and who will be affected — we cover that today.
More on this and other significant news further below.
EU Bans Cash Purchases Above €10,000 Starting Summer 2027
From July 10, 2027, a ban on any cash purchases exceeding €10,000 comes into force across the entire European Union. This covers all transactions where at least one party is a business or sole trader — meaning B2B, B2C, and C2B directions.
Additionally, an important supplement to this regulation is enhanced scrutiny of payments between €3,000 and €10,000, which will be subject to additional checks on the origin of funds. This typically includes large purchases at jewelry stores, real estate-related transactions, as well as purchases of luxury goods, expensive clothing, footwear, or electronics.
Currently, a number of EU countries already have such restrictions implemented — some even stricter — but the majority have not followed such limits. This is precisely why there have been cases of buyers deliberately traveling to other EU countries to make expensive purchases, while fraudsters exploit this as a loophole for moving illegally obtained funds across borders. The EU aims to specifically target these cases. From next year, the limit will be mandatory for all member states, while those with lower existing limits — such as Spain, France, and Greece — may leave their rules unchanged.
At the same time, cash payments above the limit will remain available for transactions between private individuals. Buying a used car from a neighbor — allowed. Paying cash for the same car at a dealership — not.
Splitting purchases is also prohibited: if payments to a business below the limit are made one after another but their combined total exceeds €10,000, this also falls under the restriction.
Belarusian Exchange WhiteBird Hit With Sanctions
The EU's new sanctions package against Russia includes crypto restrictions targeting exchanges registered in Russia and Belarus. It prohibits Europeans and European businesses from interacting with these exchanges in any way, and assets linked to them are now considered sanctioned. These measures are introduced as an addition to the targeted restrictions that were implemented earlier. While the EU previously imposed sanctions on specific exchanges, it is now blocking all those that could potentially be classified as sanctioned entities.
On practice, targeted sanctions on individual companies don't deliver a complete result — new ones immediately spring up in their place, as happened with exchange Garantex and its successor Grinex. That said, the EU is not abandoning targeted sanctions either. TengriCoin from Kyrgyzstan has come under them, for instance, while the most high-profile case is Belarusian exchange WhiteBird.
The Crystal service has already flagged its addresses as sanctioned. The reaction among users was notable in part because the exchange was considered a clean project, and users stored their funds there without concern — yet the risks have now materialized. Tokens connected to it may be frozen upon withdrawal to other platforms or raise additional questions during AML checks.
Regular users may also find that their addresses receive retroactive risk flagging. Even if transactions involving WhiteBird or related services took place a long time ago — sanctions provide the right to act with respect to past payments.
Exchanges such as HTX and Bybit have a substantial client base from Russia, but have not yet become targets of restrictions, as they are registered in third countries.
Poland Votes on New MiCA Law
The Polish parliament held a third vote on an updated version of the crypto-assets law, but the president has yet to sign it. Recall that the president has already vetoed previous versions twice, and according to sources, the current one has not changed significantly.
Less than two months remain before the EU deadline, yet full adaptation of the law is still not in place. However, this time the law may finally be signed, as pressure is coming not only from approaching deadlines but also from a press scandal surrounding Poland's largest crypto exchange, Zondacrypto, which has effectively collapsed.
Thousands of users are unable to withdraw funds, with losses estimated at approximately $96 million. The exchange's founder disappeared back in 2022, while the acting CEO has left for Israel. The media storm last month pushed lawmakers to move faster on crypto regulation. Prime Minister Tusk has also publicly stated that the exchange has ties to Russian organized crime and intelligence services, and against this backdrop is pushing for a stricter crypto law.
Historically, Poland was the primary jurisdiction for aspiring crypto entrepreneurs thanks to its affordable and fast VASP registration. This attracted a constant flow of businesspeople — some who were actively operating, others who had not yet managed to launch full operations. Today, over a thousand companies are awaiting a decision from the Polish government, left in limbo. Some have undoubtedly already moved their businesses to other countries, but many are still waiting for crypto-friendly Poland to return. At the same time, based on current trends, the situation in the country is likely to change significantly and the old rules are unlikely to return.
Mastercard Strengthens Tools Against Front Stores
The Mastercard payment network is moving into an active phase of identifying and disconnecting merchants engaged in fraud. Storefronts will receive a risk score within the network, which issuers will be able to see at the payment authorization stage for that merchant. Based on this data, the issuer will decide whether to process the payment. Storefronts are online shops that exist to sell entirely different goods from those presented (used as cover) or to deceive users into handing over their card data. The fight against this phenomenon has been ongoing since the very dawn of online payment acceptance, yet eliminating them from processing entirely has not been achieved.
Under Merchant Trust Services, new obligations fall on acquirers — they will be required to respond to merchants of concern more quickly than before. Within 72 hours of a risk being identified, an investigation must begin, and in the event of confirmed fraud, the merchant must be disconnected from accepting Mastercard.
This system cannot be called fundamentally new, since merchant monitoring and placing violators on the MATCH list has always existed. However, Mastercard is now focusing on those operating on the edge, rather than those already disconnected and blacklisted. The analytics system will form merchant risk scores based on internal data — such as conversion rate, sharp spikes, and elevated chargeback rates — as well as external data, for which integrations with third-party systems monitoring websites, product changes, and online reviews will be introduced.
Merchants under 6 months old will be subject to particularly close scrutiny, as storefronts tend to refresh frequently and many of them never leave the “startup” stage. This dynamic naturally has a negative impact on genuine startups, who must work harder to open their first merchant accounts, running into a wall of distrust from payment networks.
That's the news Monoup has gathered for you today. Stay on top of fintech events and read our breakdowns, where we share professional insight and potential industry impact — not just a recap of what's already happened. Subscribe to our Telegram channel for instant updates!
