Interest among mainstream financial institutions and payments providers in the potential for cryptocurrency is heating up just as the top U.S. financial regulator is reportedly eyeing a crackdown on so-called initial coin offerings, or token sales used by digital-currency startups to raise capital. In the latest sign that processors and …

Sweden’s Klarna Bank AB enjoyed a good year in 2017, as documented by results the privately held online-checkout and financing specialist released on Wednesday. The firm, which was founded in 2005 and has operated a U.S. unit, Klarna Inc., since 2015, had already achieved distinction by ranking third among so-called …

At a time when the payment card industry continues to struggle with the consequences of data breaches, the last thing acquirers and issuers need is a slowdown in merchant compliance with critical data-security rules. Yet that is what’s going on, warn the Merchant Acquirers Committee and ControlScan Inc. in survey …

For years, the change in card credentials that occurs when issuers send out replacement plastic has caused heartburn for cardholders and merchants alike. New card numbers, expiration dates, or three-digit card-verification values can help thwart fraud when cards are lost or stolen, but they also wreak havoc with unaware merchants, …

Some 2.7 million merchant locations, or 59% of U.S. storefronts, were accepting EMV chip cards as of December, according to the latest update from Visa Inc., issued Friday. That’s up from 392,000 locations in September 2015, just before the major card networks began enforcing a mandate for chip card acceptance. …

It doesn’t get a lot of attention in these days of EMV, mobile payments, and digital currency, but carrier billing, one of the oldest forms of digital payments, is poised for growth. Total payment volume globally will triple by 2022, rising from $2.9 billion last year to $9 billion, according …

Network Merchants LLC has agreed to acquire Creditcall, a United Kingdom-based payment gateway provider, processor, and vendor of EMV kernel software. Terms of the deal, including a price and an estimated closing date, were not disclosed in NMI’s official announcement. Roy Banks, NMI’s chief executive, tells Digital Transactions News the …

Capping an eventful week for cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin is now trading above $11,000 for the first time in three weeks. Even more important, the fees its users must pay when they spend Bitcoin—which had soared into the stratosphere in recent months— have crashed back to earth, according to data available Monday …

While the U.S. Department of Justice’s Operation Choke Point initiative ended last year, over-zealous efforts by other federal agencies threaten law-abiding payments companies in the same way Choke Point did, the chief executive of the Electronic Transactions Association warned Congress on Thursday. Testifying before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on …

Last year, the Federal Reserve set a goal of having ubiquitous faster payments available in the United States by 2020, and now the first estimates are emerging of just how much dollar volume will flow across systems already in place and in progress. The total will come to $650 billion …