New mobile-phone capability, coupled with physical stores’ response to the encroachment of e-commerce, will help drive the volume of digital coupons in the next few years, according to a new report. Worldwide redemptions of coupons via mobile phones and online will grow at an average annual rate of 14.1% through …
Read More »In the Wake of Bitcoin Mania, Transaction Fees Surge for a Trio of Major Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin’s high-flying value has lost some altitude lately, but the cost to perform a transaction is reaching record highs. At the same time, other major cryptocurrencies have also become increasingly expensive not only to buy but to use as a means of exchange. The average fee to perform a Bitcoin …
Read More »Some 2.5 Million, Or 55%, of All Merchant Locations Now Accept EMV, Visa Data Shows
Some 55% of all U.S. storefronts were accepting EMV chip cards as of September, according to the latest quarterly data from Visa Inc., released Monday. That comes to more than 2.5 million merchant locations, up 9% from June and 538% from September 2015, when 392,000 locations were accepting chip cards …
Read More »Looking to Bulk up in Small Merchants, TSYS Buys Cayan for $1.05 Billion in All-Cash Deal
The consolidation trend sweeping through the merchant-acquiring business made headlines again Monday morning with the news that Total System Services Inc. has agreed to buy Boston-based acquirer and technology provider Cayan LLC for approximately $1.05 billion in cash. The deal, which TSYS says it expects to close in the first …
Read More »As Bitcoin Struggles With Congestion, BitPay Looks To Add More Crypto Choices
With Bitcoin priced near $18,000 Friday morning, and with futures markets already trading Bitcoin contracts or getting set to, investors in the digital currency are riding high. Consumers who want to use Bitcoin to buy things, though, face a market rife with volatility, slow transactions, and high costs. Bitcoin exchanges …
Read More »In Making Its App Work With Apple’s Face ID, Discover Could Tap Into a Budding Appetite for Biometrics
Wider availability of technology that would have been nearly unthinkable only a few years ago is making biometric authentication a more likely replacement for the password. In the latest development, Discover Financial Services on Thursday announced users of its mobile app who own an iPhone X can log in to …
Read More »VeriFone Unloads Its Taxi Business, But Confronts a Challenging U.S. Market
VeriFone Systems Inc. has finally shed its underperforming taxi business, but it still faces a North American market hampered by a three-year delay in an EMV deadline for U.S. petroleum marketers. The San Jose, Calif.-based point-of-sale company sold the taxi unit on Tuesday for $30 million. VeriFone, which will retain …
Read More »Bitcoin’s Fast Rise Has Investors Giddy But Obscures a New Solution for Network Growth
Bitcoin’s heady rise this year has pleased investors and drawn the attention of derivatives exchanges and other institutional players, but it may also have obscured a development going on behind the scenes to solve one of the digital currency’s biggest drawbacks: its weakness as a payment method. Bitcoin, which started …
Read More »How Should a Global Network Be Governed? An Answer from AmEx’s Chenault Sparks Debate
Whether he intended to or not, Ken Chenault may well have touched off a debate about what constitutes the ideal governance structure for a global payments network. Chenault, who will retire early next year as chairman and chief executive of American Express Co., charged this week that his two big …
Read More »Square Expands Its Bitcoin Beta to More Cash App Users While Bitcoin Pierces the $13K Level
Square Inc. late Tuesday said it is expanding its Bitcoin pilot as the cryptocurrency continues to climb, briefly breaching the $13,000 level early Wednesday. The pilot, which Square launched four weeks ago for what it said was a “small” number of Square Cash users, is now being made available to …
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