Frequently Asked Questions
Everything people ask about PaymentLeaks, the intelligence pipeline, and global payments.
What is PaymentLeaks?
PaymentLeaks is a daily intelligence briefing on global payments and fintech. Every morning we ingest 300+ sources in 20+ languages — central banks, regulators, trade press, local media in 35+ countries, premium newsletters, podcasts — and produce a report with the day's three systemic-impact stories, regulatory tracking, competitive moves, macro convergence, and weak signals.
What does each briefing cover?
TOP 3 systemic-impact stories with original analysis; Noticias (10+ vertical-diverse, URL-verified items); Exposure Check for counterparty risk; Regulation calendar with near-term deadlines; Connect the Dots (cross-referenced against the last 90 days); Convergencia scorecard (6-12 month predictions); Notable Silence; Active Follow-ups; Parallel Payment Systems (CIPS, PIX, UPI, QRIS, mBridge, e-CNY); Weak Signals from non-Anglophone sources; Data Pulse with fresh stablecoin + DeFi TVL figures.
How is this different from PYMNTS, Finextra, Reuters Payments, or Bloomberg?
The key difference is non-Anglo coverage. Tier-1 global outlets tend to cut emerging-market stories or delay regional news by 48-72 hours. PaymentLeaks scans 35+ countries in their local languages (Spanish LATAM, Brazilian Portuguese, Hindi, Korean, Indonesian, Turkish, Arabic, Polish, Romanian…) and cross-references with our own scanners: that's how we catch things like Argentina's COELSA NFC or Korea-China QRIS interop days ahead of the Anglo press.
How does the Freemium / Pro model work?
Yesterday's briefing is fully free (TOP 3 + News + Parallel Systems + Poll). Today's briefing and the deep-analysis sections (full Connect the Dots, Follow-ups, Notable Silence, Weak Signals, detailed Convergencia) are Pro — €9.99 / month after a 7-day no-card trial.
When is each briefing published?
Every morning before 10:00 Madrid (09:00 UTC). It's the combined output of an automated pipeline scanning sources overnight plus human editing with Claude Opus for the analysis layer.
What is PIX and why does it appear so often?
PIX is Brazil's instant payments system operated by the Central Bank (BCB), launched in 2020. It processes 200M+ transactions daily and is becoming the global reference model for public RTGS. It appears often because: (a) its international expansion threatens Visa/Mastercard, (b) the US has opened Section 301 investigations, and (c) other central banks use it as benchmark.
What's the difference between UPI, PIX, FedNow, and SEPA Instant?
All four are instant payment systems but with very different models. UPI (India, NPCI) handles >22 billion tx/month with cross-app interoperability and is expanding internationally. PIX (Brazil, BCB) is central-bank-operated and massive in scale. FedNow (US, Federal Reserve) launched in 2023 and grows slowly with <5% of ACH volume. SEPA Instant (Eurozone) became mandatory in 2025 but remains fragmented across banks. PaymentLeaks covers them in detail via the Parallel Systems section.
What are stablecoins and why do they matter for payments?
Stablecoins are crypto-assets pegged to a stable asset (usually the dollar). USDT (Tether, ~$186B), USDC (Circle, ~$79B), and USDS (Sky, ~$8.6B) dominate the $319B market. They matter because: (a) they already move >$6T/year per Fireblocks, (b) remittance corridors use them as an alternative rail to SWIFT, (c) regulators (GENIUS Act US, MiCA EU, Korea FSC) are defining what's legal in 2026.
What is a CBDC and which ones are relevant?
CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) is the official digital version of a currency, issued by the central bank. Most relevant today: e-CNY (digital yuan, China, massive pilot since 2020), digital euro (ECB, design phase), digital rupee (India, pilot), Project Agora (BIS, multi-country wholesale). The open question is whether retail CBDCs displace private stablecoins or coexist.
How do I access the briefing archive?
All published briefings are indexed at https://paymentleaks.com/en/archivo, with free access once yesterday's briefing is superseded. Today's briefings are Pro-only until the next day's briefing publishes (at which point they become free).
Is there an RSS feed or API?
Yes. Public RSS feed: https://paymentleaks.com/api/feed. It exposes the last 30 briefings with TOP 3 and metadata. Private enterprise API available on request.
How do I cancel the subscription?
From the Profile tab or the Stripe customer portal in the user menu. You control the billing cycle without our intervention.
What languages does the pipeline scan?
English (global), Spanish (LATAM + Spain), Portuguese (Brazil + Portugal), French (France + francophone Africa), German, Italian, Polish, Romanian, Turkish, Arabic, Hindi, Bengali, Urdu, simplified Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, Thai, and more. The list grows; see llms.txt for the current state.
Is there a podcast?
A podcast section is under development (/en/podcast). The pipeline already transcribes daily episodes of Fintech Takes, Fintech Insider (11:FS), Tearsheet, Fintech One-On-One, and Breaking Banks for internal content.
Who's behind PaymentLeaks?
Ignacio De Navascués, Madrid-based payments analyst, with editorial assist from Claude Opus (Anthropic). Contact: hola@paymentleaks.com.