Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals

Issues like price volatility, pokey transaction times, and sheer reputational risk have left many processors and independent sales organizations on the sidelines when it comes to cryptocurrency acceptance. Many, but not all. The latest entrant, and the largest so far, in this nascent market is Payroc LLC, which later this …

Payscout announced it purchased Paywire Inc. for an undisclosed amount. Payscout said it will expand Paywire’s education and health-care payments products to its merchants. Paywire’s tools consolidate payment software systems to reduce the scope of compliance and enhance security, Payscout said. Mobile point-of-sale specialist CardFlight Inc. lined up another distribution …

With hopes of providing merchants with a lower-cost network to make and accept electronic payments, startup MakeCents announced Friday a test of its blockchain-based platform. New York City-based MakeCents says its decentralized platform is designed to “disrupt the $420 trillion global payments infrastructure by leveraging its blockchain technology to connect …

Washlava, a mobile-payments provider for laundromats, opened its second app-enabled laundromat, in New York City’s Queens borough. Washlava’s first such location opened in 2017 in Tampa, Fla. Payments provider Century Business Solutions announced an integration with Limo Anywhere, a point-of-sale software developer for the livery and limousine industry. Users of …

Global investment in blockchain technology will double this year compared to 2017, reaching $1.5 billion, according to a new report from International Data Corp. Investment will increase over the next five years at an annual rate of 73.2%, Framingham, Mass.-based IDC forecasts, reaching $11.7 billion in 2022. “Enthusiasm for blockchain …

Walmart Inc. shoppers apparently aren’t as loyal to the giant retailer’s own mobile-payment service as they are to Apple Inc.’s Apple Pay. That’s one takeaway from the latest Mobile Pay Tracker from Auriemma Consulting Group. New York City-based ACG found that Walmart shoppers who use Apple Pay and have a …

Sundance Payment Solutions launched this month, said president Eric Barth. The company works with independent sales agents to sell a suite of payment-processing services. Payments provider Fattmerchant announced it has closed on a $10.5 million Series C funding round led by Fulcrum Equity Partners. The funding will help launch new …

Fresh from its victory in the U.S. Supreme Court, American Express Co. on Wednesday said card-billed business in the more mature U.S. market and its international markets both grew by 10% in the second quarter. New York City-based AmEx reported a total of $296.5 billion in card-billed business versus $269.6 …

The days of dipping a card into an ATM to withdraw cash may not be as frequent for even more consumers with the announcement Wednesday that Co-Op Financial Services launched its Cardless Cash Access service. Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.-based Co-Op, a credit-union service organization, says the service can be used on …

U.S. Bancorp’s Payment Services unit posted a 28% gain in net income in the second quarter, in part due to higher merchant-processing volumes. The unit, one of five major divisions at the Minneapolis-based super-regional bank, produced a $361 million profit versus $282 million a year earlier, or 21% of the …

After weeks of listless trading, Bitcoin has rallied over the past 24 hours, shooting up from the high-$6,000s to the mid-$7,000s in a move that has brought new energy to other leading cryptocurrencies. Coincidentally, Mastercard Inc. on Tuesday was awarded a patent for a system that could allow users of …

Walmart shoppers who have access to Apple Pay and have a payment preference are twice as likely to use Apple Pay rather than Walmart Pay, but discounts and other deals could tip the scales back in Walmart’s favor, according to a study by Auriemma Consulting Group. Payments provider Century Business …

Payments gurus for years have touted benefits like faster transactions, improved security, and associated rewards when it comes to mobile payments. Now a study released Tuesday indicates converting off-the-books cash payments to digital methods could also boost a nation’s gross domestic product and augment the flow of tax revenues to …

Co-Op Financial Services said it is adding cardless ATM transactions to its roster of services for credit unions. Dubbed Cardless Cash Access, the service is available on Diebold Nixdorf and NCR ATMs within the Co-Op ATM Network that are managed using the Co-Op Terminal Driving program. Hyperwallet, whose technology enables …

Cross-border payment specialist PPRO Group raised $50 million in a funding round led by PayPal Holdings Inc., Citi Ventures, and HPE Growth Capital, the London-based company announced Monday. The funds will be used to expand internationally, including the United States, where it opened an Atlanta office earlier this year. PPRO …

Bank of America Corp.’s customers made 35.1 million Zelle person-to-person payments in the second quarter, 142% higher than the 14.5 million Zelle payments they made a year earlier, the Charlotte, N.C.-based banking giant reported Monday. The value of the P2P payments totaled $10 billion, double the $5 billion from 2017’s …

Payment processor Worldpay Inc. said it will bring Mastercard Inc.’s Pay by Bank mobile and online payment application to its United Kingdom merchants in early 2019, and also will use other Mastercard digital services. Launched in 2016 by London-based payment-technology developer Vocalink, which Mastercard acquired in May 2017, Pay by …

Online travel agency CheapAir.com says it has found a workaround that will let it continue to accept cryptocurrency, and Payroc LLC has become the latest payments provider to offer crypto to merchant clients. Calabasas, Calif.-based CheapAir notified customers on Friday that it has found a new provider for Bitcoin acceptance …

The New York Department of Financial Services has granted a virtual-currency license to cryptocurrency processor BitPay, allowing it to do business with companies and consumers in the state of New York. In an apparent cost-cutting effort, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. is no longer including the Samsung Pay mobile-payments service in its …

Two of the nation’s largest banks on Friday released some details about their payments businesses indicating robust growth despite their size. JPMorgan Chase & Co., which operates one of the nation’s biggest merchant-processing centers, reported its merchant volume grew 12% in the quarter ended June 30, to $330.8 billion. For …