Digital Currency

The Federal Reserve seeks to work closely with private-sector instant-payment services and plans to carve out a regulatory role to govern developments in stablecoins, a top official at the Fed said Friday. The remarks come in the wake of the Fed’s launch in July of its FedNow real-time payments network. …

Buy now, pay later specialist Zip Co Ltd. said it is working with Primer, a payments and commerce provider, to expand and optimized its payments stack. The troubled cryptocurrency exchange FTX is seeking to reclaim millions in payments it made to celebrities and sports personalities prior to its November bankruptcy filing. Merchant services provider PayBright named …

Though not as credit and debit card friendly as some industries, the legalized cannabis industry continues to create opportunities for payments companies. Among the latest developments are the release of POSaBIT Systems Corp.’s latest point-of-sale system and a new program from Organic Payment Gateways. Bellevue, Wash.-based POSaBIT says its POSaBIT …

Visa Inc., which has been working with blockchain-based currencies at least since the start of the decade, on Monday said it is starting to expand its cryptocurrency services into merchant acquiring, largely for cross-border transactions. The move, which Visa calls a “pilot project,” involves the major merchant processors Worldpay and …

Bitcoin Depot Inc., a Bitcoin ATM operator, has expanded the footprint of its BDCheckout program to more than 400 retail locations in Iowa and Louisiana. BDCheckout enables consumers to fund digital wallets with cryptocurrency at checkout through Bitcoin Depot’s network of merchants. Consumers can access BDCheckout at 246 convenience stores …

Otto, a business and payments platform for veterinary practices, announced a $43-millon Series B equity-financing round. The company, formerly called TeleVet, now claims more than 8,000 clinics. Nexo introduced its Nexo Card, a Mastercard-branded card that allows holders to use as either a credit or debit card on each transaction, with …

The shares of Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. reached all-time highs Wednesday following a report from The Wall Street Journal that the two major card networks plan to raise interchange and network fees in October and April. Visa closed at $246.23 per share, and Mastercard at $413.91. The networks have historically introduced new pricing …

OSHA Outreach Courses, which provides workplace training services to employers and employees, said it has added a buy now, pay later option to pay for its instructional offers. Shift4 Payments Inc. has been named the official payment processor for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association. Shopmium, a cash-back shopping …

Community financial institution Five Star Bank launched tap-to-pay on iPhone capability for its business clients, allowing merchants to accept contactless payments directly on their iPhones. Fluency, a provider of technology for central bank digital currencies, said it has been selected by Mastercard Inc. to work with the card network on CBDC initiatives. Payments provider Novo …

Upgraded, a service that lets Apple MacBook buyers pay over time, announced it is launching in the United States in a partnership with Citizens Pay, a point-of-sale financing service of Citizens Bank. Adyen NV, a Dutch payments platform that competes in the U.S. market against companies like Stripe, Fiserv, PayPal, …