Bitcoin may be the most popular cryptocurrency, but acceptance of any digital currency is limited to just a few thousand merchants. Crypto processor BitPay Inc. on Thursday introduced a solution with a service that lets users spend their holdings via a prepaid Mastercard that features an EMV chip and contactless capability. …
Read More »Eye on Reopening: Tech Startups Hope To Meet an Overarching Need for Contactless Payments
As businesses reopen in the United States and abroad, many are looking to modernize their payments flows to minimize cash and maximize touch-free digital payments. Tech startups are stepping up in hopes of meeting the need. Late on Tuesday, a 5-year-old startup called Squire Technologies Inc. announced it had raised …
Read More »Store Failures Will Spike as Merchants Wrestle With Covid-19’s Wreckage, a Researcher Predicts
Despite tentative signs of an economic recovery from the coronavirus-induced depression, some experts are forecasting a gloomy outlook for store closures as the year plays out and merchants struggle with debt loads and a consumer shift to e-commerce. At least 20,000, and as many as 25,000, stores will likely shut …
Read More »Varo Money Closes a $241 Million Round as It Closes in on a National Banking Charter
Varo Money Inc., a 5-year-old mobile-banking and payments startup that’s closing in on a national banking charter, raised $241 million in a Series D round that closed Tuesday. The round, co-led by Gallatin Point Capital and The Rise Fund, will help the San Francisco-based Varo expand its financial-product offerings and …
Read More »Worldpay Enlists Forter to Arm for a Potential Surge in Online Crypto Trading Fraud
Online trading of cryptocurrencies has become a hot market, and the recent online activity driven by Covid-19 fears has only added fuel to that trend. In response, the big merchant processor Worldpay, along with Forter Inc., a provider of fraud-prevention technology, on Wednesday introduced a service that will cover crypto …
Read More »How PayPal’s Case Against the CFPB Could Spawn ‘Uncomfortable’ Results for Payments Players
It was easy to lose track of it in the midst of all the impacts of the novel coronavirus, but a crucial federal lawsuit filed six months ago still hangs over the payments industry, carrying far-reaching implications for nearly all players. It’s PayPal Holdings Inc.’s action against the Consumer Financial Protection …
Read More »Following The Third Halving in Its History, Is Bitcoin in for Yet Another Wild Ride?
Three weeks after an automated slashing of the reward cryptocurrency miners collect to process Bitcoin transactions, average prices are up while transaction fees have slipped. With respect to the price of Bitcoin, at least, this result follows an historical pattern. On May 10, the Bitcoin miner’s reward was cut in …
Read More »Green Dot Links With Welcome Technologies to Bring Banking Services to Hispanic Immigrants
Green Dot Corp.’s new chief executive, Dan Henry, made no bones earlier this month about the strategic importance of the company’s bank, and now a new banking-as-a-service program from the Pasadena, Calif.-based company shows how that asset can be deployed to win the loyalty of one of America’s largest immigrant …
Read More »As Restrictions Lift, Parking Apps Look to Serve Cooped-up Consumers Who Want Touch-Free Payments
Pundits have argued for weeks that the Covid-19 pandemic is shifting consumer payment habits away from anything that requires touching publicly available devices, and now that trend is showing up in that most mundane of activities, parking a car. To be sure, parking transactions even via a mobile app have …
Read More »Walmart And Green Dot Beef up the MoneyCard With a New Savings Rate And Other Features
Looking to make their reloadable prepaid card more attractive as retailers and consumers alike deal with the uncertainty created by the coronavirus pandemic, Walmart Inc. and Green Dot Corp. on Tuesday said they are now offering a 2% rate on the Walmart MoneyCard’s associated savings account. The rate is applicable …
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