Monoup news digest: main updates from fintech industry
Traditional Friday news roundup from Monoup reveals the most important events of the passing week. Here’s a quick look at the highlights on this pre-holiday day.
EPI continues to push for the consolidation of European efforts to create integrated payment networks. The company believes that over-reliance on Visa and Mastercard could backfire on the EU and potentially become an instrument for pressure on the alliance. What does this mean? Let’s break it down in this article.
Meanwhile, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin, USDT — often criticized for lack of transparency and regulatory lapses — has positioned itself as a serious partner to governments on another level. This week saw the third high-profile case of large-scale asset freezes on wallets at the request of governments. What happened and why? We’ll explain in this digest.
EPI Again Emphasises Dependence on Visa and Mastercard
EPI CEO Martina Weimert recently stated that Europe must urgently change the situation with the dominance of American payment systems, or else the U.S. could use this as leverage in times of tension. If relations between countries deteriorate, Europe could suffer significantly, as currently, 2/3 (≈64%) of all card transactions in the Eurozone go through Visa and Mastercard — amounting to over €7 trillion annually.
Disabling or restricting these systems could pause the European economy, while a local alternative like WERO could save the situation. The new European system, which we frequently mention and monitor, already has 48.5 million users across three countries (Germany, France, and Belgium), though it is not yet fully implemented.
WERO is growing rapidly: nearly 200,000 users join the system monthly, and it has already processed over €7.5 billion in payments. This confirms that Europe is serious about it and investing heavily; the project’s funding allows for the integration of new methods and even the acquisition of existing ones (like iDEAL). The wallet is set to become a payment method of international significance, not just another obscure alternative that no one has heard of in real life.
Countries without their own card alternatives are particularly vulnerable. Currently, Visa and Mastercard have virtually no competitors in Ireland, Finland, Greece, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Austria, Portugal, Cyprus, or Malta (though some of these countries have mobile apps, they lack a full-fledged card system).
For EPI, 2027 is marked in red on the calendar. That’s when WERO is expected to launch with all its features: P2P transfers (already available), business payments, and QR codes to replace Apple Pay. This will allow the European market to operate independently of the U.S. and shift a significant portion of payments to its own system.
Tether Froze $500 Million at Turkey’s Request
Tether continues its established practice of direct cooperation with authorities in various countries — this time, with Turkey. The company’s CEO confirmed that Turkey officially requested to freeze USDT linked to an illegal gambling operation within the country.
Previously, similar large-scale freezes were carried out at the request of the U.S. government, and company was even accused of selective cooperation, helping only the countries it favors. Nevertheless, in this case, Tether reviewed the evidence and decided to assist.
Turkey requested the freezing of around $1 billion: $500 million in USDT has already been blocked, and work on the remaining wallets continues. The frozen assets belong to Veysel Sahin whom Turkish prosecutors accuse of organizing a network of illegal betting operators. He is also the leader of one of the largest criminal groups in the region.
Thus, despite various inconsistencies, lack of transparency in reserves, and shortcomings (often criticized by the EU and other countries), the company proactively helps different governments to combat crime within its system. Is this the best approach? It’s hard to say for sure, but it seems Tether has chosen a position of active involvement rather than bureaucratic compliance.
30% of Stripe Bugs Are Fixed by AI Coders
Payment system recently revealed that it has integrated its own AI agents, dubbed “Minions,” into its development processes. These AI agents can independently complete development tasks without human intervention. This marks a real-world application of AI in payments — not just theoretical discussions or individual employees chatting with bots to boost personal efficiency.
The Minions operate in a specially designed environment where they receive tasks and solve them autonomously. Humans review the code written by artificial intelligence coders but do not edit it; the entire output belongs to the agents.
This month, the Minions generate and submit over 1,000 code change proposals per week — a volume comparable to the output of a team of 150–200 people. They tackle tasks that often get deprioritized in standard workflows — so-called “technical debt” that accumulates over years in many companies. This is an interesting approach that could become a new standard for IT and other high-demand industries. Resources are often scarce, and it’s difficult to choose between new tasks that bring immediate revenue and old backlog issues that linger unresolved.
These are the news highlights we’ve gathered for you this week. To stay updated, follow our Telegram channel, where we promptly publish industry updates, analyze news, and share payment expertise. Our subscribers are major payment systems, businesses in gaming and other online sectors, and representatives of other significant players in the payment niche.
