The SPAC trend has come to the blockchain industry. Circle Internet Financial Inc. announced early Thursday it has agreed to be acquired by Concord Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, in a deal that will take Circle public and values the 8-year-old company at $4.5 billion. That valuation would …

As the gig economy grows, startups are emerging to meet an expanding market for payment. An especially ambitious example is Willa Inc., which on Wednesday announced an $18-million Series A funding round led by FinTech Collective and including sums from existing investors EQT Ventures and Entrée Capital. The Ventura, Calif.-based …

Atlanta-based EVO Payments Inc. is working with global ATM technology provider KAL to allow banks and independent ATM deployers to quickly set up ATMs anywhere in Europe. The new service combines Germany-based KAL’s ATM software with EVO’s payments network, the parties said Tuesday. “We have created a highly efficient method …

PayPal Holdings Inc.’s decision to bring its Zettle point-of-sale technology to the U.S. market may not surprise observers, but the move presents some formidable challenges, chiefly in the form of the existing competition, some observers say. At the same time, they add, Zettle brings a potent brand that fills a …

Every so often, evidence emerges that size is not necessarily linked to influence. Nacha, the governing body for the nation’s automated clearing house network, on Tuesday announced that North American Banking Co. has joined the ranks of direct members of the association. Direct members constitute a group of more than …

Having completed its merger with a special purpose acquisition company, Payoneer Global Inc.’s common stock and warrants began trading Monday on the Nasdaq under the symbols PAYO and PAYOW, respectively. The shares were trading at $10.82 at mid-morning, slightly up from their opening price. “We are just scratching the surface …

Green Dot Corp. has been steadily building its product roster in financial services for the underbanked, with the latest development emerging this week in the form of an expanded focus for the 15-year-old Walmart MoneyCard. The prepaid card, issued by Green Dot Bank and branded by Mastercard or Visa, can …

In a deal that underscores the crucial importance of open banking in payments, Visa Inc. early Thursday said it has agreed to pay $2.15 billion to buy Tink AB, a 9-year-old, Stockholm-based company whose network connects to 3,400 financial institutions throughout Europe. The agreement comes five months after Visa abandoned …

Plenty of reports since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic have documented how consumers have responded by shifting to e-commerce—some for the first time—but few reports break out the impact on the mobile segment of that number. It turns out the pandemic has spurred considerable shopping by mobile-phone users, as …

Shift4 Payments Inc. on Tuesday announced it had reached a key milestone as it is now processing at least $1 billion per week in what it calls end-to-end payments volume. Shift4 earns more on end-to-end volume, which it processes itself, than on gateway traffic, which it passes off to other …