Small businesses should think big when preparing for a sale. Like a big business, that is. Across the United States, Main Street is entering one of the largest ownership transitions in modern business history. Millions of small and medium-sized business (SMB) owners are approaching retirement age around the same time, creating a surge in […]The post SMB Owners Face New Exit Playbook as Main Street Evolves appeared first on PYMNTS.com.

Polymarket has closed its first on-chain institutional block trade tied to artificial intelligence compute infrastructure, saying this shows prediction markets can function like commodity futures for the AI era. The transaction was a six-figure block trade between digital asset prime brokerage FalconX and AneraLabs, a company that is building a clearinghouse for AI risk, […]The post Polymarket Challenges Traditional Futures With AI-Focused Institutional Block Trade appeared first on PYMNTS.com.

Cross-border payments company OpenFX is set to acquire Dutch payments infrastructure business Embed. The deal gives OpenFX its first “regulated presence” in the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom, as Embed holds licenses in all EEA states and the U.K., via the Financial Conduct Authority, according to a Tuesday (June 2) news release. […]The post OpenFX Acquires Payments Infrastructure Firm Embed appeared first on PYMNTS.com.

Amazon’s Prime Day hasn’t been confined to a single day for some time now. That multi-day trend will continue this year, though the shopping event will take place a few weeks earlier than usual, the eCommerce giant announced Tuesday (June 2). Prime Day 2026, open solely to Amazon Prime members, will kick off at 12:01 a.m. […]The post Amazon Moves Prime Day to June as Consumers Cut Back appeared first on PYMNTS.com.

Pay later provider Affirm has launched an expanded partnership with payments infrastructure company Stripe. The collaboration is designed to bring Affirm’s solutions to U.K.-based Stripe merchants for the first time, the companies said in a Tuesday (June 2) news release. Beginning next month, U.K. businesses using Stripe will be able to add Affirm to their online checkout. “Checkout […]The post Affirm Launches UK BNPL Partnership With Stripe appeared first on PYMNTS.com.

MoneyGram has launched its own stablecoin as it builds its blockchain payments infrastructure. The native U.S. dollar coin, MGUSD, is designed less for crypto natives than for people who need to move money but don’t have access to traditional financial services, MoneyGram said in a news release Tuesday (June 2). “The stablecoin market has […]The post MoneyGram Debuts MGUSD Stablecoin to Expand Blockchain Payments appeared first on PYMNTS.com.

Banks spent years treating core modernization as a lengthy infrastructure project. Dhivya Suryadevara believes artificial intelligence may alter that timetable. In a conversation with PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster, the Fiserv co-president described AI as a practical tool for rewriting operational workflows, simplifying implementations and modernizing aging banking systems without forcing financial institutions into wholesale […]The post Fiserv Co-President Dhivya Suryadevara Says AI Could Be Banks’ Shortcut to Modernization appeared first on PYMNTS.com.

For years, payment infrastructure was treated as plumbing: necessary and expensive. But increasingly, financial institutions are approaching it differently, weighing payment architecture as part of liquidity planning, operational continuity and client acquisition. That context provides the backdrop for Huntington Bank joining CHIPS, The Clearing House’s high-value payments network. Richard Dzina, senior vice president of […]The post Huntington Bank Joins Push to Make Big Payments More Resilient appeared first on PYMNTS.com.

The modern payments economy can approve a transaction in seconds yet still leave recipients wondering where their money is days later. That disconnect is becoming one of the clearest operational pain points in payouts, according to the latest PYMNTS Intelligence and Visa Direct report, “The Power of Now: Moving Money at the Speed of […]The post When Payment Delays Become Customer-Service Headaches appeared first on PYMNTS.com.

What U.S. consumers ask of their credit cards has changed. For financially stressed households, it has little to do with rewards. As more households turn to credit cards to manage liquidity and cover everyday expenses, a new set of practical concerns is driving card behavior: Can the card help avoid a missed payment? Can […]The post Financial Stress Is Changing What Consumers Value in Credit Cards appeared first on PYMNTS.com.