Digital Currency

With the close of Block Inc.’s $29-billion acquisition of buy now, pay later platform Afterpay Ltd. at the end of January, the payments company installed a key component in a plan to more tightly integrate its seller and consumer businesses, Square and Cash App, according to Block’s top executives. Indeed, …

Business-to-business payments provider Tipalti Inc. reported “unprecedented” growth in payments volume in 2021, with volume growing more than 100% from 2020 to more than $36 billon. The company’s client base increased to more than 2,000, including GoDaddy, Roku, ZipRecruiter, and Amazon Twitch.Fintech Social Finance Inc. said its SoFi Technologies Inc. unit has launched SoFi …

Cryptocurrency’s steady march toward becoming a mainstream payment option took another step with Sling TV’s acceptance of seven digital currencies and five stablecoins through BitPay Inc. The deal, announced Monday, will enable existing subscribers of the streaming television service to pay their monthly subscription fee with cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, …

Buy now, pay later specialist Klarna AB said it is expanding the geographic reach of its rewards program and its Pay Now service. The rewards program will be available in nine countries, with Pay Now expanding to nine new countries beyond the current base in the U.S. and U.K., where the immediate-payment …

Digital-currency payments specialist Circle Internet Financial LLC announced it has agreed to new terms with Concord Acquisition Corp., terminating an agreement it had reached with that company in July. The new agreement values Circle at $9 billion, twice the valuation set by the original SPAC combination. The holding company established by the original agreement …

Payments-technology firm Buy It Mobility launched BuyPass, a platform aimed at allowing merchants to more quickly launch automated clearing house and merchant-branded payments programs. BIM is working with network capabilities and virtual card technology from Discover Network to reduce the time and cost for merchant integration.Transaction-security firm Forter launched Smart Payments, a technology that uses the …

U.S. retail sales in January, excluding automobile-related spending, grew 7.2% year-over-year, with online sales increasing 10.4%, according to the Mastercard SpendingPulse report. Sales were propelled by such factors as accumulated savings and wage growth, the report says.Payments-processing giant Global Payments Inc. reported revenue of $2.19 billion on a GAAP basis for the fourth quarter, …

Apple Inc. launched Tap to Pay on iPhone, a service that enables U.S. merchants to accept Apple Pay and other contactless payment services with an iPhone and an iOS app. Long speculated, especially since Apple’s 2020 acquisition of Mobeewave Inc., which developed the ability to accept payments via an NFC link, Tap to Pay …

Processor Fiserv Inc. said it has agreed to acquire digital-banking developer Finxact Inc. Fiserv, an early investor in Finxact, will acquire total ownership interest for $650 million.Israel-based payments provider Nayax Ltd. said it has submitted a draft registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a potential U.S. initial public offering of …

Nayax Ltd., a payments processor for vending machines, announced it has launched an EMV-compliant platform allowing multiple choices with a single transaction authorization.Hospitality-technology provider Bite Ninja said it has acquired Zenu, a provider of ordering and payment technology for restaurants. Terms were not announced.BlueOne Card Inc. said it is launching its BlueOne Card, …