This week saw many of us descend on Las Vegas for Money20/20 USA, and we were there for what was a packed event filled with in-depth meetings, enriching talks and engaging connections.
We had a very active show, both with our latest report published in partnership with Money20/20 released during the event and members of the FXC Intelligence team speaking at four separate sessions, the highlight of which was a look at the state of cross-border payments in 2025 with our VP of Content and Editor-in-Chief Lucy Ingham and our VP of Commercial Ben Disley on the MoneyPot Stage.
Key takeaways from Money20/20 USA
Money20/20 USA has now become a must-attend event for the industry, with senior figures from all the major brands across the sector making the trip. Here’s our key takeaways from this year:
- Stablecoins remain the topic of the moment, with many of the announcements, talks and general industry discussion focusing on the technology. It’s clear that people across the industry see real potential for stablecoins, and that is translating into genuine action.
- AI discussion, on the other hand, has largely become more muted than it was a year ago. The big exception is agentic AI, although at present discussion of this is mostly focused around ecommerce applications and similar. It’s still important to note though that the current impact of AI far exceeds that of stablecoins on actual businesses in the space.
- How companies engage with the event has changed slightly. While many companies stuck with booths, others have switched to dedicated meeting rooms instead and the spaces around Money Row, outside the main convention hall, were often almost as packed as the show floor itself.
- People are seeing the show as a critical opportunity for meetings and discussion, but these are not simply speculative. Meetings were intentional and focused on genuine outcomes: Money20/20 is the place to go to have vital discussions and the industry knows it.
- That doesn’t mean content lost out, however. This year saw more stages, with high levels of engagement. People are strategically picking the sessions that speak to them, and using them to gain genuine insight into the market. This seemed to work very well, with busy smaller stages and panels covering specific topics.
News highlights from the event
This was, as ever, also a venue for major product and company announcements, with stablecoins inevitably being the primary focus for many. Here’s some of the main highlights from this year’s event:
- Western Union made a rare on-stage appearance at the event to announce the planned launch of their own stablecoin, USDPT, on the Solana blockchain via a partnership with Anchorage Digital. The move, which is set for launch in H1 2026, will also see the company directly challenge MoneyGram with its Digital Asset Network, which includes access to seamless cash off-ramps via the company’s agent network.
- Thunes has announced the launch of its Pay-to-Stablecoin-Wallets solution, which enables payouts across more than 130 countries in both fiat and stablecoins. The company also announced a partnership with Africa-focused stablecoin payments infrastructure provider Yellow Card.
- PayPal has announced a partnership with Google Cloud to power agentic commerce experiences that merchants can deploy directly on their own digital surfaces, and has also announced an agentic commerce integration with ChatGPT.
- dLocal has launched BNPL Fuse, a buy now, pay later aggregator specifically designed for emerging markets.
- Circle was the focus of a string of announcements. The company has appointed musician Wyclef Jean as a Global Culture Advisor and has launched the public testnet of its Layer-1 payments-focused blockchain Arc. Several companies have also announced they are joining Circle Payments Network this week, including Geoswift and Clearbank.
