Betting that consumer demand to use cryptocurrency as a payment vehicle will rise over the long term, payments provider The OLB Group Inc. announced Wednesday that its SecurePay payment gateway will support the acceptance of Bitcoin and other digital currencies at the point of sale regardless of the merchant platform. …
Read More »Mobile Wallet Gains and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 2/9/21
Consumers continue to show affinity for using mobile wallets for payments with debit-based mobile wallet use growing at 59.6% for the week ending Jan. 31, compared to the week ending Feb. 2, 2020, according to the PSCU Tracking Transaction Trends report. Credit-based mobile wallet use was up 35.7%. The results include the …
Read More »PayPal Registered a Record Year in 2020 And Looks for an Even Bigger 2021
Buoyed by an explosion of e-commerce activity following the onset of Covid-19, PayPal Holdings Inc. last year enjoyed what turned out to be a record year for growth. Now, it looks to roll out a flurry of new services. “We released more products and services in 2020 than in any …
Read More »Eye on Crypto: First Boulevard To Test Visa Crypto API and Uphold To Issue Crypto-Enabled Cards
Neobank First Boulevard will test a suite of crypto application programming interface tools as part of Visa Inc.’s digital-currency strategy, Visa announced Wednesday. And Uphold Inc., a platform for digital wallets and cryptocurrency trading, has acquired Optimus Cards UK Ltd. and intends to issue crypto-enabled debit cards in Europe on …
Read More »AmEx Wants To Boost Takeout Orders and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 2/1/21
American Express Co. said it is working with its reservation-technology company Resy to encourage cardholders to order out from restaurants. The program includes new dining offers on many AmEx cards.Exactuals LLC, whose PaymentHub platform processes residuals, royalties, and other payments for the entertainment industry, said dollar volume on the platform grew …
Read More »Ex-Mastercard Executive’s Payment Tech-Focused Investment Firm and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 1/29/21
Javier Perez, formerly president of Mastercard Europe, has launched Global PayTech Ventures, said to be the first venture-capital firm concentrating exclusively on payment technology.Springbrook Software, developer of systems supporting payments for local governments, released its Municipal Payments Collection portal, which supports payments for miscellaneous town fees. The portal is available via …
Read More »As Visa Stages a Comeback From Covid, It Scopes Out Its Chances in Open Banking
Visa Inc. along with many other payments companies was thrown for a loop by the coronavirus pandemic, but now it’s clawing it’s way back on the strength of debit cards, e-commerce, and a real-time payments service called Visa Direct. “In the United States, we are actually back to our prepandemic …
Read More »How Mastercard’s Optimism Rides on Stimulus, Vaccines, And Debit Spending
Mastercard Inc. saw overall payment volumes inch up in the final quarter of 2020, buoyed by rising debit card volumes and such factors as federal stimulus payments in the U.S. market, the card network’s top executives reported Thursday. Looking ahead, the arrival of vaccines to combat the coronavirus pandemic will …
Read More »Bitcoin’s Notorious Volatility Clouds Optimism As the Digital Currency Zooms Past $40,000
One week into the new year, Bitcoin’s dizzying rise is prompting questions about what’s fueling it and how long it can go on before yet another crash. One factor, as it turns out, could be greater clarity concerning Bitcoin’s potential to enter the mainstream of retail payments after a dozen …
Read More »SoFi Makes a Move to Go Public and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 1/8/21
Social Finance Inc. said it will use the special purpose acquisition tool to become a publicly traded company. Known as SoFi, the company will merge with Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp. V, a SPAC, to enter the public market. SoFi’s equity value is pegged at $8.65 billion in the deal. SoFi, which …
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