Years ago, when banks wanted to sign up more merchants for credit card acceptance, they turned to non-bank third parties to sell the service. Now, these same third parties are starting to sell Bitcoin acceptance along with credit and debit cards. Aliant Payment Systems Inc., a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based independent …

Showing resilience after recent actions that pummeled its value, Bitcoin shot up from the depths early Monday and was trading above $4,000 again. As of 10:30 Eastern Time, its price stood at $4,056, after plunging as low as $2,981 in recent days on some exchanges, according to Coindesk, which tracks …

The nation’s automated clearing house network launches same-day clearing and settlement on Friday for debit transactions, and top officials at NACHA say the Herndon, Va.-based network administrator is making final preparations. “We’re looking forward to tomorrow,” Jane Larimer, chief operating officer and general counsel at NACHA, told Digital Transactions News …

Bitcoin has taken a beating in recent days, but investors who bought earlier this year are still enjoying handsome returns. Now, some merchants of high-end goods are signing up to accept the virtual currency, hoping to cash in on that wealth effect. Bitcoin was trading at $3,498 early Thursday morning, …

PayPal Holdings Inc.’s Venmo peer-to-peer payment service has been a fabulously popular product among users, but from PayPal’s point of view it has one big problem: It’s free. Since users don’t pay for the service, PayPal has to seek Venmo revenue elsewhere. Now, with a test about to start for …

Last week’s disclosure that hackers had accessed up to 143 million credit records at Equifax Inc. has stirred fears of a tsunami of fraud in coming months. But physical and online merchants are already struggling not only with a huge threat of fraud, but with a stunning fraud cost that …

In the hours after credit-reporting giant Equifax Inc. disclosed a massive data breach, consumers and businesses were left scrambling Friday to piece together the implications. But a range of consequences could affect Equifax itself as the Atlanta-based company struggles to recover from an epic hack that affected potentially 143 million …

The Federal Reserve issued a report on Wednesday that indicates the nation’s central bank could play a much more active role in faster payments than many have expected, up to and including providing alternative processing services. Up to now, the Fed has limited its role to sponsoring working groups that …

Enthusiasts may lament the slow rate of adoption for mobile payments generally in the United States, but some researchers are forecasting robust growth for contactless payments via mobile wallets at the point of sale. In a recent report, New York City-based research firm eMarketer said so-called proximity mobile payments will exceed $1,000 …

Blackhawk Network Inc., a major player in merchant-branded prepaid cards, just gained an even bigger foothold in that market with its $175-million, all-cash acquisition of CashStar Inc., a 10-year-old firm specializing in digital gift cards. Announced Wednesday morning the dealbrings to Pleasanton, Calif.-based Blackhawk a platform enabling mrchants to market …