In the face of multiple defections so far, Facebook Inc.’s controversial cryptocurrency project scored a victory of sorts Monday when 21 remaining backers officially signed on at a crucial meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. In a busy day, the companies making up the Libra Association signed on to the project’s charter, …
Read More »Eye on Crypto: Moving Beyond Bitcoin ATMs; Fighting ‘Tribalism’ on the Blockchain
Facebook Inc. and its proposed Libra cryptocurrency may have stolen the headlines lately, but in the background companies are working to make cryptocurrency like Bitcoin easier to buy and sell by deploying specialized kiosks and simplifying what can seem to outsiders a quite abstruse payment process. One of the most …
Read More »Mobile Wallets Dominate the News, But Most Consumers Still Want Physical Gift Cards
The holidays are approaching, and with that annual shopping frenzy comes a yearly boost in gift card sales. As it turns out, though, most gift cards are likely to be plastic or paper rather than digital, according to consumer and small-business research released Thursday. While preference for digital cards is growing, …
Read More »Eye on Blockchain: Ripple Teams up With Finastra; Firms Line up to Support Libra
The London-based financial-services technology provider Finastra said Wednesday that it has agreed to offer blockchain technology from Ripple Labs Inc. for cross-border payments processed by its client institutions. In related news, more than 1,500 firms have inquired with the Libra Association about joining the group, the association said, in the …
Read More »Eye on Mobile Payments: More About Samsung Pay Cash; Zelle Eyes Community Banks
More details emerged Tuesday about Samsung Pay Cash, the virtual prepaid card Samsung Electronics America Inc. first announced late last week as the latest feature for its mobile wallet. Global Payments Inc., the big Atlanta-based processor that recently acquired Total System Services Inc. (TSYS), said Monday it has now integrated …
Read More »In the Wake of PayPal’s Defection, There’s ‘A Lot of Pressure’ on Key Libra Meeting Oct. 14
Friday’s news that PayPal Holdings Inc. is bailing out of Facebook Inc.’s Libra cryptocurrency project underscores the importance of an upcoming meeting of the project’s backers in Geneva, Switzerland, observers say. It has also heightened speculation about whether the project is likely to lose more of the remaining 26 companies …
Read More »Eye on Cryptocurrency: PayPal Skips a Libra Meeting; Ohio Suspends Bitcoin Payments
In a bad week for cryptocurrency, a news report emerged late Thursday that PayPal Holdings Inc. skipped a key meeting of backers of Facebook Inc.’s Libra initiative. And, in the state of Ohio, officials on Wednesday suspended a pioneering site that accepted business taxes via Bitcoin. Twenty-seven of the 28 …
Read More »Samsung Pay Looks to Cross-Border Transfers As a New Growth Market
Adoption of mobile-payment apps in the United States has been tepid, so the so-called “Pays”—Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay—have sought new features to spike consumer interest. The latest gambit comes from Samsung Pay, which on Thursday announced an integration that will allow U.S. users to send payments to …
Read More »A Top Libra Executive Rebuts a Report That Backers’ Support Is Wavering
A report Wednesday that at least some members of the consortium backing Facebook Inc.’s Libra cryptocurrency project—including Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc.—are having second thoughts has drawn fire from the top Facebook executive in charge of the project. “The tone of some of this reporting suggests angst, etc….I can tell …
Read More »As Real-Time Payments Rivalry Heats up, Vendors Eye Market Niches And Mid-Tier Institutions
With The Clearing House Payments Co. operating a real-time payments network and the Federal Reserve planning one for no later than 2024, payments companies are looking at slices of the market for opportunities in instant money movement. And these niche plays aren’t just the province of the country’s biggest banks. …
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