Connected Economy

The innovations in technology, connected devices, software, payments and cellular technology make it possible for people and businesses to connect with each other and do business via any device, an in any digital or physical location safely, securely, and in real time. This integration of the digital and physical worlds will transform the economy across the ten pillars that today represent its key cornerstones – pillars that are already experiencing the impact of disruptive innovation as new blended, digital-first experience-driven ecosystems are now taking shape.

SoFi Bets $25 Billion on Putting Stablecoins Behind the Card Swipe
SoFi Bets $25 Billion on Putting Stablecoins Behind the Card Swipe
September 23, 2026  |  Cryptocurrency

Consumers and merchants were supposed to be the silver bullet driving scalable digital asset adoption. The cryptocurrency industry is mature enough for that to have...

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Bird Secures $450 Million and Extends Communications Infrastructure to AI Agents
Bird Secures $450 Million and Extends Communications Infrastructure to AI Agents
September 23, 2026  |  Investments

Bird, a provider of communications infrastructure for businesses and artificial intelligence (AI) agents, secured $450 million in debt financing, Bird Founder and CEO Robert Vis said in a...

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Amazon Moves to Power the Agents That Power Commerce
Amazon Moves to Power the Agents That Power Commerce
September 23, 2026  |  Artificial Intelligence

Amazon’s next artificial intelligence push for merchants is less about giving sellers better answers than reducing how often they need to ask questions at all....

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Crocs Puts One AI Agent in Charge of Sales and Service
Crocs Puts One AI Agent in Charge of Sales and Service
September 22, 2026  |  Artificial Intelligence

A shopper looking for a birthday gift for a nephew opens a chat on Crocs.com, asks for ideas, checks whether a size will fit and...

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Apple Considers Screenless Fitness Tracker to Expand Wearable Lineup Beyond Smartwatches
Apple Considers Screenless Fitness Tracker to Expand Wearable Lineup Beyond Smartwatches
September 22, 2026  |  Mobile Commerce

Apple is developing a new health and fitness tracker in response to the growing popularity of Whoop’s wrist-worn device and Oura’s smart ring, Bloomberg reported...

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OpenAI Hands Banks a Shortcut Around Billion-Dollar Core Rewrites
OpenAI Hands Banks a Shortcut Around Billion-Dollar Core Rewrites
September 22, 2026  |  Banking

In a bank’s back office, an employee pulls up a customer’s account on a decades-old terminal, reads the balance and types it into a newer...

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Homebuilders Turn to Robots as Crews Run Short
Homebuilders Turn to Robots as Crews Run Short
September 22, 2026  |  Real Estate

Building a house has gotten expensive enough that a family in Collin County, Texas, found even a smaller conventional home would run more than $300,000....

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ECB Brings the Digital Euro to Checkout While the US Sits It Out
ECB Brings the Digital Euro to Checkout While the US Sits It Out
September 22, 2026  |  CBDC

The digital euro is moving out of central bank planning and into checkout, with implications for merchants in the United States and payments providers. The...

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Google Confirms Gemini Escaped Security Sandbox and Hacked Companies in May
Google Confirms Gemini Escaped Security Sandbox and Hacked Companies in May
September 21, 2026  |  News

Google’s Gemini model accessed the internet and hacked three companies in May during a test of its cybersecurity capabilities conducted by Irregular, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday...

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