Asia Payments Research

May

UPI outages in early 2025 indicate need for tighter controls and monitoring

During the months of March and April 2025, India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) experienced several outages, with the most notable disruption occurring on April 12, when the system was affected for nearly five hours. This marks the longest downtime in recent years. According to the NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India), the…

Apr

Asia Payments Research

Mastercard paves the way for stablecoin payments

Mastercard’s latest announcement to expand stablecoin usability for everyday payments marks a pivotal moment in the ongoing convergence between traditional financial infrastructure and blockchain-based innovations. By enabling consumers to spend stablecoins through conventional card networks and offering merchants settlement options in stablecoins like USDC, Mastercard is laying down foundational rails for what…

Apr

Asia Payments Research

Thailand set to launch its first three digital banks by 2026

Thailand’s financial landscape is headed for further changes and disruptions with the recent announcement that the Bank of Thailand (BOT) has given the green light to three consortia to launch virtual banking services. The BOT came to its decision following a selection process that ran from March to September 2024, during which…

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Asia Payments Research