The launch is notable because India has historically been a difficult market for card-linked wallet products. UPI’s zero-fee structure and deep merchant penetration have compressed the commercial space for competing payment rails. Whether Apple Pay gains meaningful transaction volume will depend heavily on how Axis Bank and Apple price acceptance, and whether additional bank partners are onboarded quickly. No further issuing banks were named in the announcement.

Across the region, two of Hong Kong’s licensed virtual banks posted profitable half-year results for the first time, a milestone the sector has been working toward since the city’s regulator issued eight virtual banking licences beginning in 2019. ZA Bank reported a 44% year-on-year rise in net profit to $7.2 million in H1 2026, with fee income reaching a record $12.5 million. Mox Bank posted a pre-tax profit of HK$8.63 million, equivalent to roughly $1.1 million, on operating income growth of 69% year on year.

The results matter beyond Hong Kong. Several Asian jurisdictions have issued digital bank licences in recent years, and a persistent criticism of the model has been the long runway to profitability. ZA Bank and Mox demonstrating positive returns in the same reporting period provides a data point that regulators and licence applicants elsewhere will reference.

4% to $284 billion in the first half of 2026, according to figures cited in the newsletter, with institutional activity rising 94% to $60 billion. StraitsX , the digital-assets subsidiary of Fazz , launched XSGD and XUSD stablecoins on Monad, with XSGD described as the first Singapore Dollar-denominated stablecoin natively issued on the Monad blockchain.

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