The Diem cryptocurrency, once known as Libra, has undergone so much change in the past year that some observers at least might argue it’s almost an entirely different project. The latest development emerged late Wednesday with the announcement that the Diem Association is moving its operations from Switzerland to the …
Read More »U.S. Consumer Spending Is Gaining Strength Fast, a New Index Based on Visa Data Shows
Visa Inc. on Wednesday introduced to the general public its Visa Spending Momentum Index, a measure of what the global payments network calls “the health of consumer spending,” and the latest number indicates the U.S. economy is doing far better in the wake of business reopenings. In April, the index …
Read More »Past Its SPAC, Paysafe Logs First-Quarter Gains While Seeking to Expand in U.S. iGaming
Paysafe Group Holdings Ltd. has had an eventful six months, and on Tuesday the big processor indicated it’s going to be busy cultivating its stakes in U.S. online gambling and other specialized markets. “Our goal is to be the leading specialized payments platform,” declared chief executive Philip McHugh during a …
Read More »BNPL Player Affirm Looks to Its Fast-Growing Shopify Link for Near-Term Growth
Affirm Holdings Inc. on Monday described an arc that traced deals to process for tens of thousands of Shopify Inc. merchants on the upside and returns for $2,500 Peloton Inc. treadmills on the downside. In a conference call with stock analysts to discuss its fiscal third-quarter results, the San Francisco-based …
Read More »A Fed Report on Debit Costs Could Fuel a Movement to Reduce a Decade-Old Fee Cap
Pressure may be building on the Federal Reserve to take action on a debit card interchange-fee regulation that it has left intact for 10 years despite sweeping changes in the payments business, including an onrush of e-commerce transactions over the past year. In part, observers are reacting to a report …
Read More »Square Posts a Strong Quarter As Larger Sellers And Bitcoin Play a More Prominent Role
An influx of larger merchants helped drive first-quarter payment volume for Square Inc., while on the consumer side the company’s Cash App benefited from a runup in value for Bitcoin as well as increasing adoption by business users. Sellers’ gross payment volume totaled $29.8 billion in the quarter, up 21% …
Read More »Shift4 Notches Record Volume As It Looks to Stadiums And Casinos for Future Growth
Shift4 Payments Inc. on Thursday reported record quarterly end-to-end payment volume and gross revenue as it notched what chief executive Jared Isaacman called a “strong first quarter.” Stronger performance in the company’s core hospitality market helped drive end-to-end volume to a record $8 billion, with most growth coming from new …
Read More »PayPal’s Boss Says He’s Out to Make the Company a ‘Leader, Not a Reactor’ in Digital Currencies
Skeptics abound when it comes to digital currencies, but PayPal Holdings Inc. is out to prove them wrong. Chief executive Dan Schulman, an early enthusiast, made it plain Wednesday he sees the crypto trend not only as the company’s big opportunity, but also as a potential liability if PayPal fumbles …
Read More »Global Payments Opens Its Wallet for More Deals As Its Amazon And Google Ties Develop
The big processor Global Payments Inc. announced early Tuesday it will acquire Zego Inc., a payments and technology provider for managers of residential real estate, in a deal valued at approximately $830 million. The company also announced an agreement to buy the PayOne acquiring business in Austria belonging to the …
Read More »Merchants Put the Fed in the Crosshairs of a Lawsuit Seeking to Have Debit Costs Reduced
Merchants have complained for years that they pay too much for debit card acceptance. Late last week, they took their beef to the federal courts with a lawsuit alleging a ceiling set on debit card fees a decade ago by the Federal Reserve is too high and seeking to have …
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