While the Federal Reserve mulls the concept of a national digital dollar, private-sector actors are working toward the same end. The Digital Dollar Project early Wednesday launched what it calls a Technical Sandbox Program in an effort, it said, to help advance understanding of the technical requirements undergirding a central …

The Federal Reserve Board on Monday afternoon narrowed the window for the launch of FedNow, its real-time payment service, to the weeks between May and July of 2023. The announcement, which came in a short address by Fed Vice Chair Lael Brainard, is the latest in a series of updates …

Online attacks in which criminals seize control of victims’ data are rising, and government agencies are far from immune. That’s now leading states to consider laws prohibiting state agencies from paying ransoms to get the decryption key that would unlock what are often vital files. North Carolina in May and …

Visa Inc. announced late Wednesday it has now issued more network tokens than there are physical Visa cards, eight years after the launch of the Visa Token Service. With a boom in e-commerce and other digital applications, the service has now issued more than 4 billion tokens, Visa said, almost …

Systemwide contactless-fare technology, which has been available mainly for mass-transit systems in major cities, is starting to find its way into smaller towns. Cubic Corp. on Tuesday  said it will install its Umo mobility platform in buses serving the Canadian town of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, population 72,000. The system, …

Square announced early Tuesday its first integration in the United Kingdom of Clearpay, a buy now, pay later service known as Afterpay outside the U.K. and Europe. Square, the point-of-sale payments unit of San Francisco-based Block Inc., said the latest move is also its first major integration of BNPL in …

For years, payments fintechs with a bank charter have labored under a requirement that, for money movement, deposit-taking, and other related services, they largely had to work with another federally chartered bank. This week, the nation’s top banking regulator announced an important change to its rules that could sweep away …

ATM traffic worldwide is on the rebound after two years of pandemic, but it will take years for cash withdrawal transactions to return to 2019 levels, according to “Global ATM Markets and Forecasts to 2027,” a report released this week by RBR, a London-based research firm. ATM activity declined in …

The card-issuing platform Marqeta Inc. on Wednesday reported processing volume of $40 billion for the June quarter, a 53% increase over the same time last year, but the 12-year-old company also announced its founding chief executive is leaving that position. Jason Gardner, a well-known payments entrepreneur, said he will move …

Bruce Lowthers took over a stumbling Paysafe Ltd. back in May, and now with three months evaluating the company behind him, the new chief executive early Wednesday offered encouragement mixed with some tough talk. Speaking particularly about product innovation, Lowthers lowered the boom, citing what he sees as an imbalance …