Payments moved fast in 2025, faster than anyone expected. With global digital transaction volumes climbing at double-digit rates and consumers demanding safer, smarter and more seamless experiences, the industry is in the middle of a major shift. And 2026? It’s already shaping up to be even bigger.
According to Juniper Research’s latest fintech predictions, the coming year will be defined by rapid innovation, smarter infrastructure and the continued merging of traditional finance with emerging technology. From AI-powered decisioning to embedded financial experiences, the evolution ahead is nothing short of transformative.
That’s why we’ve taken Juniper’s Top 10 Fintech Trends for 2026 and distilled them into the five payment trends that truly matter. The ones with real impact. The ones most likely to reshape how businesses serve customers in the year ahead.
Let’s get into it.
1. The Stablecoin Revolution
Stablecoins are quickly becoming one of the most important forces in payments. With market capitalisation already exceeding £226.7 billion GBP*, they still represent only around 1% of global daily money transfer volumes, but the growth trajectory is impossible to ignore. The acceleration is being fueled in part by the US Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoin (GENIUS) Act, which has added much-needed regulatory clarity and confidence to the space.
Their appeal is clear. Built on blockchain infrastructure, stablecoins offer security, immutability, programmability, low transaction costs and truly seamless cross-border transfers, all operating on a 24/7 network. Compared to traditional rails like SWIFT, the efficiency gains are significant.
Schemes leading the way
Payment schemes are already adapting. Mastercard’s Multi-Token Network is supporting interoperability and tokenised value transfer, while Visa has expanded its USDC settlement capabilities, enabling near real-time cross-border transfers. These moves show that major schemes are not just observing stablecoins, they’re integrating them into the payments infrastructure, preparing for mainstream adoption.
But for stablecoins to scale in everyday payments, one piece of the puzzle remains critical: reliable on and off-ramps. These will determine how easily businesses and consumers can move between digital assets and traditional fiat currencies. As those ramps mature, stablecoin will be positioned to transform high-volume, cross-border payments in ways the industry has been waiting for.
2. Agentic Commerce: The Shift That’s Already Rewriting the Rules
If there’s one trend already reshaping how we buy heading into 2026, it’s Agentic Commerce — the rise of AI agents that don’t just recommend products, but actively make purchasing decisions on behalf of consumers. This new wave of “decisioning AI” can analyse spending habits, suggest items, add them to your basket, and even complete checkout automatically.
And this isn’t theoretical anymore. AI-driven shopping is live, and the infrastructure to support it is evolving fast. For businesses, agentic commerce opens significant opportunities, but only if systems can support secure, permissioned transactions initiated by machines rather than humans. Checkouts, APIs, and authentication flows must become flexible and machine-readable to handle autonomous purchasing in real time. While B2C may feel the impact first, B2B holds enormous potential where automated procurement, recurring payments, and supplier transactions could become faster, smarter, and more cost-effective.
Schemes leading the way
Major players across the payments ecosystem are already moving to enable agent-driven transactions. Mastercard has launched Mastercard Agent Pay, a production-ready framework that allows AI agents to complete purchases securely using tokenised credentials. Its developer tools and global availability signal a strong commitment to making agent-led commerce mainstream.
PayPal is integrating these capabilities directly into its wallet, enabling millions of consumers and merchants to participate in agentic checkout without changing their existing payment methods. Stripe, in partnership with OpenAI, is backing the Agentic Commerce Protocol, an open standard designed to let AI agents, merchants, PSPs, and payment processors communicate and transact safely across platforms. This underpins seamless, AI-initiated shopping directly within ChatGPT and other agent interfaces.
Together, these initiatives demonstrate how card schemes, wallets, acquirers, and processors are aligning to support AI-driven commerce. The infrastructure is being built today, enabling a future where autonomous purchasing is safe, efficient, and scalable.
3. EUDI Wallets Are Redefining Identity in Europe
Digital identity is set to make a major leap in 2026. Under the eIDAS2 regulation, every EU member state must provide citizens with an EU Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet, marking a shift toward secure, unified, cross-border digital identity. This aligns with the broader move toward digital documents such as Digital Travel Credentials (DTCs) and mobile driving licences (mDLs).
The UK is also moving in this direction, now in the early stages of rolling out its own digital identity framework, part of a wider global push toward modern, interoperable ID systems.
Adoption will not be without challenges. Public trust in how governments store and use sensitive data remains uneven, and large-scale education will be essential to help citizens understand the benefits such as convenience, privacy control and improved security. A standout strength of the EUDI model is its support for self-sovereign identity, giving individuals greater control over their personal information and how it is shared. Countries embracing this citizen-centric approach are expected to see stronger engagement.
With major releases expected throughout 2026, digital identity solutions will rapidly move from policy discussions to real-world use, shaping everything from onboarding to payments to cross-border travel.
Schemes leading the way
Although this trend is centred on digital identity rather than payments, the two are becoming increasingly connected. Payment networks are already preparing for a future where verified identity and payment credentials live within the same digital wallet.
Mastercard is actively involved in European digital identity pilots, exploring how secure identity attributes could streamline onboarding and authentication across payments. Visa and other major schemes are closely following the development of EUDI standards, anticipating a shift where identity verification becomes embedded directly into the payment journey.
Industry groups have highlighted the need for clarity before wallets are used for payments at scale, noting that liability and compliance frameworks must be fully defined. Even so, the direction of travel is clear. As EUDI Wallets roll out across Europe, they will lay the groundwork for more secure and seamless payment experiences driven by trusted digital identity.
4. AI Fraud Prevention: Fighting AI With AI
As digital payments continue to scale, so does the sophistication of fraud. Juniper Research estimates that fraudulent transactions in digital banking and money transfers will reach £44 billion* globally by 2030, rising from £17.3 billion* in 2025. It’s a clear signal that fraud is evolving as fast as the defences built to stop it.
A major driver of this rise is the growing use of advanced AI in criminal activity. Deepfake technology, once a novelty, is now capable of producing convincing voice and video impersonations. At the same time, synthetic identity fraud, where fraudsters create entirely new personas from pieced-together real and fake data, is becoming one of the fastest-growing threats in financial services.
To stay ahead, payment systems need to rethink their security posture. Traditional rule-based fraud tools can’t keep up with AI-powered attacks. Instead, the future lies in using AI to fight AI: real-time behavioural analytics, machine learning decisioning, and dynamic risk models that adapt as quickly as fraud patterns change.
Industry leaders leading the way
Major players are already deploying AI to combat AI. Mastercard, through its acquisition of Brighterion, uses machine learning-powered fraud detection to monitor millions of transactions in real time, safeguarding both traditional and tokenised payments. Visa CyberSource provides advanced fraud management tools for merchants, helping detect and prevent suspicious or automated transactions before they impact customers.
These solutions demonstrate how the industry is evolving to meet increasingly sophisticated threats. Real-time behavioural analytics, adaptive risk scoring, and dynamic fraud models are now essential to protect payments, no matter the scale or channel.
With fraud becoming more intelligent, 2026 will see businesses invest heavily in AI-driven security. Companies that act now will reduce risk, protect customer trust, and set a new standard for secure digital payments.
5. Tokenised Assets Are Going Mainstream
Asset ownership is becoming increasingly complex to track. Questionable paper trails, inconsistent record-keeping and layers of intermediaries often make it expensive, and sometimes impossible, to verify who owns what. It’s a system vulnerable to disputes, fraud and costly administrative delays.
Tokenisation offers a cleaner path forward. By placing assets on the blockchain, the number of intermediaries required for transfer drops significantly, cutting costs while improving transparency and efficiency. Ownership becomes easier to verify, transactions settle faster and compliance is more straightforward.
The momentum is already here. As of October 2025, the value of on-chain assets reached £25.3 billion*, representing an extraordinary 51,400% increase since March 2020. It’s clear that tokenisation has evolved far beyond a niche experiment and is becoming a mainstream component of modern finance.
Fintech and platforms leading the way
Schemes and enterprise platforms are beginning to build the rails needed to support tokenised assets at scale. JPMorgan’s Kinexys platform, enables financial institutions and corporate clients to issue, transfer, and manage tokenised assets securely. Its infrastructure supports real-world asset tokenisation, providing transparency, auditability, and regulatory compliance within the European market.
At the same time, fintechs like Revolut are bringing tokenised assets directly to consumers, offering stablecoins and tokenised investment options through personal accounts. This demonstrates that tokenisation is expanding across both enterprise and retail markets.
Other scheme partners and infrastructure providers are exploring integrations that bridge traditional payment rails with tokenised assets, enabling seamless movement between fiat and digital representations of value. These developments show that tokenisation is moving beyond experimentation. The ecosystem is actively evolving to make real-world asset transfer faster, safer, and more efficient.
In 2026, expect more property, commodities, and financial instruments to move on-chain. For businesses and investors, tokenisation promises a future where transferring value is simpler, more secure, and far more efficient than paper-based processes ever could be.
Looking Ahead
So there you have it. 2026 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for payments, encompassing AI-driven commerce, advanced fraud prevention, digital identities, stablecoins and tokenised assets. The takeaway is clear: stay informed, strengthen your understanding of emerging technologies, and embrace AI, because these changes aren’t on the horizon, they are already reshaping the industry.
At The Payments Factory, we may not offer every emerging technology shaping the payments world, but we do provide smart, reliable payment processing solutions to help your business grow. We’re here to help you scale and navigate this fast-moving landscape with confidence.
Check out our website to explore how we can support your payment solutions and help your business thrive.
*All currency figures were converted from USD to GBP using the exchange rate on 27th November 2025.