Digital Currency

AffiniPay, a specialist in payments for professional offices, launched a refreshed version of its In-Person-Payments service featuring new payments devices that include tap-to-pay functionality. Fiserv Inc.’s Small Business Index for January remained unchanged from December at 138. Year-over-year sales grew 1.7%, down from December’s 2.6% rate. The Index, introduced in January, measures …

Sports-betting enthusiasts rank rapid payouts and payment choice most highly when choosing a sportsbook, according to a report from Paysafe Ltd., a payments processor for which gaming is a major market. The research canvassed 3,000 bettors in six states, Canada, and the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy in December. Airwallex, …

The Huntington National Bank launched a secured credit card offering 1% cashback rewards and no annual fee. Secured cards require cardholders to make a one-time, refundable deposit to back activity on the card. Mastercard Inc. and BOK Financial Corp. expanded their agreement making Mastercard the exclusive payments network in BOK’s debit and …

PayPal Holdings Inc. has put its new stablecoin to work as an investment tool with a PayPal USD investment in Mesh Connect Inc., an embedded-finance platform. Announced Monday, the stake from PayPal Ventures, the digital wallet’s investment arm, was made almost entirely in PayPal USD, a stablecoin PayPal introduced in …

Affinipay, an e-commerce payments provider specializing in professional markets, launched a generative AI capability in its platform for law offices, including its LawPay service. Generative AI refers to predictive technology based on artificial intelligence. The cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin announced users of its KuCard debit card can spend their digital currency from their …

Subscription management specialist Recurly Inc. released its 2024 State of Subscriptions report that found 45.5% of consumers chose debit as the subscription payment method, followed by credit cards, 33%, PayPal, 19.3%, and other alternative payment methods, 2.2%. Wise, a platform for international money transfers, said junk fees associated with credit cards and …

Digital-currency platform Bit.Store launched its Visa Virtual Crypto Card, a prepaid card that can store Bitcoin and offers cashback rewards on transactions. The social-media platform X has reportedly established a “dedicated account” that could transact in cryptocurrency for the platform’s expected peer-to-peer payments service. There has been no official word so far from X, formerly …

Synchrony Financial said it will acquire the point-of-sale financing business of Ally Financial Inc. The portfolio includes $2.2 billion in loan receivables and includes relationships with nearly 2,500 merchant locations and more than 450,000 active borrowers in home improvement services and health care. Terms were not disclosed. Alchemy Pay, whose gateway …

UnionPay, an international payment card network based in China, said it is now accepted in 183 countries and regions, with issuance outside the Chinese mainland exceeding 230 million cards in 81 countries. Issuance outside Mainland China commenced in January 2004. Consumer-finance and card issuer Synchrony said it is testing a browser extension …

On Nov. 20, 2023, Mastercard Inc. announced that its Chinese joint venture with Netsunion to process domestic payments had been approved by the People’s Bank of China and the National Administration of Financial Regulation. Was it a victory for, or a mockery of, free trade? If this landmark approval were …