Payments News Update – December 5, 2025
Legal and Regulatory Developments
SPOTLIGHT:
Payments Dive – December 3, 2025
Back in 1999, eight years before Apple’s first iPhone release, a Silicon Valley software startup named Confinity introduced what it called a new “killer app.” It was dubbed PayPal.com.
The service allowed the “beaming” of funds between users, with only an email address. “Beaming Money by Email is Web’s Next Killer App,” Confinity said in its press release pitch, describing the technology.
The money-by-email effort arose from an earlier Confinity concept to transfer funds using infrared beams. The company demonstrated its payment feat by transferring $3 million with Palm Pilot devices in a breakfast display dubbed “Beaming at Buck’s” in the summer of 1999 at Buck’s, a Woodside, California restaurant. Max Levchin, the startup’s co-founder, recounted the story several years later in a talk at Stanford University with his Confinity co-founder, Peter Thiel. . . .
ABA Banking Journal – December 3, 2025
The top Democrats on the Senate Banking and House Financial Services committees today urged federal officials to provide “immediate guidance” about the current penny shortage.
Earlier this year, President Trump directed the Treasury Department to stop producing pennies.
The U.S. Mint produces coinage while the Federal Reserve distributes coins to banks and credit unions. . . .
PYMNTS – December 1, 2025
State attorneys general from Connecticut and North Carolina have opened an inquiry into the U.S. buy now, pay later (BNPL) sector, putting the industry’s largest providers on notice.
Led by Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, a seven-state coalition has requested detailed information from Affirm, Afterpay, Klarna, PayPal, Sezzle and Zip about their pricing, underwriting and servicing.
The move sharpens state-level scrutiny at a moment when federal oversight of BNPL is receding. It raises the prospect of a more fragmented regulatory landscape for providers, bank partners and merchants. . . .
Payments Dive – November 25, 2025
Federal regulators have receded from oversight of the buy now, pay later industry, leaving in their wake a patchwork of sometimes contradictory state laws.
The pullback by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which President Donald Trump and administration officials have vowed to dismantle, has created a trail of confusion. Now, state regulators are taking it upon themselves to consider overseeing BNPL players, with two passing their own laws.
The new state laws have gone in opposite directions. While New York has taken an aggressive approach, Nevada has moved to smooth the path for buy now, pay later companies. . . .
Industry Developments
SPOTLIGHT:
Digital Transactions News – December 2, 2025
While credit cards are the most common way small businesses pay for a purchase, a growing number are embracing buy now, pay later loans as a payment option. At the same time, many small businesses are opting not to pay by card in order to avoid a surcharge, finds J.D. Power’s 2025 U.S. Small Business Credit Card Satisfaction Study.
Some 89% of small businesses use credit cards when making a purchase, while 17% say they will use BNPL. The number of small businesses using BNPL increased four percentage points from a year ago. BNPL usage is most frequent among financially unhealthy small businesses, according to the study, with 21% of these small businesses saying they use the short-term financing option, the study says.
J.D. Power, which surveyed 3,728 small businesses from July through September, defines a financially unhealthy business as one having cash or capital constraints or financial vulnerabilities. . . .
PYMNTS – December 2, 2025
Visa helped launch three new digital wallets in Europe.
The wallets are being rolled out in collaboration with BBVA, Klarna and Vipps MobilePay, according to a Tuesday (Dec. 2) press release provided to PYMNTS. Visa is also working with BANCOMAT on a pilot planned for early 2026.
These are the first Visa-enabled wallets to use near field communication (NFC) technology to allow host card emulation (HCE) on iOS wallets, per the release. . . .
Reuters – November 25, 2025
Swedish fintech firm Klarna on Tuesday said it will launch a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin, becoming the latest major payments company to move deeper into digital assets as regulators tighten oversight of the sector.
The token, called Klarna USD, is currently in testing and will be available on the mainnet in 2026, and will be fully backed by the U.S. dollar the company said.
Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies whose value is tied to traditional money, and they have surged in use in recent years as traders seek a relatively steady asset to move funds between more volatile tokens. . . .