Plenty of attention has been given recently to the tracking of gun sales, with no lack of argument for and against. This article lies outside of any market motives or political opinions. It speaks only to the underlying mechanism of tracking purchases. As an engineer and a pragmatist, I can …
Read More »Criminals Favor Cryptocurrency And Digital Skimming for Fraud Tactics, a Visa Report Says
Cybercriminals showed no signs of slowing down in 2022 as they employed a variety of schemes to defraud consumers, acquirers, card issuers, and merchants, according to Visa Inc.’s Spring 2023 Biannual Threats Report. Cryptocurrency was a prime target for cybercriminals. More than $3 billion in cryptocurrency was stolen through November …
Read More »As Real-Time Payments Systems Gear Up, Finastra Launches a Multi-Network Software Offering
With the Federal Reserve’s announcement last week that it will launch its FedNow real-time payments service in July, technology firms are jockeying for position as the appetite for faster payments grows worldwide. One big development emerged early Tuesday with an announcement from London-based payments-software firm Finastra Group Holdings Ltd. that …
Read More »Bitcoin Depot Adds More ATMs And Other Digital Transactions News briefs from 3/21/23
Lux Vending LLC, which does business as Bitcoin ATM operator Bitcoin Depot Inc., has agreed to deploy its machines in 125 locations owned by convenience-store chain GetGo Cafe + Market. Overall, Bitcoin Depot operates approximately 7,000 machines in 48 states and 10 Canadian provinces. Digital-currency provider Circle Internet Financial LLC said it has …
Read More »How ‘Fraud-as-a-Service’ Is Leading to the ‘Democratization’ of Online Crime
E-commerce wasn’t the only market that ballooned after the pandemic set in. Fraud took off, too, and attracted novice practitioners in the bargain. Of more than 1,000 consumers surveyed by Sift Science Inc. for a report it released Thursday, some 16% admitted they had committed payment fraud, or knew someone …
Read More »‘Pig Butchering’ Is the Latest Scam to Defraud Consumers of Cryptocurrency
As if cryptocurrency didn’t have enough problems with the financial failure of the major FTX exchange, plummeting values, and, most recently, links to two of the biggest bank failures in U.S. history, now criminals are running scams built around crypto trading to defraud consumers. The scams, known as “pig butchering,” …
Read More »The Fed Zeros in on July for the Launch of the FedNow Real-Time Payments Service
The Federal Reserve late Wednesday narrowed the launch window for its FedNow real-time payments network to July of this year. The move comes seven months after the banking regulator announced it would introduce the service some time between May and July. Formal certification of system participants will start the first …
Read More »PayNearMe Teams With Lottery Now to Facilitate Digital Payouts And Deposits in Nine States
PayNearMe Inc. announced Tuesday it is expanding its iGaming footprint through a deal with Lottery Now Inc., which operates the Mido Lotto lottery. Consumers playing Mido Lotto, which is available in nine states, according to the Lottery Now Web site, will be able to purchase tickets with, as well as …
Read More »Big Bank Failures Will Spur Big Consequences for Crypto, Experts Argue
The stunning bank failures of recent days, all of them involving institutions with wide exposure to cryptocurrency, are likely to have a deep impact not only on blockchain products but on payments more broadly, experts say. A stronger case for a digital dollar, stricter regulation of digital currencies in general, …
Read More »Will a Trio of Major Bank Failures Dampen Interest in Blockchain Technology?
Signature Bank on Sunday became the latest domino to fall in a reckoning that is expected to have widespread ripple effects not only for banking but for the burgeoning cryptocurrency industry. The New York City-based bank, closed by state regulators, is said to be the third-largest bank failure in U.S. …
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