WalletConnect Launches POS Stablecoin Payment Service

BlockBeats News, January 19th, WalletConnect CEO Jess Houlgrave announced a partnership with Ingenico to launch stablecoin payment functionality on POS terminals. The initial phase of the launch will enable WalletConnect Pay to be used on Ingenico terminals by acquiring institutions and payment service providers starting from January 2026. The first batch of merchants is expected to gradually onboard in the first and second quarters of 2026 in Europe, as PSPs progressively enable this service within their merchant network, and further expansion will follow.

Enabling "on-chain direct payment" bypassing traditional banking and credit card networks. The service integrates into existing POS systems as an additional "tag/application": users can scan and then select a chain (e.g., SOL, ETH) in wallets like MetaMask to complete a signature, facilitating on-chain payments. This is seen by some as a significant breakthrough in bringing on-chain assets to offline consumption scenarios, but the current process still relies heavily on users informing cashiers proactively and completing multi-step manual operations.