Tag: Commerce

KuCoin Australia MD James Pinch at DECON 2026: Exchanges Are Becoming the Infrastructure Behind Everyday Commerce

SYDNEY, June 23 -- James Pinch, Managing Director of KuCoin in Australia, was invited to speak at Digital Economy Conference (DECON) 2026 in Sydney, joining Ashima Chaudhary, Vice President at Mastercard Australia, for a fireside chat titled "From Programmable Money to Everyday Commerce: Unlocking the Next Payment Era." Moderated by Yasmine Amani, Head of Account Management at Banking Circle, the session explored how fiat, cards, stablecoins and digital assets are converging through multi-rail infrastructure to support the next phase of global commerce.  Representing KuCoin, Pinch shared how exchanges are evolving beyond trading platforms into infrastructure providers connecting liquidity, payments, and stablecoins to real-world utility. Drawing from nearly two decades of experience in financial services and digital assets, he noted that KuCoin's approach in Australia reflects a broader global strategy: building responsibly within evolving regulatory frameworks while connecting KuCoin's global product suite with the licensing, compliance and operating standards required in each market. Pinch noted that the launch of KuCard in Australia reflects the ongoing evolution of digital asset adoption. For eligible users, KuCard enables supported crypto assets to be used more seamlessly for everyday spending through Mastercard's global network, delivering a familiar payment experience while helping integrate digital assets into established consumer payment habits. "Crypto does not succeed by remaining just an investment; it succeeds by morphing to also encompass other real world use cases like payment methods. Our role is to build an ecosystem where people talk about the technology less and simply use it for everyday life - like paying for coffee or bills - just as they do with a traditional bank card today," said Pinch. The discussion also addressed trust, compliance, security and consumer protection as core requirements for mainstream adoption. Pinch emphasized that as digital assets become more embedded within the broader financial system, strong governance, regulatory engagement and resilient infrastructure will remain essential to building long-term trust. He also highlighted KuCoin's significant investment in highly skilled cybersecurity and infrastructure expertise, noting that protecting users and maintaining resilient systems must remain a top priority for major platforms, as it does for KuCoin. Looking ahead, Pinch said artificial intelligence will be one of the key forces shaping the next stage of digital finance, particularly as commerce, payments and financial decision-making become increasingly automated. He pointed to KuCoin's ongoing investment in crypto-native AI initiatives, saying, "When we look at an e-commerce business now, anyone can buy a domain, anyone can set up a website, and they can find a supplier. Where we start to see this fall apart is when we look at the payment function of this automation. It is not possible or at least very difficult to automate around fiat banking for this purpose, as it incurs delays and a range of other challenges, this is where KuCoin plays a unique role in this adaptation of disruptive technology." Which is exactly what KuCoin has taken on, designing systems that support how users, developers and intelligent agents access market intelligence, on-chain information and crypto capabilities. Pinch concluded that over the next three to five years, crypto payments may become less visible as a technology and more natural as a financial behaviour, with KuCard truly leading the way. "KuCard as a product, I think we talk about it less, right? If you think about just a typical card payment, no one talks about using the card and how they have a CBA card or how it's a Mastercard. They just pay for a coffee, they pay the bills, whatever it may be. And we might abbreviate it when it comes to crypto, but we'll stop talking about it, "said Pinch. About KuCoin Founded in 2017, KuCoin is a leading global crypto platform built on trust and security, serving over 40 million users across 200+ countries and regions. Known for its reliability and user-first approach, the platform combines advanced technology, deep liquidity, and strong security safeguards to deliver a seamless trading experience. KuCoin provides access to 1,500+ digital assets through a broad product suite and remains committed to building transparent, compliant, and user-centric digital asset infrastructure for the future of finance, backed by SOC 2 Type II, ISO/IEC 27001:2022, and ISO/IEC 27701:2019 certifications. In recent years, KuCoin has built a strong global compliance foundation, marked by key milestones including AUSTRAC registration in Australia, a MiCA license in Europe, and regulatory progress in other markets. Learn more:www.kucoin.com -- PRNewswire -- Source : KuCoin 

SYDNEY, June 23 — James Pinch, Managing Director of KuCoin in Australia, was invited to speak at Digital Economy Conference (DECON) 2026 in Sydney, joining Ashima Chaudhary, Vice President at Mastercard Australia, for a fireside chat titled “From Programmable Money to Everyday Commerce: Unlocking the Next Payment Era.” Moderated by Yasmine Amani, Head of Account Management at […]

Scaled for Global Commerce: PhotonPay Reinforces Market Leadership at 2026 WAVES Summit

HONG KONG, June 22 -- PhotonPay, a next-generation financial operating system powered by stablecoins, achieved significant recognition at the 2026 WAVES Summit hosted by 36Kr, a pioneering platform dedicated to serving New Economy participants. PhotonPay's Founder and CEO Lewison Chen was selected for 36Kr's "2026 36Under36" Entrepreneurs List, while Sales VP Joey Xu joined a featured panel discussion to unpack the strategic resilience and high-conviction execution required to scale a business.     Visionary Leadership: Driving the Next-Generation Financial OS The annual "36Under36" list recognizes 108 young leaders driving innovation across AI, deep technology, globalization, and emerging industries. This year's cohort highlights entrepreneurs who are not simply pursuing market opportunities, but building the foundational systems that enable long-term economic transformation. For Lewison, this recognition underscores his strategic foresight in anticipating the deep structural shifts of global commerce. It validates his leadership in transitioning payments from a fragmented network of disconnected tools into an intelligent, unified operating system.   Under Lewison's guidance, PhotonPay has established a robust global footprint, expanding to 14 strategic operational hubs across major financial jurisdictions, with a team of over 500 professional employees. Through deep technical and commercial partnerships with world-leading financial institutions, global card networks and banks, the platform now supports more than 60 major currencies, with its full product suite covering over 200 countries and regions. Today, this institutional-grade infrastructure is trusted by more than 200,000 businesses worldwide to secure, manage and optimize their cross-market financial operations. Abstracting the friction of legacy global banking, PhotonPay operates as a unified financial operating system, which encapsulates multi-currency banking networks and stablecoin rails into a single, programmable infrastructure layer. Clients can run their capital workflows via an intuitive portal, or seamlessly extend these capabilities to their business applications via robust APIs. This modular OS coordinates the entire lifecycle of corporate capital, enabling multi-currency collections, real-time global payouts, card issuance, on/off-ramping, FX conversions and automated reconciliation within a secure and efficient ecosystem. "Long-term infrastructure is never built on static formulas — it's built on the conviction to turn macroeconomic uncertainty into operational certainty," said Lewison Chen, Founder and CEO of PhotonPay." Being recognized on the 36Under36 list reflects not just what PhotonPay has built, but what we believe the next generation of global financial infrastructure must become: programmable, adaptive, and borderless. We are investing heavily in our global network and technical architecture so that payments stop being a cost center and start being a strategic engine for growth." On the WAVES Stage: Redefining Capital Velocity for Global Businesses Addressing the summit's flagship panel, "Riding the Waves Before Anyone Believes," PhotonPay's Sales VP Joey Xu aligned these capabilities with real-world market execution. "Global financial giants and legacy banks established the foundational networks of digital trade," Joey noted during the discussion. "PhotonPay's mission is not to disrupt this baseline, but to provide precise ecosystem adaptation. We translate complex, fragmented global banking structures into a tailor-made financial operating system optimized for the exact workflows of international businesses." Joey highlighted that multi-market organizations routinely drain liquidity and lose days of transaction velocity when transferring funds across disconnected collection, FX, and disbursement applications. PhotonPay resolves this by enabling businesses to retain global earnings in a multi-currency wallet, allowing balances to be instantly deployed for real-time operational expenses — such as global digital ad spends or logistics payouts. Unified approach like this has allowed PhotonPay to reduce global capital costs for its clients by more than 75% while boosting treasury operational efficiency by 60%. When discussing long-term execution in a volatile market, Joey identified three core pillars of PhotonPay's operational ethos: Long Cycle: Building institutional-grade payment networks, technological foundations, and international regulatory licenses requires years of deliberate cultivation rather than reliance on short-term market trends. Granularity: Global infrastructure success depends on a meticulous focus on hyper-local compliance matrices, regional clearing frameworks, and real-time FX fluctuations. Continuous Listening: Sustainable growth relies on maintaining an ongoing dialogue with the market to capture the shifting realities of global commerce. Moving forward, PhotonPay will continue to anchor its strategy in long-term infrastructure evolution, expanding the boundaries where payment technology intersects with core corporate operations. By pioneering the convergence of traditional finance with programmable architecture, stablecoin and agentic commerce, the company aims to deliver sustained value to the global trade ecosystem. About PhotonPay PhotonPay is a stablecoin-powered financial operating system built for the stablecoin era. Designed for modern enterprises, PhotonPay enables businesses to send, receive, convert, and settle funds across both fiat and stablecoin rails through a single, compliance-first integration, spanning 200+ countries and territories. For more information, visit [www.photonpay.com]. -- PRNewswire -- Source : PhotonPay   

HONG KONG, June 22 — PhotonPay, a next-generation financial operating system powered by stablecoins, achieved significant recognition at the 2026 WAVES Summit hosted by 36Kr, a pioneering platform dedicated to serving New Economy participants. PhotonPay’s Founder and CEO Lewison Chen was selected for 36Kr’s “2026 36Under36” Entrepreneurs List, while Sales VP Joey Xu joined a featured panel discussion to unpack the […]