Digital Currency

Retail spending, except for automotive and gas, increased 5.4% in September year-over-year, Mastercard Inc. said in its latest SpendingPulse report. E-commerce sales were up 11.5% over last year for the same period.Sila Inc., a fintech software platform, has combined forces with Arcus Inc., a payments-technology firm, to allow businesses to make payments …

Payments observers are expecting a tougher regulatory approach from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with the confirmation on Thursday of Rohit Chopra as executive director of the 10-year old federal agency. “The agency will likely return to the days of director Cordray,” predicts one close observer who asked not to …

Payments provider Payroc LLC announced a deal with PayTomorrow that will enable merchants, especially those selling high-ticket durable goods, to offer installment payments in stores, online, and via phone.Zuza LLC said it is providing its BloomPOS system to Payroc. Aimed at salons, spas, and gyms, the technology enables such functions as appointment scheduling …

Financial-services firms, and fintechs particularly, have been swamped with account-takeover attacks over the past year, leaving many consumers wary of visiting these sites, according to a report issued Thursday by Sift Science Inc. Indeed, the volume of account-takeover attacks overall more than tripled between the second quarter of 2019 and …

Discover Network said it will work with Phood Solutions Inc., a food-payment and delivery platform for college students, to provide a mobile app that allows students to load a meal plan along with plan dollars for use with DoorDash and other services. Payments will be backed by a Discover prepaid card …

BitPay Inc. and Verifone Inc. early Tuesday said they are collaborating on a service that later this year will allow U.S. merchants using Verifone devices to accept as many as 11 cryptocurrencies in-store and online.  Consumers will be able to pay with a broad array of crypto wallets, including one …

American Express Co. said it is working with Extend, a virtual card specialist, to expand its virtual card options for U.S. businesses.Gift card provider Factor4 LLC said it is work with SavorConnect, a cloud-based integration platform, to make its gift cards that can used online, in stores, and with mobile devices available on …

The rapidly expanding utility of open banking for instant funding came into sharp relief early Thursday with announcements from payments processors Nuvei Corp. and Circle Internet Financial Corp. Montreal-based Nuvei, which has been cultivating its stake in the U.S. gaming market, said consumers can now move money instantly from their …

PayPal Holdings Inc. on Tuesday launched a new version of its mobile app with a panoply of new shopping and financial features aimed at broadening the product’s appeal with consumers who are increasingly turning to online commerce. The big refresh, the first PayPal has executed on its digital wallet for …

Payments provider Priority Technology Holdings Inc. completed its acquisition of Finxera Holdings Inc., a provider of banking-as-a-service software. Terms of the deal, which was announced in March, were not announced.Payment-fraud prevention provider Inetco Systems Ltd. launched BullzAI, a single technology combining a Web application firewall with a real-time fraud-detection and blocking system.The Tampa Hillsborough …