Mobile Wallets

Square and Cash App parent Block Inc. announced late Thursday its Square Financial Services Inc. industrial bank has received approval from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to make consumer loans through Block’s Cash App Borrow feature. Square Financial Services launched as a Salt Lake City-based, FDIC-chartered industrial bank in 2021 …

A leading merchant association and a group representing stablecoin interests early Thursday threw their weight behind efforts to bring stablecoins into the payments mainstream in the United States. The move by the Merchant Payments Coalition and the Payment Choice Coalition seeks to “promote their shared goals of enhancing innovation, competition, …

As credit and debit cards—and their digital doppelgangers—continue to find favor among consumers, the use of cash over the past 10 years has slipped from 44% of in-store spend to 15% in 2024, finds the latest Worldpay Global Payments Report. Released Tuesday, the report, now in its 10th year, says …

Ten years ago, the U.S. payment card market made its shift to EMV chip cards, and along with that the industry prepared for more contactless payments. That work by issuers and card brands appears to have paid off because 92% of consumers are now familiar with NFC, the technology that …

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday voted 51-47 to scrub a regulation issued in November by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and aimed at mobile wallets and digital money transfers. The repeal legislation, which now moves to the House of Representatives, comes as major payment-app developers like Apple Inc., Block Inc., …

The Federal Reserve announced its FedNow real-time payments network this summer will raise its transaction limit to $1 million from $500,000. FedNow was launched in 2023. Kasheesh Inc. launched a loyalty program called Kasheesh Rewards, aimed at letting users earn rewards based on spending. Kasheesh’s platform allows users to split transactions across credit, debit, and …

A 3-year-old technology enabling merchants to accept contactless payments using a regular smart phone with no special hardware has bloomed with a global year-over-year growth rate of 200%. That rate is even higher in the United States, United Kingdom, and Brazil, the three countries with the highest adoption rates, Visa …

Flexa Inc., a digital-payments provider, has introduced tap-to-pay for cryptocurrency transactions. The contactless-payment method enhances digital-asset usability by enabling blockchain payments via NFC-enabled hardware wallets without a mobile phone or internet connection, the company says. Hardware wallets, known also as burner wallets, are physical devices that store private keys for …

Mastercard Inc.’s One Credential, just announced last week, already is seeing some recruiting success with payments-technology provider i2c Inc. enrolling as one of the first issuing-processing partners. The Mastercard One Credential is a digital-payment service that supports multiple payment methods, such as credit, debit, and prepaid, as well as installment loans, …

Sightline Payments, a specialist in payments for the gaming industry, announced it has completed a recapitalization, with participation from “most” existing major investors. The 15-year-old company estimates the U.S. digital gaming industry at $30 billion in annual revenue. Generation Z is overwhelmingly adopting digital-payment methods, with 92% using peer-to-peer payment …