Digital Currency

With interest in cryptocurrency increasing at the two major card networks, it was only a matter of time before one of them launched a consulting service specializing in the subject. Visa Inc. early Wednesday announced it is launching its Global Crypto Advisory Practice as part of its existing Visa Consulting …

Stablecoins have come in for government scrutiny in recent weeks, but use of this blockchain-based technology to enable immediate business-to-business payments between bank clients is moving forward nonetheless. Late Thursday, Tassat Group Inc. announced Phoenix-based Western Alliance Bank will use the company’s TassatPay technology to allow business clients to pay …

Buy now, pay later specialist Splitit Payments Ltd. said its merchant sales volume for the first two months of the fourth quarter totaled $94 million, a 52% increase quarter-over-quarter and a 61% increase year-over-year. Splitit reported $11 million in merchant sales volume across the holiday shopping weekend, including Black Friday and Cyber …

Online checkouts remain a challenge for many merchants as 40% report cart abandonment as more than a minor issue and 41% say fraudulent transactions have risen since the pandemic set in, according to Paysafe Ltd.’s “Lost in Transaction” report.PayPal Holdings Inc. said merchants on the Wix.com Ltd. e-commerce platform can offer …

Buy now, pay later spending in the United States through provider Afterpay Ltd. has risen 230% in the past 12 months, with a 34% increase year-over-year during the Black Friday through Cyber Monday period, the company said. Square Inc.’s acquisition of Afterpay, announced in August, is expected to close in the first quarter next …

Waitr Holdings Inc., an ordering and delivery platform for restaurants, has agreed to offer the Harbortouch point-of-sale system from payments provider Shift4 Payments Inc. to Waitr’s 26,000 clients.Payments provider Nuvei Corp. said a subsidiary has won approval to provide payment processing to support daily fantasy sports and sports-wagering operators in Louisiana. The …

Consumer concerns about slow deliveries and worldwide inventory issues means some 45% of holiday-season spending this year will go to gift cards, according to survey results from consumers in 10 countries gathered by Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc. That represents a 27% increase in gift card spending from last year’s holidays, Blackhawk says. …

It’s well-known by now that e-commerce activity is on a sharp upswing, but the underside of that trend is that fraud is rising fast, as well. Phishing attacks, for example, hit a record high in July, according to the Anti-Phishing Working Group, which on Monday released its report for the …

As part of its efforts to expand real-time payments globally, financial-service technology provider Nium Pte. Ltd., has partnered with Roxe, a global payment network that uses blockchain technology to settle transactions. The partnership will allow Roxe to leverage the reach of Nium’s network to initiate cross-border payouts, including those from …

Shift4 Payments Inc. denied what it called “media reports” that it is pursuing an acquisition of EVO Payments Inc. Shift4 is “focused on supporting … new growth verticals” instead, the company said.Microsoft Corp. is testing buy now, pay later capability in its Edge browser. In conjunction with Zip Co. Ltd., the BNPL service is at the …