Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Bitcoin merchant-services provider BitPay Inc. has launched an app to enable one-tap Bitcoin payment at the point of sale. Dubbed Bitcoin Checkout, the app is available now for smart phones and tablets using Android. An iOS version is planned for Apple Inc. devices. The app, when loaded onto a smart phone …
Read More »MCX Chief Davidson Strikes Defiant Tone While Touting Benefits of CurrentC’s Wallet
By John Stewart Merchant Customer Exchange LLC (MCX) has launched its CurrentC mobile-payment service with “thousands” of consumers in “several American cities,” the program’s chief executive said on Wednesday. The “consumers,” employees of retailers that make up the Needham, Mass.-based MCX consortium, are part of a pilot for the fledgling …
Read More »LoopPay Debuts CardCase, Working On Tokenized Data System
Mobile payment provider LoopPay Inc. launched the LoopPay Card and CardCase, accessories meant to make it easier to use the mobile-payment service. After downloading the free Loop Wallet from the iTunes or Google Play stores, the user connects a Loop device to the phone. The user creates an account …
Read More »CPI, Sequent Pair Up on NFC Provisioning Service for Banks
CPI Card Group is working with digital issuance and wallet platform provider Sequent Software Inc. on CPIMobile, a service to deliver secure digital credentials to near-field communication (NFC)-compatible smart phones. CPI announced Monday. NFC is a two-way protocol that enables mobile devices to share data in a secure environment. CPIMobile …
Read More »With Its McDonald’s Deal, Softcard Gains More Access to Everyday Spend for its NFC Wallet
While Apple Inc.’s Apple Pay mobile wallet has been grabbing the headlines, the telco-controlled Softcard mobile-payments service this week lined up another major fast-food chain. Consumers now can use their Softcard mobile wallets to pay for purchases at U.S. McDonald’s locations. Formerly known as Isis, Softcard is a smart …
Read More »Theft of Users’ Email Addresses Overshadows MCX’s Attempt To Blunt ‘Misinformed’ Comment
By Jim Daly and Kevin Woodward Just hours after Merchant Customer Exchange LLC (MCX), the retailer-backed developer of the CurrentC mobile-payments service, posted a response to reports about some of its members dumping Apple Inc.’s rival Apple Pay service, the company notified customers that “unauthorized third parties” had obtained email …
Read More »MCX Implies Its Ready To Accept General-Purpose Cards, but Questions Remain
By Jim Daly Attempting to do damage control in the wake of an email hack and unfavorable publicity about retailers who want to accept other mobile wallets, the chief executive of the retailer-sponsored Merchant Customer Exchange LLC (MCX) mobile-payments service said Wednesday that MCX is working with general-purpose credit card …
Read More »Issuers’ Apple Pay Pact Assigns Remarkable Authority to Card Networks As Well As Apple
Issuers signing up to have their cards included in the Apple Pay wallet may benefit from all the hype Apple Inc. is generating for the new mobile-payment service. But behind the scenes, the 500 or so financial institutions that have enlisted in the program so far are also signing up …
Read More »Would-Be Apple Pay Users Disappointed When Rite Aid Apparently Turns Off NFC
By Jim Daly As a complex new technology-based service, Apple Inc.’s Apple Pay was certain to hit some speed bumps after it debuted Oct. 20. Sure enough, reports of glitches surfaced, such as about 1,000 double charges on Apple Pay transactions funded by Bank of America Corp. debit cards. But …
Read More »Apple Pay Works, But It Can’t Speed up Lines of Non-Users
The big news about my test today of Apple Pay, the contactless payment scheme for use with Apple Inc. smart phones and tablets, is that there was no big news. It worked. Each transaction on the first day of availability went through quickly, with a notification popping up on …
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