Digital Currency

Cardlytics Inc., a specialist in deriving marketing data from payments flows, has agreed to acquire customer-data platform Bridg Inc. for $350 million.Pay Theory, a specialist in payments technology for school districts, is integrating its services with Abre.io, a provider of administration platforms for elementary and high schools.Airvet, a provider of …

“We are looking very carefully at the question of whether we should issue a digital dollar,” said Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell in testimony before the Senate banking committee. “We are the world’s reserve currency and we have a responsibility to get this right.” As digital currency moves from the …

Payments provider Adyen NV said it is offering the buy now, pay later service from Afterpay Ltd. to its merchants in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.PayMaple LLC, a payments-technology provider specializing in automobile dealerships, said it has joined a partner program from CDK Global Inc., a …

Intuit Inc. said its Intuit ProConnect unit has partnered with Practice Ignition, a service provider to accounting firms, to provide payments and other services to tax-preparation professionals. Intuit in February sued Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc., alleging the networks’ interchange pricing models constitute unlawful price fixing.Payments provider i3 Verticals Inc. said it has acquired two …

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 …

The top 50 originating institutions for automated clearing house transactions accounted for 23.1 billion payments in 2020, up 8.6% over 2019 and nearly 93% of all commercial ACH payments, according to Nacha, the governing body for the ACH. The 50 largest receiving institutions controlled 61.2% of volume with 16.4 billion payments, …

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 …

The Walgreens pharmacy chain said it will launch a bank-account offering through payments provider InComm Payments that will also feature a MetaBank-issued Mastercard debit card that will allow users to earn rewards through the Walgreens loyalty program. The pharmacy chain will also re-launch its gift card program through InComm.In related news, InComm …

Visa Inc. reported early Monday that after a year of preparation it has completed the first transaction involving direct settlement with a so-called stablecoin, USD Coin. The transaction, which involves a stablecoin that mirrors the U.S. dollar, allowed Crypto.com, a platform for the trading of digital currencies, to send transactions …

Amadis, Advanced Mobile Payment Inc., and Texas Engineering Consulting Systems and Services said they launched the jointly-developed EMVMadeEZ, a pre-certified EMV migration product for automated fuel dispensers. The product enables convenience store operators, small chains, and single gas station owners with an EMV-at-the-pump service.Payments-technology provider AEVI International GmbH said it is …