As part of its strategy to enable faster electronic payments, Dwolla Inc. on Tuesday released an application programming interface to enable real-time payments through The Clearing House Payments Co.’s RTP network. Fort Lee, New Jersey-based Cross River Bank Inc. will provide the processing link to the RTP network. Development of …

With its acquisition of Axia Technologies Inc., also known as AxiaMed, Bank of America Corp. took a big step toward rebuilding its merchant-acquiring business. AxiaMed provides financial services and payments technology to health-care providers. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition, announced Friday, gives Bank of America a …

OLB Group is the latest processor to support Quick Response codes as merchants look for ways to adopt contactless-payment options in the wake of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. OLB will support dynamic QR codes, which are generated in real time for each transaction, on its cloud-based OmniSoft business-management platform and …

The drive to build merchant acceptance of cryptocurrency continues to gain momentum with RocketFuel Blockchain Inc.’s announcement on Wednesday that it is rolling out a one-click, blockchain-based payments solution for e-commerce transactions. RocketFuel’s service supports payments or direct bank transfers in 43 cryptocurrencies. The first two merchants to adopt the …

Continuing its push to make cryptocurrency a mainstream payment option, PayPal Holdings, Inc. on Monday announced that it will accept cryptocurrency at checkout.  The move builds on PayPal’s strategy of increasing the utility of cryptocurrency so it can become a mainstream payment option. PayPal took the first step in that …

Seeking to reduce merchant-account fraud, also known as merchant bust-out fraud, and provide merchants with a way to authenticate consumers, payments-technology provider On The Fly POS is adding Ipsidy Inc.’s Identity as a Service (IDaaS) biometric identity-verification technology to its platform. Ipsidy’s app validates a merchant’s identity by comparing a …

With more merchants embracing omnichannel sales strategies that blend brick-and-mortar and e-commerce shopping, Blackhawk Network Inc. is enabling merchants to sell digital gift cards in-store.  With Blackhawk’s eGift card platform, merchants can engage customers at multiple marketing touchpoints throughout the store, such as gift card racks and gift card displays …

With global economies expected to re-open as more consumers receive Covid-19 vaccinations, in-store retail spending will hit $22.8 trillion worldwide in 2022. That’s after in-store sales fell 7% in 2020 as many consumers shifted purchases online. The projection comes from London-based Kaleido Intelligence Ltd.  While the Covid-19 pandemic impacted in-store …

Buy now, pay later continues to be a hot option as retailers look for ways to entice shoppers to buy more and increase online conversions and in-store traffic.  Afterpay Ltd. announced Wednesday that its fifth bi-annual Afterpay Day promotion will include brick-and-mortar retailers for the first time. The event is scheduled …

Canadian processor Lightspeed POS Inc. announced Friday it has entered into an agreement to acquire Vend Ltd., a New Zealand-based provider of cloud-based retail management software. The cash and stock deal is valued at $350 million. Lightspeed will pay $192.5 million in cash and issue subordinate voting shares in the …