News Digest from Monoup: Main Fintech and Gaming Events of the Week
Wrapping up this week with a roundup of the latest news from Monoup experts. The week has been active with partnerships, developments, and potential shifts in the global economy. Georgia became the main topic of discussion at another session of the European Parliament and may be disconnected from SWIFT network. Read on to find out the reason and how Georgians reacted.
Meanwhile, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan are expanding opportunities for international cooperation and have signed an agreement between their main national payment systems. This will allow clients to conduct direct transactions abroad as if they were local. More details on this below.
We review what happened this week in fintech and iGaming that could significantly impact the future of the industries.
UZCARD and Elcart to Support Direct Cross-Border Transfers
Starting July 16, 2025, national payment systems of Uzbekistan (UZCARD) and Kyrgyzstan (Elcart) launched a service for international money transfers between the cards of the two countries. This means that users will be able to make direct transfers from card to card, from UZCARD to Elcart and vice versa.
The difference between such transfers and international ones is significant because international payments usually have higher commission fees and take relatively longer. International “rails” usually mean SWIFT, which can take up to 5 days and cost more than 50 euros per transfer. Meanwhile, card-to-card payments go through different routes and are available within the country through domestic channels. Combining payment routes of several countries will limit SWIFT involvement in transactions and reduce dependence on its shortcomings.
Both payment systems promised a favorable exchange rate for transfers and convenient payment process through mobile applications: UNIRED in Uzbekistan and Elcart Mobile in Kyrgyzstan.
EU to Disconnect Georgia from SWIFT
While some countries are limiting the use of SWIFT independently to save money, others may be forced to do so. For example, Georgia, which has recently become a subject of discussion in the EU.
The European Parliament believes that Georgia should be disconnected from SWIFT due to the “rollback of democracy” in the country. The EU is demanding to conduct independent elections without foreign intervention and is also considering limit visa-free travel for Georgians including diplomatic representatives.
In the light of these events, Georgia started negotiations with the Chinese payment system CIPS, which could replace SWIFT for cross-border payments. CIPS has recently been revitalized and offers almost instant international transfers, making it a decent alternative.
Publicly, National Bank of Georgia states that there are no reasons to disconnect it from SWIFT, as the country complies with all financial regulations and the sanctions regime. But eventually it still looks for alternatives.
Indian UPI to Be Available in Namibia
The state corporation NPCI, actual creator of UPI payment method, has signed an agreement with the Central Bank of Namibia, according to which the country will be able to develop its own instant payment method based on UPI technology.
A “copy of UPI” will provide the same services — P2P transfers for individuals and legal entities. For India, this is the first such cooperation, involving the install of software in another country. Entering the Namibian market will likely be a practical test of this approach and will show the potential of UPI on the international stage.
Crypto Exchange BigONE Fall Victim of $27 Million Hacker Attack
The official website of crypto exchange confirmed the theft of cryptocurrency totaling nearly $27 million. Both major coins like BTC, ETH, USDT, and smaller tokens like XIN, SNT, SOL, and DOGE were affected.
BigONE has pledged to compensate all user losses from its own funds and confirms that the method of attack on its hot wallet has already been neutralized and this will not happen again. However, similar events have previously occurred with other major exchanges like Bybit. The situation in the crypto market is becoming increasingly dangerous each year, and hacker attacks are constantly intensifying.
Analysts link North Korea to most of these incidents, but although this has been known for a long time, the countermeasures against attacks are not at the same high level as the attacks themselves. The security of storing assets on crypto exchanges is constantly being questioned, especially since some thefts occur through social engineering and deception of company employees, rather than hacker attacks. So far, there is no definitive answer on how to secure virtual assets.
Worldline Launches AI Routing
Despite the decline in market value and unpromising profit forecasts, Worldline is not stopping its investments in infrastructure development.
Payment system has created a new algorithm for routing transactions based on pre-established rules and AI technologies, allowing payments to be directed to the most suitable acquirer during payment processing. It has been announced that Worldline clients have already experienced approval ratio increase of at least 5% due to improved routing rules.
The company did not specify whether the same routing would be available on its other platforms, such as PaymentIQ (Devcode), but it is assumed that after successful operation on the main platform, it will appear there as well.
Here are the news highlights that Monoup has for you this week. More news and short notes can be found in our Telegram channel, and broader materials are also available in Mono Talks section as usual.
