Fit Pay Inc. announced on Friday it will begin shipping its Bitcoin-based contactless device, Flip, on Feb. 13. The coin-shaped token sells to consumers for $29 and allows them to convert their Bitcoin holdings to U.S. dollars and then spend the money at stores equipped with contactless point-of-sale terminals. The …
Read More »Paya Makes Another Integrated-Payments Play With a Deal for First Billing Services
Paya Inc. said on Tuesday is has acquired First Billing Services, a Dayton, Ohio-based billing processor for municipalities, utilities, and multifamily housing units. The $57.5 million deal, which Paya chief executive Jeff Hack says was consummated minutes before midnight on New Year’s Eve, represents the Reston, Va.-based payments provider’s second …
Read More »Phillips 66 Links With Honda in a Push for Dashboard Commerce
Phillips 66 Co., which has long been a leading player among petroleum companies in digital payments, has taken a step into in-car commerce in a tie-up with Honda Motor Co. Inc. that will allow customers to find the nearest station, claim a pump, and pay for gas from the infotainment …
Read More »The Unicorn Herd Enrolled Yet More Fintech Members Last Year Following an Active 2017
The financial news has been full of dire stories about the beating tech stocks have been taking lately, but less well publicized is the action in private equity—specifically the creation of new payments-related unicorns. According to data from New York City-based CB Insights, which tracks private valuations, at least half …
Read More »It’s the Holiday Season, But Fresh Data Shows How Fraudsters Work Online Year-Round
Online merchants expect to battle fraud with added vigor during the holiday-season shopping frenzy. But now data released this week shows how fraud losses, and the costs of managing fraud, plague these merchants year-round. On average, e-commerce merchants sustained 142 successful fraud transactions each month this year, up 12% from …
Read More »Venmo for Crypto? A Startup’s New Wallet Lets Users Send And Receive Bitcoin Via Text Messages
Bitcoin has had a bad year, but that isn’t stopping enthusiasts from launching new methods for consumers to buy, sell, and spend the digital currency. The latest introduction is a mobile wallet that allows users to send Bitcoin to contacts on their phone, and receive the currency from others, through …
Read More »Postpone the Requiem for ATMs: A Drop in the Global Installed Base Isn’t the Whole Story
With the onset of digital wallets, observers of the payments scene might expect consumer demand for cash to wither, and with it the population of ATMs. It turns out the ATM count worldwide did hit its zenith last year, according to research released this week, but the reason is a …
Read More »Hold on to Your Hat, Demand for Blockchain Experts Is Taking off Fast
Despite the vicissitudes of cryptocurrency, demand for blockchain developers is apparently exploding. The increase in job listings seeking those with experience in the distributed-ledger technology topped the growth rankings in LinkedIn’s 2018 “Emerging Jobs Report,” with 33 times more listings than last year, according to a Dec. 13 post from …
Read More »Fast-Growing Merchant Acceptance Could Entice More Acquirers to Look Abroad
A number of U.S. payments providers have expanded overseas in recent years, and now more may have an incentive to do so if recent research showing robust growth in merchant acceptance is any indication. The number of physical stores or outlets accepting payment cards worldwide reached 69.2 million last year, …
Read More »As Voice Commerce Becomes More Common, Jack Henry Adds More Payment Services
Core processors for financial institutions are starting to make their moves in voice-triggered consumer payments, and Jack Henry & Associates is looking to stake out an early lead in this nascent business. The Monett, Mo.-based company on Wednesday said its iPayQuickPay bill-pay service is integrated with Alexa smart speakers from …
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