HashKey Exchange has partnered with OneInfinity to expand use of the HKDAP stablecoin in insurance and cross-border payments. The partnership is built on a prior arrangement between the two companies, under which OneInfinity, the commercial insurance arm of digital asset insurer OneDegree, has provided insurance coverage for virtual assets held by users of HashKey Exchange. That existing relationship forms the basis for the expanded scope announced now, which shifts the focus from asset protection towards payment infrastructure built around HKDAP.

HashKey Exchange has recently become an authorised distributor of HKDAP. Under the new agreement, the exchange will offer eligible users compliant conversion services between the stablecoin and fiat currencies, positioning it as an operational bridge between digital assets and traditional payment rails in the Hong Kong market.

Cross-border settlement plans

Beyond the domestic conversion services, HashKey and OneInfinity plan to explore the use of HKDAP for selected cross-border payments and settlements involving AIFT Group, which is OneDegree’s parent company. This element of the partnership points towards using the stablecoin as a settlement instrument for transactions that extend beyond Hong Kong’s borders.

In addition, a specific corridor under consideration involves HashKey MENA, which could facilitate conversions between HKDAP, the US dollar and the UAE dirham. This would potentially link insurance premium payments processed in Hong Kong with transactions involving counterparties in the Middle East, connecting two geographically distant markets through a single stablecoin-based settlement mechanism. The companies are additionally evaluating whether HKDAP can be used directly for commercial insurance premium payments within Hong Kong.

According to Haiyang Ru, HashKey Exchange BG CEO, besides the main goal of this partnership, the improvement of the circulation of Hong Kong dollar-denominated stablecoins it’s also intended.

Fintech Galaxy has received in-principle approval from the Central Bank of the UAE to operate as an Open Finance provider.

The company said the approval places it among the first home-grown firms in the UAE to reach this stage of the Open Finance licensing process, marking a step in its wider strategic transformation.

The approval allows Fintech Galaxy to take part in Al Tareq, the UAE’s Open Finance scheme. Al Tareq establishes a regulated framework for consent-based financial data sharing and service initiation across the country’s financial sector. Once Fintech Galaxy obtains full licensing, it plans to launch an integrated platform combining Open Finance connectivity, AI-based financial intelligence, and digital business finance tools. In addition, the company said the platform is intended to help financial institutions and fintechs in the region introduce new services and identify additional revenue opportunities.

Mirna Sleiman, Founder and CEO of Fintech Galaxy, said the approval follows a year focused on strengthening the business, upgrading its technology, and aligning its strategy with developments in financial services. It was also added that CBUAE guidance during the licensing process supported the company’s shift toward Open Finance and AI-based services, and referenced the UAE’s broader digital economy objectives as part of that direction.

SME-focused business finance platform

According to the official press release, Fintech Galaxy is also developing a Business Financial Management platform aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The platform is designed to bring together banking, invoicing, payments, reconciliation, cash-flow management, and embedded financing within a single system. Furthermore, the aim is to help SMEs automate financial operations, manage liquidity, and support financial decision-making.

Open Finance frameworks are increasingly used across financial markets to support secure data sharing, embedded financial services, payment initiation, and AI-driven applications. Fintech Galaxy said it intends to operate across these areas, working to connect financial data with services aimed at generating financial intelligence for both consumers and businesses.

A new study shows that more than half of young people worldwide aged 18-29 used the money they had planned to invest last year on sports betting instead. According to research by Northwestern Mutual, younger generations show more interest than other age groups in high-risk areas such as cryptocurrency, sports betting, prediction markets, options, and meme stocks. 26 percent of Gen Z investors view betting as a conscious part of their long-term financial strategy. The difficulty of finding jobs, rising housing prices, the cost of living, and student debt are creating financial pressure on young people.

Young people who have grown up immersed in the internet and smart technologies are turning to the crypto market and betting to get quick results, rather than building up savings over many years.

And the outcome is usually disappointment.

In fact, there are social media posts showing that some young people are aware of the situation:

“Every month, without asking whether it would go up or down, my mother bought a gram of gold and put it under the mattress, and became a homeowner. I’ve been doing technical analysis and collecting altcoins for 3 years, but I’ve only managed to cover one month’s rent. That old-fashioned thing they talk about turns out to be rational portfolio management.”

Studies show that 80 percent of young investors believe high-risk instruments can help them reach their financial goals faster than traditional investment methods.

This picture shows just how important our government’s fight to save young people from the scourge of betting really is.

However, alongside the fight against illegal operations, awareness projects are also needed to keep young people away from high-risk areas such as cryptocurrency, prediction markets, and meme stocks! And we shouldn’t do this by lecturing, but by using social media.

Visa, _able, and Onafriq have partnered to expand access to credit through Visa Flex Credential across CEMEA.

According to the official press release, the partnership is intended to help financial institutions in the region activate credit experiences alongside their existing prepaid and debit card offerings.

Visa Flex Credential allows card issuers to link multiple funding sources, such as debit, prepaid, and credit, to a single card credential. Through the new collaboration, financial institutions may be able to extend credit access to customers using their existing eligible debit and prepaid credentials, without requiring a separate card product. According to the companies, the aim is to simplify the customer experience while supporting broader financial inclusion in markets where formal credit access remains limited.

_able’s platform is intended to complement this by extending its existing credit enablement infrastructure, which is already deployed across banking and mobile money channels, to support card-based use cases. In addition, the company states that its platform helps financial institutions manage portfolio performance, risk management, liquidity optimisation, and customer growth initiatives.

Onafriq’s processing role

Under the agreement, Onafriq will provide payment processing capabilities for eligible prepaid card implementations, connecting participating financial institutions to its pan-African payments infrastructure via its proprietary companion card platform, integrated with _able’s system. This is designed to help extend Visa Flex Credential-enabled services in markets where participating issuers choose to deploy them.

For banks and issuers, the three companies state that the partnership is designed to simplify implementation by combining Visa’s payment technology and network, _able’s credit enablement infrastructure, and Onafriq’s processing and payments delivery capabilities within a single collaboration framework.

Regional context

The companies note that debit and prepaid card adoption has grown across many African markets in recent years, while access to formal credit products has remained comparatively limited. The partnership is positioned as a way for issuers to use existing customer relationships and card credentials as a channel for offering additional financial services, rather than requiring new products or infrastructure.

Experian has published its Identity and Fraud Report on how AI is changing digital transactions and fraud exposure for consumers and businesses.

The global data and technology company found that AI tools are becoming embedded in everyday commerce, with 31% of consumers stating they have already used AI tools for online shopping and transactions, and a further 23% saying they would take it into consideration.

Comfort levels fall, however, when decisions involve higher stakes: only 21% of respondents said they were comfortable relying on AI for travel-related purchases, and 17% for financial services decisions. More than half of consumers surveyed stated they are concerned about AI-enabled scams.

Fraud losses growth

According to data cited from the US Federal Trade Commission, individuals suffered USD 15.9 billion in fraud damages in 2025, an increase of 27% compared to 2024. Experian noted that actual losses are likely higher, since many incidents go unreported. Its research found that in the past year, close to one in five people experienced direct financial losses from online fraud, while 15% said an attempted fraud was prevented before causing loss. Among victims, 72% reported feeling more vulnerable online as a result.

In addition, phishing scams were the most frequently reported fraud type among consumers, at 26%, followed by fake advertising (19%), package delivery scams (16%), credit card theft (16%), unauthorised charges (15%) and fraudulent bank transactions (15%). On the business side, 60% of companies reported fraud losses higher than in previous years, while 77% look forward to fraud management budgets to go up.

AI’s contradictory nature – between threat and defence

Businesses identified AI-generated phishing as their leading AI-related fraud concern, cited by 53% of respondents, followed by AI-assisted first-party fraud (51%), document forgery (45%), automated bot attacks (40%) and deepfake voice scams (37%). At the same time, companies are turning to AI to counter these risks: 80% of organisations reported using machine learning or generative AI within fraud management systems to identify suspicious activity, support identity verification and strengthen fraud detection.

TikTok has reportedly started the process of exploring adding P2P payments to direct messages.

The social media platform is reportedly developing a feature that would let users send money to one another directly through its messaging function, according to a Bloomberg report. If launched, the feature would build on TikTok Pay, the payment service already available in Southeast Asia for purchases made through TikTok Shop.

According to the Bloomberg report, references to the potential functionality were identified in code embedded within the current version of TikTok’s iPhone app in the US. The code reportedly shows that recipients would be able to accept payments with a single tap, while senders could attach a message alongside the transaction, a mechanism comparable to P2P services such as Venmo.

TikTok told Bloomberg that the feature is not currently being tested, indicating that development remains at an early stage. As a result, it remains unclear whether or when the company might roll out the capability more broadly.

Part of a broader financial services push

The exploration of in-app payments is not TikTok’s first move into financial services. In March 2026, it was reported that TikTok had applied to Brazil’s central bank for authorisation to operate as a fintech company, with a view to offering lending and payment services in the country.

TikTok has gradually expanded beyond its core social media function in recent years, adding features such as search tools, TikTok Shop, a local discovery map, in-app games, and hotel booking capabilities. The addition of P2P payments would extend this trajectory further, positioning TikTok to compete more directly with established money-transfer services such as Venmo and Zelle in the US market.

TikTok is not alone among social platforms moving into financial services. X, formerly known as Twitter, launched X Money in the US in July 2026, allowing users to send money to one another within the platform. The moves by both companies reflect a broader pattern of social media platforms adding payment functionality to increase user engagement and diversify revenue streams beyond advertising.

Rain, a provider of enterprise infrastructure for stablecoin-powered payments, has announced the formation of the Agentic Payments Alliance (APA), a coalition of organisations set up to help guide the development of agentic commerce. The initiative brings together companies from payments, financial services, technology, and policy to work on shared standards as autonomous agents begin to transact on behalf of users and businesses.

Addressing gaps in agentic commerce infrastructure

McKinsey projects that global agentic commerce could reach between USD 3 trillion and USD 5 trillion by 2030. Much of the infrastructure this activity will depend on, including how agents are authorised, how fraud is detected, and how loyalty and rewards are attributed to an agent’s actions, remains undefined. The APA was formed to bring the organisations building this infrastructure into a shared forum before such decisions are made separately across the industry.

Rain’s own work in this area includes its Agent Control Layer and Scoped Cards, tools designed to give agents payment credentials that are limited in scope and widely accepted. That groundwork positioned the company to convene the coalition alongside established payments and infrastructure providers rather than pursue the category independently.

Structure and planned activities

The Alliance is described as a working coalition governed collectively by its founding members, rather than a body owned or controlled by a single company. Members are expected to jointly define its charter and mission. Initial areas of focus include shared research and frameworks, testing of emerging standards for agent identity and authorisation, and engagement on regulatory questions raised by agentic commerce.

Founding members will also receive early access to Rain’s Agentic Startup Program, an accelerator for early-stage companies developing products for agentic commerce. The programme’s first cohort, comprising five startups, is scheduled to present at a demo day open to Alliance members, giving founding organisations visibility into applications emerging in this area.