Garmin International Inc. launched its Lily 2 series of smart watches, which include the company’s Garmin Pay contactless-payments technology. The Chinese technology and payments giant Ant Group, parent of Alipay, is closing in on an acquisition of MultiSafepay, a Netherlands-based payments platform, for about $200 million, Reuters reported. Alipay is the operator of the Alipay+ …

Alchemy Pay, a payment gateway allowing users to exchange cryptocurrency and fiat money, launched its Crypto Card, a “mini app” backed by the user’s cryptocurrency. The promotion offers vouchers reducing the application fee to a penny from a dollar for a limited time. Fintech at Cornell has published “Cornell Convenes: Toward …

Visa Inc. launched its Web3 Loyalty Engagement Solution, a platform that enables rewards for consumers who interact with businesses on digital platforms. Vetster, a telehealth provider for veterinary care, announced it is expanding its services in California to include online diagnosis and prescriptions, with online payments. Reacting to heightened check fraud, …

Kindcard Inc., which among other services provides closed-loop payments technology connecting businesses and consumers, said it has entered a letter of intent to acquire OpenTransact from AcePay Inc. OpenTransact offers a banking platform that supports high-risk merchants. Terms were not disclosed. The tokens USDT and USDC dominate the stablecoin market, …

Buy now, pay later volume globally will grow 48.3% in 2024, to $232.2 billion, according to a projection from The Business Research Co. Increasing adoption at physical retail stores, growth in cross-border e-commerce, and the rise of financial apps embedding BNPL capability will help account for the growth, the firm said. …

TurboTenant, an online property-management platform that enables landlords to collect rent payments, said it will work with Lula, a property-maintenance firm, for maintenance services and payment of service fees. Some 600,000 landlords are said to use TurboTenant’s platform. MoneyGram and Stellar Development Foundation announced they have invested an undisclosed sum in …

The big home-improvement chain Lowe’s has started to accept Apple Pay in its stores, according to reports. The chain, which maintains more than 2,000 U.S. stores, has long accepted Apple Inc.’s mobile-payment service online and in its app.

U.S. retail sales, excluding automotive products, grew 3.1% year-over-year in the Nov. 1 through Dec. 24 period, according to Mastercard Inc.’s SpendingPulse. The result is not adjusted for inflation. Standouts were e-commerce sales, up 6.3%, and restaurants, at 7.8%. The worst performer was jewelry, at negative 2%. Blockchain operator Paxos said it will …

Overfuel, a provider of online payments for automobile dealerships, has integrated credit reporting from 700Credit LLC to allow users to prequalify for credit on a dealer’s Web site or on a mobile phone. Accounting platform Data Plus is teaming with Edenred Pay, a back-end payments provider for the hospitality industry, to launch …

LawFi, a payments platform for law firms, announced a $1.5-million pre-seed funding round from Capital Q Ventures. Digital-banking provider Ibanera announced Portl, a set of blockchain-based payments technologies for online gaming. NordVPN, a vendor of cybersecurity technology, launched an insurance program offering victims of identity theft reimbursement up to $1 million for …