Today on PYMNTS
Luxury Mystery Boxes Turn Shopping Into a $500 Surprise
Luxury shopping has developed a new answer to “What did you buy?” “I’ll know…
Snack Giant Mondelez Says Inflation Pressure Drives Global Demand for…
Mondelez International saw broad-based demand for its snack foods in the third quarter, despite concerns…
Samsung Warns AI Memory Shortage Will Worsen Through 2027
Samsung expects the demand for memory to “far exceed” supply in 2027, the company…
Scotiabank Wins Fed Approval to Buy Oklahoma-Based MapleMark Bank
The Federal Reserve Board approved the application by the Bank of Nova Scotia to…
Revolve Lifts Revenue per Visit By 50% With AI-Personalized Landing…
A shopper who clicked a Revolve ad used to land on the same brand…
Binance Hack Tests Its Pledge to Cover Customer Losses
Binance’s pledge to absorb an estimated $6.3 billion theft leaves the exchange responsible for…
Apple Acquires AI Firm Ascend.io Talent and Patents
Apple acquired artificial intelligence firm Ascension Labs, which does business as Ascend.io, in June,…
Why AI Investors Are Buying ADT, Accountants and Call Centers
Artificial intelligence investors are no longer only backing software for accountants, property managers and…
Galaxy Digital Seeks Bank Charter to Expand Financial Services Reach
Digital assets and data infrastructure company Galaxy Digital aims to create a national trust…
CD&R and GTCR Launch $40 Billion Buyout Bid for Global…
Private investment firm CD&R and private equity group GTCR have teamed up on a…
Amazon Fills the Prescription ChatGPT Can’t
Amazon is turning the app people open to reorder paper towels into the place…
The RealReal Competes for the Decisions Behind Luxury Purchases
Luxury resale platform The RealReal reported record quarterly GMV, revenue and orders for the…
Florida Takes Unlikely Lead Role in State Push to Regulate…
Florida is emerging as an aggressive regulator of artificial intelligence (AI) and major technology…
Deutsche Bank Warns AI Stock Selloff Threatens Dollar Safe-Haven Status
The current artificial intelligence (AI)-driven market correction could impact the dollar’s status as a…
New York Bill Would Raise AI Safety Regulations
One year after passing the landmark RAISE Act, a pair of New York lawmakers…
Unilever and Nestlé Put AI to Work Between Orders and…
Artificial intelligence agents are processing purchase orders and preparing collections work as businesses automate…
Easol Secures $30 Million to Scale AI Tools for Experience…
Easol raised $30 million in a Series A extension funding round to continue scaling…
AI Startups Claw Back Traveler Refunds When Airline Fares Drop
Three startups are helping travelers save on airfare when there is a price drop…
Amazon Wins 59% of AI-Assisted Purchases as Checkout Becomes the…
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is doing something that years of retail competition struggled to…
Hackers Steal $6.3 Billion From Binance in Record Crypto Heist
Hackers stole $6.3 billion from Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, in the biggest…
By the Numbers: The Best of PYMNTS Intelligence for Oct….
AI is gaining users, but shoppers still want control and small businesses still win…
Ripple Moves Deeper Into Banking With Stablecoin Deals
Stablecoins continue to seek mainstream usage and acceptance, and this week, Ripple was at…
54% of Wallet Users Keep Just One Payment Method Saved
A mobile wallet can hold several ways to pay. For most users, it holds…
Keep the House, Cut the Subscription: How Consumers Rank Spending
Paying the bills doesn’t guarantee there’s room for the next purchase. Two-thirds of U.S….
Coinbase Cuts Trading Reliance as Subscription and Services Revenue Nears…
Coinbase furthered its effort to diversify its revenue in the third quarter, with subscription…
Alphabet Loses $500 Billion in Market Value as AI Threatens…
Google parent company Alphabet saw its stock price drop 13%, and its market value lose $500 billion…
Amazon Puts a Million Robots Behind Its AI Ambitions
Amazon’s third-quarter earnings brought the same concern that shadowed Alphabet’s results a day earlier:…
FTC Takes Down 19 Fake FTC Sites in Impersonation Scam…
The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) battle against impersonation scams has included the removal of websites…
Polymarket Restores Trading After Third-Party Security Breach
Prediction market firm Polymarket took its international exchange offline briefly on Thursday (Oct. 29) as it dealt…
Google Tops AI Smarts Ranking as OpenAI Slashes Prices
Google may have finally caught up with its archrivals. Its new Gemini 4 Carbon…
Mistral Touts Cyber Capabilities of Its ‘Chonk’ AI Model
Mistral released an updated version of its Large 4 artificial intelligence model, saying in…
Cohere Raises $5 Billion for Alternative AI Vision
Canadian artificial intelligence company Cohere said in a Thursday (Oct. 29) company blog post…
American Express Turns Card Rewards Into Bank Deposits
American Express has introduced new ways for consumer and business cardholders in the United…
Amazon Adds 100-Plus Capabilities to Alexa for Shopping
Amazon has introduced several new capabilities for its Alexa for Shopping artificial intelligence assistant. “Our…
Wabi Raises $55 Million for AI Assistant to Coordinate Groups
Artificial intelligence (AI) assistant startup Wabi has reportedly raised $55 million in new funding….
Unilever Cuts Order Processing to 90 Seconds With AI Agents
About 2 million of Unilever’s roughly 20 million annual orders still arrive as emails,…
Kohl’s Embeds Klarna Payment Options Ahead of Holiday Shopping Season
Kohl’s shoppers in the United States can now access Klarna’s flexible payment options when…
Google’s AI Exposure Exceeds the $1 Trillion It Reported
Google parent Alphabet has said demand for cloud services is rapidly increasing, citing growth in unfulfilled contracts….
Healthcare Helps Lift GDP as Consumers Delay Big Purchases
Inflation absorbed almost all of United States consumers’ September spending increase, leaving households paying…
Kalshi Becomes $40 Billion Company With New Funding Round
Kalshi says it is now a $40 billion company following a $1 billion funding round….
Fiverr Pivots to AI Agents as Traditional Search Erodes
Fiverr is restructuring its digital architecture to adapt to what its CEO calls a fundamental…
WEX Expands AI Claims Processing as Revenue Hits $780 Million
Intelligent payment solutions provider WEX saw growth across its business in the third quarter as it…
Former Swift CEO Lazaro Campos Joins Stablecoin Yield Platform OpenTrade
Former Swift CEO Lazaro Campos joined stablecoin yield infrastructure provider OpenTrade as chair of…
Visa Launches Agentic Commerce Partnership With Tencent
Visa has signed an agentic commerce/cross-border payments partnership with Chinese tech giant Tencent. The agreement between…
Shopify Connects AI Shopping Agents to Merchant Checkout
Shopify has embedded agentic payment technology developed by Visa, Mastercard and American Express into…
New York, Wyoming Coordinate Digital Asset Oversight as Regulators Seek…
New York and Wyoming financial regulators have agreed to coordinate oversight of digital asset…
Mastercard Pushes Back on Card Substitutes in AI Shopping
Mastercard wants artificial intelligence shopping agents to use tokenized versions of consumers’ chosen cards,…
Walmart and Home Depot Set the Rules for AI Shoppers
An artificial intelligence (AI) agent can now put groceries in a cart and pay…
UBS Employees Run 12,700 AI Agents as Bank Automation Accelerates
UBS employees are using more than 12,700 personal artificial intelligence agents in their daily…
CFTC’s Selig Sees Role for Compute Futures, Rules for AI…
Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Michael Selig outlined a potential role for derivatives…
EBay Courts Recommerce Customers as Revenue Rises 14%
EBay is leaning into generative artificial intelligence and specialized commerce to drive engagement amid…
AI Hardware Investment Drives 3.4% Growth in US Economy
The nation’s real gross domestic product growth accelerated in the third quarter, driven by…
AI Is Stepping Up to Care for the Elderly
Most people do not think about elder care until they have to. Then they…
Carvana Goes All In on Agentic Commerce as Revenues Jump…
Carvana is hoping to reap the benefits of agentic commerce as it enjoys record revenues….
Collective Raises $100 Million to Free Solo Owners From Being…
Watch more: Need to Know With Collective’s Hooman Radfar Hooman Radfar is building Collective…
DoorDash Will Pay $17 Billion to Acquire Instacart
DoorDash is set to acquire online grocery delivery platform Instacart in a deal worth $17 billion. The…
Kipp Targets US Expansion After LTVCo Acquisition
FinTech platform Kipp plans to accelerate its expansion in the United States after being…
Better Technology Alone Won’t Give Software the Final Say
Watch more: What’s Next in Payments With Maverick Payments’ Bill Christensen The human who…
i2c: Banks Can Delegate Decisions but Can’t Outsource Accountability
Watch more: What’s Next in Payments With Matt Pearce of i2c The last decision…
AI and Embedded Finance Raise the Bar for Payment Controls
Watch more: Your Payments Got Smarter. Did Your Infrastructure? Faster payments compress the time…
Age Gives Financial Providers Clues to Customers’ Financial Pressures
A smaller savings balance can send the same warning to a bank while concealing…
FedEx Converts Digital Insights Into New Market Expansion
FedEx is using its digital insights to unlock new markets, the company said in…
DOJ Probes Nvidia’s Hugging Face Deal Over AI Competition Concerns
The Justice Department is looking into whether Nvidia’s deal to acquire Hugging Face could…
Microsoft Sees Enterprise AI Adoption Accelerate as Copilot Usage Grows
Microsoft is seeing enterprises move beyond artificial intelligence experiments toward systems that handle business…
FTC Orders 9 Companies to Explain Pricing and Compensation Methodologies
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has ordered nine companies to provide detailed information about…
Google Pushes AI Agents Into Commerce as Spending Pressures Cash…
Alphabet’s third-quarter results put a familiar fear back in focus: Big Tech’s artificial intelligence…
Happen Doubles Loan Issuance Through App as Deposits Grow 22%
Borrowers who came to Happen to pay off credit cards are giving the bank…
Paysafe Expands Digital Wallet Across Entire Euro Zone
PaysafeWallet is now available in all euro area markets, after being expanded in Eastern Europe, Paysafe…
PNC Bank to Expand Small Business Offerings With Embedded ADP…
PNC Bank and ADP have partnered to embed ADP’s payroll and human resources capabilities…
Amazon Expands Shop Direct Catalog to Keep Shoppers Off Agents
Amazon is expanding its Shop Direct initiative, which lists products from brands that don’t…
US Foods Counts AI Gains in Seller Hours and Cases…
A US Foods seller used to spend up to four hours preparing a proposal…
RBC Blocks Third-Party Personal AI Agents Over Fraud Risks
Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has decided to block third-party personal AI agents from…
Etsy Aims to Balance Human Creations With AI Innovations
Etsy’s CEO says the company is facing an artificial intelligence (AI)-related paradox. “For Etsy,…
OppFi Revenue Dips 3.8% Amid Muted Borrower Sentiment
OppFi is focusing on flexible credit, tech upgrades and its banking ambitions amid persistent…
Foundry Raises $100 Million to Boost Manufacturing Footprint
Autonomous factory company Foundry Robotics is planning an expansion of its manufacturing footprint after…
Wealthsimple Raises $302 Million For Financial Platform
Wealthsimple has raised $302 million to expand its investment and digital finance platform. The…
Goldman Exec Says Investors Growing More Judicious on AI
A senior Goldman Sachs executive says weaknesses are developing in the AI market as the cost…
Ripple Brings Its Stablecoin to Coinbase’s Trading Platforms
Ripple has begun listing its RLUSD stablecoin on Coinbase’s institutional and retail platforms. Clients can now…
European Banking Giants Calm Investor Concerns With Higher-Than-Expected Profits
Four European banks beat third-quarter profit forecasts, while a fifth bank reported earnings in…
California Puts a 15-Minute Clock on AI Customer Service Handoffs
It’s fairly common in the age of artificial intelligence and agents for AI to…
Monzo Expands EU Banking Footprint With Spain Launch
British digital bank Monzo is continuing its European expansion with operations in Spain. The…
Utah Becomes Latest Front in CFTC’s Prediction Market Jurisdiction Fight
Utah has become the latest flashpoint in the fight over who regulates prediction markets….
Adyen Adds 1,100 Tech and Sales Hires to Capture Growth…
FinTech platform Adyen expects to add as many as 1,100 specialized engineering and go-to-market…
Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour Seeks Protections for Money-Losing Customers
Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour is looking for new ways to protect consumers losing money…
Google Developing New Cross-Border Payment Option
Google is reportedly developing a new travel payments capability for its digital wallet. According…
Businesses Stack Working Capital as Bank Credit Tightens
Businesses are using several forms of working capital to pay bills that previously could…
Upwind Raises $450 Million for AI and Cloud Security
Cloud and artificial intelligence security platform Upwind has raised $450 million in new funding. The company’s…
Banks’ Own Policies Could Complicate Their AI Lending Push
Before a company’s loan request reaches a room full of bankers, a computer may…
Hummingbird Buys Quantimon to Prioritize High-Risk AML Alerts
Hummingbird has deepened its investment in transaction monitoring by acquiring Quantimon, the company said…
Tech Companies Battle Infestation of AI-Discovered Bugs
Tech companies are reportedly spending more time and resources dealing with bugs uncovered by…
Coinbase Customer Data Exposed in Vendor’s Breach
Coinbase says customer contact data was impacted in a breach at one of its vendors….
Payments Leaders Say What Changed Their Minds in 2026
The most useful thing an executive learns all year may be that a familiar…
Businesses Believe in Payment Guarantees but Few Actually Use Them
Businesses have spent years investing in systems designed to determine whether a payment is…
Why AI Agents Will Live or Die on Permission
Grace Hopper, the Yale PhD in math, computer pioneer and United States Navy rear…
Subprime Card Denial Rate Is More Than Two Times the…
Consumers seeking to build credit can face a difficult cash decision: How much money…
Stripe Pay Targets Instant B2B Payments
Stripe now enables instant B2B transfers through a “stripe pay” plug-in, the company said…
Anthropic Expands Integrations With Claude for Financial Advisors
Anthropic has added more connectors from partners to its Claude for Financial Advisors, the…
Visa Credentials Reach 5.2 Billion as Network Expands Into Agentic…
Visa expects its roster of nearly 50 artificial intelligence partners in production to double…
Amazon Tells Engineers Outcomes, Not Tokenmaxxing, Define AI Success
For software engineers and managers, the way to determine good artificial intelligence (AI)-powered engineering…
Robinhood Looks Beyond Crypto to Banking and Agentic Trading
Robinhood’s cryptocurrency revenue fell 55% in the third quarter, but much of the discussion…
Priority Commerce Expands Sports Footprint With Bengals Ticketing Payment Deal
Priority Commerce will provide ticketing payment processing for the National Football League’s Cincinnati Bengals, the company…
SpaceXAI Launches Referral Program to Scale New All-in-One AI Subscription
SpaceXAI’s X Subscription Corp. has launched a referral program to promote its new The X…
Raise Cuts Chargebacks 45% and Nearly Ends Manual Fraud Reviews
Gift card exchange Raise cut its chargeback rate by 45%, from 0.53% to 0.29%,…
Block’s Dessa Fixes the Conversation, Not the Checkout
Voice commerce has faced the same obstacles for a decade, including turning spoken requests…
Oracle Integrates Enterprise Data and Applications With OpenAI Frontier AI
Oracle and OpenAI have partnered to develop a user experience that will bring together…