The number of cryptocurrency hacks globally reached 190 last year, setting a new annual record and exceeding 2021’s total by 44%, according to Comparitech. The value stolen totaled $3.57 billion, exceeding the combined total for 2019, 2020, and 2021. Some 82% of senders of remittances across borders said the cost of living has risen …
Read More »UnionPay Adds 4 million Merchants Globally And Other Digital Transactions News briefs from 12/30/22
China-based UnionPay International announced 38 million merchants globally now accept the UnionPay card, four times the number 10 years ago, with 4 million added in 2022. UnionPay has issued more than 20 million cards internationally this year, bringing to more than 200 million the number of cards outside the Chinese Mainland. Former …
Read More »DealerPay Shifts to a Higher Gear And Other Digital Transactions News briefs from 12/29/22
Dealer-Pay, a payments-technology provider for automobile dealerships, has integrated its platform with Dealertrack, a management system serving the same industry. Guarda, whose cryptocurrency wallet includes a prepaid Visa card, added five more digital currencies to the 14 it already supports. Supported cryptocurrencies include Bitcoin and Ethereum. Japan-based Smartpay has launched Smartpay …
Read More »U.S. Holidays Sales Soar 7.6% And Other Digital Transactions News briefs from 12/27/22
U.S. retail sales in the Nov. 1 to Dec. 24 period, excluding automotive, grew 7.6% compared to the same time in 2021, according to Mastercard Inc.’s SpendingPulse, which tracks in-store and online sales. E-commerce sales alone were up 10.6%. The calculation took account of all forms of payment but was not …
Read More »Eye on Blockchain: RocketFuel Sees Rising Crypto Transaction Counts; Centbee Raises $1 Million
You wouldn’t know it from all the headline stories regarding the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, but below the surface commerce in digital currencies continues unabated, albeit still at very low volumes relative to commerce in fiat. RocketFuel Blockchain Inc., a San Francisco crypto processor for e-commerce merchants, announced …
Read More »COMMENTARY: A Forecast for Secure Payments in 2023
The world will not stand still in 2023—not in retail and certainly not in payments. For the coming year, security and automation will be the focus of the trends and innovations we’ll be seeing in the payments space. Let’s explore this further. Credit card tokens from Visa, Mastercard, Discover (Diners), …
Read More »U.S. BNPL Forecasted To Reach $6.5 Billion In 5 Years And Other Digital Transactions News briefs from 12/23/22
The volume of buy now, pay later loans in the U.S. market will total $1.92 billion this year, up 25% from $1.54 billion in 2021, according to research from Research and Markets. The report projects the market will hit $6.5 billion by 2027.
Read More »Consumers’ Ailing Financial Health Could Cast a Shadow Over the Holiday Shopping Season
As the holiday shopping season heads into the home stretch, consumer concerns over withered buying power due to inflation is expected to tamp down overall spending, according to J.D. Power’s Banking and Payments Intelligence Report. In a November survey of 4,000 retail bank customers nationwide, 40% said they expect to …
Read More »Payments Veteran Bisignano Signs on As Fiserv Chairman and CEO for Another Five Years
Long-time payments executive Frank Bisignano, who has guided payments giant Fiserv Inc. through a tumultuous time in the payments industry, has signed on to lead the company for another five years. Bisignano became chairman of the Brookfield, Wis.-based company in May, following his appointment as chief executive in July 2020. …
Read More »Paya Partners With 1Retail to Bring Integrated Payments to Small Businesses
Payments provider Paya Inc. has agreed to supply point-of-sale systems supplier 1Retail with technology that enables EMV contactless and stored payments in enterprise resource planning (ERP) software from Acumatica Cloud. The deal provides Paya’s and 1Retail’s mutual customers running the Acumatica ERP platform with a POS system that works in …
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