Money20/20 USA wrapped up in Las Vegas on 21 October, after four days that brought around 11.000 senior attendees to The Venetian. Four pillars shaped the agenda: Borderless Financial Architecture, Technology as the Great Equalizer, Partnerships as the Engine to Scale, and Brave New World: Setting Guardrails. All four were present, but the topics that stood out were: stablecoins, agentic AI, cross-border payments, and fraud and security. Agentic AI took center stage, alongside stablecoins as one of the dominant themes of the event, while the stablecoin discussion matured rather than faded. Across all four, the question was the same: who authorises a transaction, who assesses the risk, and who is liable when something goes wrong?

Agentic AI and the trust question

Agentic commerce is moving from concept to execution. Across meetings and discussions at the event, the conversation was less about whether AI agents will buy on our behalf and more about how they will make purchasing decisions, and what that means for payments, identity verification, and fraud prevention. Muse, from Meta, and Instinct, two personal AI agents launched in the US weeks before the show, came up often, from their features to what happens when assistants like these start to pay.

On stage, trust was the common thread. In ‘The Trust Layer for Agentic Commerce’, Ranjita Iyer of Mastercard, Amir Sarhangi, Founder and CEO of Skyfire, and Adam Davies, Forter's Director, AI Strategy & GTM, looked at how agents can be trusted to pay. Meanwhile, ‘When AI Agents Buy: Trust, Control and Accountability in Commerce’ brought together Kaitlin Moran, US Strategic FI & Fintech Accounts at Visa, John Piazza, Lead, Stripe Issuing, and Andrew Lambert, SVP, Head of Product at Cross River.

On the show floor, companies focused on giving agents verified identities. Circle and Proof announced a collaboration to enable AI agents to complete identity-gated purchases, presenting a verified credential and paying merchants in USDC through a Circle Agent Wallet. Klarna launched Consumer FX, allowing shoppers to buy from connected Klarna agents globally and pay in their own currency without exchange fees.

Evervault announced Browser Tokens, enabling AI agents and agent-driven browsers to complete online purchases without accessing sensitive payment information or credentials. The launch highlighted the growing focus on creating secure mechanisms that allow agents to transact while maintaining customer control and protection.

The focus is shifting from whether agents will shop on our behalf to how merchants, banks and payment providers can establish trust, identity and appropriate controls when an agent acts on behalf of a customer.

Stablecoins move into the control layer

Stablecoin discussions were increasingly centred on infrastructure, partnerships and regulatory frameworks needed for mainstream adoption. Many of them took place at The Intersection, the programme bringing together traditional and decentralised finance, with companies including Coinbase, Kraken, Circle, Robinhood, Stripe and Citi. Executives from Valinor, Coinbase, Citi and Stripe discussed ‘The Tokenized RWA and Stablecoins Flywheel’, while ‘Building the Infrastructure Behind a Stablecoin Program’ brought together Vira Platonova, SVP, Global Head of Visa Direct, Pooja Shah, Head of Product at Rain, and Malcolm Clarke, Global Head of Digital Assets at Western Union.

On the show floor, the most telling launch was about risk rather than speed. Mastercard introduced Stablecoin Security, an API-based service that assesses stablecoin transactions for fraud, scams, restricted-party exposure, and other financial crime risks before funds move on-chain. It is initially launching in North America, with Borderless.xyz and Keyrails as first partners, and wider availability is expected in 2027.

Spending was another focus. Visa is working with crypto payments network Mesh to let consumers spend crypto and stablecoin balances at merchants across Visa’s acceptance network. And zerohash launched AUTH, which structures on-chain transfers around accounts rather than wallet addresses, making stablecoin transfers more like linking a bank account.

The industry is no longer asking whether stablecoins can move money, but how to make them safe and simple enough for banks, merchants, and customers to use.

Cross-border becomes an interoperability race

Cross-border payments were particularly prominent this year, both on the show floor and around Las Vegas. Under the Borderless Financial Architecture pillar, the agenda focused on real-time cross-border payments, interoperability between platforms and borders, and the use of tokenisation and stablecoins to simplify cross-border payments and settlement. The deals announced had one thing in common: connecting new rails to the endpoints people already use.

Thunes and Coinbase agreed to a two-way partnership: Coinbase will integrate Thunes’ Direct Global Network to extend its fiat payout reach, while Coinbase’s suite of stablecoin products will underpin Thunes’ stablecoin infrastructure. Western Union selected Noah’s network to power its Receiver Redirect service, enabling stablecoin transfers in more than 60 currencies across over 200 countries and territories. MoneyGram relaunched its app and website and is using Checker to access stablecoin liquidity for its FX operations.

Stablecoins may handle the settlement, but in cross-border payments, the advantage will go to whoever controls the last mile: the local payout networks and familiar endpoints that actually get money into people’s accounts.

Fraud and security: the headline that is not going away

If agents and stablecoins were the innovation stories, fraud and security were the thread connecting them. Fraud and Fraud-as-a-Service had their own place on the agenda, and security ran through the other themes too, from agent identity to Mastercard’s screening of stablecoin transfers before they settle.

As AI makes scams cheaper and agents start to act on customers’ behalf, fraud prevention and digital identity are moving from a back-office function into the transaction itself. Fraud and digital identity providers had a strong presence at the show, and as personal AI agents reach more consumers, these capabilities will become increasingly important.

In the age of agents, security can no longer be added as an afterthought. It has become non-negotiable for every new rail and every new agent looking to scale.

What comes next?

Money20/20 USA will move to the Las Vegas Convention Center and Resorts World for its next edition, from 19 to 21 October 2027.

If 2026 was the year the industry moved agents and stablecoins from experimentation towards execution, 2027 is likely to focus on how trust, governance, identity and control evolve as adoption accelerates. Trust, identity, and liability are no longer side topics; they are the conditions for scale. This year’s launches have set the agenda for next year’s discussions.

See you in 2027!

About Paula Albu

 

Paula Albu has experience in content writing and editing, as well as being a creative storyteller. As a Junior Editor at The Paypers, she investigates Web3 technologies along with the latest trends and regulations in banking and fintech. Paula is committed to turning complex industry topics into engaging, accessible content that resonates with readers and creates a meaningful connection. She is available via LinkedIn or at paula@thepaypers.com.