How Europe Won the Real Time Payments Race

Igor Tomych interviews Domenico Scaffidi, Member of the Bank of England Standard Advisory Panel and CEO of DS Payments, to get an insider’s scoop on the current and future states of real-time payments, especially in Europe. In an advisor-developer chat, the two executives give their perspectives on what puts Europe at the forefront of the global real-time payment industry. 

Key Insights & Takeaways #

Europe’s Shift to Real Time Payments: Europe is accelerating toward instant payments as regulatory pressure and consumer demand push banks and fintechs to modernize outdated settlement infrastructure.

Impact on Traditional Card Networks: Card networks face strategic pressure as real time rails grow, forcing them to reinvent value propositions around risk, data, and embedded financial services.

Stablecoins Enter the Mainstream: Stablecoins are moving from speculative tools to practical payment infrastructure, offering faster settlement, global reach, and programmable financial logic for merchants.

SEPA’s Role in Standardizing Payments: SEPA continues to unify European payments by driving consistent rules, reducing friction, and enabling broader adoption of real time, cross-border-ready transactions.

2026 as a Breakout Year: Regulatory deadlines, bank upgrades, and corporate adoption converge in 2026, creating a turning point for real time and tokenized payments across Europe.

Why You Should Listen #

This episode highlights the innovation put forth by payment fintech companies in the finance space, from the view of legacy finance. If you’re a European citizen or resident, this episode will serve as a peak into the future of how you will be doing the majority of your banking. You may also find a few accurate predictions on how you’ll be experiencing your bank services in the coming years.