The two biggest cryptocurrencies are experiencing growing pains that could change their character and decide their fundamental purpose in the years to come. Bitcoin, the largest digital currency at a market capitalization of $42.6 billion as of Wednesday mid-morning, remains a volatile investment at the same time its users contend …

As the nation’s automated clearing house network introduces faster payments, it’s also racking up steady increases in transaction volume. The system processed approximately 5.35 billion payments in the first quarter, notching nearly 7% growth over the first quarter of last year and rebounding smartly from a tepid 3.7% growth rate …

In the wake of a failed effort to repeal the Durbin Amendment this spring, many banks, networks, lobbying groups, and other repeal advocates are vowing to try again, as are the Congressmen who pushed the original repeal effort. But that doesn’t mean smaller banks, at least, are totally united behind …

Payment card networks have for years eyed the broad market for small-business payments, which are still largely executed with paper checks. On Thursday, Mastercard Inc. and payables-automation company AvidXchange Inc. said they will attack that paper mountain with The Mastercard B2B Hub, which will be distributed to small- and mid-size …

Gift cards issued by retailers are heating up, according to the latest research from Mercator Advisory Group. Total loads grew 6% in 2016 to reach $133.9 billion, Mercator’s Ben Jackson tells Digital Transactions News. That performance follows a decline in loads the year before. The research, which covers closed-loop gift …

Payments observers have expected Apple Inc. to add person-to-person payments to its Apple Pay mobile-payments service for almost as long as the mobile wallet has been available, and on Monday, the computing giant obliged. Without adding much detail, Apple announced that users of its iMessage feature will be able to …

With chip cards and contactless mobile transactions gradually working their way into more merchant checkouts, Square Inc. is pairing a couple of tried-and-true offers to push an 18-month-old card reader that handles both EMV and Apple Pay. In the latest wave of a promotional campaign that was announced in January, Square earlier …

The decision to strip repeal of the Durbin Amendment from a Dodd-Frank overhaul bill puts a brake on the movement to get rid of the amendment’s debit card rules, but that may not necessarily be the end of the matter. Leading advocates for repeal vow to keep fighting, while a …

Two major retailer trade groups late Wednesday celebrated an apparent decision by Republican leaders in the House of Representatives to quash a provision that would have repealed the Durbin Amendment. The provision was part of the Financial Choice Act, a bill Congressional Republicans are pushing to overhaul the 2010 Dodd-Frank …

As cyber attacks grow more vicious, investors are pouring more money into startups whose technology is aimed at thwarting online thieves. Funding deals for private cybersecurity firms reached 139 in the first quarter, the highest quarterly number recorded over the past five years by CBInsights, a New York City-based research …