Payments News Update – February 6, 2026
Legal and Regulatory Developments
SPOTLIGHT: Why Some Payments Companies Want to Be Banks
Banking Dive – February 3, 2026
Companies like Stripe and Affirm Holdings, which have applied for federal and state banking charters in recent months, are looking for greater control and greater flexibility, in addition to cost savings, according to analysts and consultants who follow the payments industry.
Other companies pursuing state and federal charters include PayPal, Revolut, Fiserv and Checkout.com.
San Jose, California-based PayPal Holdings announced it had applied for a federal banking charter in December while buy, now, pay later company Affirm applied for a Nevada bank charter last month. U.K.-based Revolut is also aiming to apply for a federal banking charter. . . .
Calif. Cardholders Ask 2nd Circ. to Revive Swipe Fee Suit
Law360 – February 3, 2026 (subscription required)
California cardholders accusing Visa, Mastercard and other major banks of conspiring to fix interchange fees have asked the Second Circuit to revive their claims after a district court judge denied their motion for reconsideration in a long-running multidistrict litigation.
The cardholders argued in an opening brief Monday that the district court had given “short shrift” to their merchant and bank co-conspirator allegations, even though the claims “must be accepted as true.”
The cardholders’ appeal comes after a New York federal judge recently assigned to the class action denied the cardholders’ motion to reconsider another judge’s reconsideration denial. . . .
It’s CCCA Times Two as Congress Drops an Attachment Effort
Digital Transactions News – January 30, 2026
Plans to attach an amended version of the Credit Card Competition Act to a cryptocurrency-infrastructure bill were shelved Thursday, effectively leaving two versions of the bill floating around Congress.
The CCCA was amended late last week to include a provision that called for enforcement of the CCCA under antitrust law, which can be enforced by federal agencies, such as the Department of Justice, as well as by state attorneys general.
The bill’s sponsors viewed the antitrust provision as a way to make the CCCA a better fit for the Digital Asset Market Structure and Investor Protection Act, which has antitrust implications. . . .
Amex Seeks First Approval of $17M Antisteering Settlement
Law360 – January 26, 2026 (subscription required)
American Express Co. has asked a New York federal judge to grant the first green light to a $17.5 million settlement reached with consumers who claimed the credit card company’s so-called antisteering rules caused non-Amex cardholders to pay higher charges, after a New York federal jury ordered Amex to pay $12 million to one class of consumers.
Consumers filed a motion for preliminary approval on Friday, stating the settlement would be distributed to members of the Illinois non-rewards credit card class — the only class of consumers to prevail at trial.
The motion states the settlement is an “excellent” recovery in light of the trial’s outcome, which ordered Amex to pay more than $12 million to a class of Illinois consumers after finding the company liable under Illinois state law for overcharges that the class said they experienced due to so-called antisteering rules Amex imposed on merchants that accept Amex cards. . . .
Industry Developments
SPOTLIGHT: Crypto Is Moving Into the Payments Mainstream, a New Study Finds
Digital Transactions News – January 27, 2026
Merchants and consumers are embracing cryptocurrency as a mainstream payments option, according to a study from the National Cryptocurrency Association and PayPal Holdings Inc.
Some 39% of merchants surveyed accept cryptocurrency at checkout, while 84% believe crypto payments will become common in the next five years, the study says. A key driver of merchant adoption of crypto as a payment option is consumer interest in paying with the digital currency.
Among the merchants surveyed, 88% said they have received customer inquiries about paying with crypto, and 69% said customers want to use crypto at least once a month. In addition, 79% of merchants indicated accepting crypto could help them attract new customers. . . .
Pay by Bank Emerges as an Alternative to Cards for Online Payments
PYMNTS – January 28, 2026
Trust has always been central to payments, but it is changing as payments evolve.
Traditionally, trust resided in the network brand stamped on a physical payment card, and consumers trusted these networks to resolve disputes and protect them from fraud. Today, as payments go digital, security gets tokenized, and non-card-based payment mechanisms proliferate, consumer trust is increasingly placed in digital banking experiences, their authentication flows, and the clarity of recourse if something goes wrong.
At first glance, this may sound like another chapter in the long-running shift away from physical cards. But findings in the report the “Pay by Bank Deep Dive: Digital Bank Users Are Ready to Switch,” a collaboration between PYMNTS Intelligence and Trustly, show that the unexpected main character in this emerging story isn’t about card networks, but about digital banks. . . .