Bitcoin entered 2020 on a high note but remains a volatile cryptocurrency, both in value and in transaction cost. That volatility can reward savvy users but continues to hinder the leading cryptocoin’s usefulness as a payment method. The coin exited 2019 with a value exceeding $7,000, roughly double what it …
January, 2020
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6 January
‘Alexa, Fill ‘er Up.’ Amazon Pay Coming to Cars Via ExxonMobil and Fiserv
Consumers with Alexa, Amazon.com Inc.’s voice assistant, enabled in their cars and trucks soon will be able to pay for fuel at more than 11,500 Exxon and Mobil gas stations from inside their vehicles. Announced Monday, the service, compatible with vehicles with Alexa built in or enabled with an Echo …
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6 January
MoneyGram Notes Growth and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 1/6/20
MoneyGram International Inc. announced online transactions grew more than 70% year-over-year between Dec. 1 and Dec. 25, a record growth rate for that period. The money-transfer provider, which did not report the actual transaction volume, said 80% of the transactions were initiated on a mobile device.PayPal Holdings Inc. has closed on its …
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3 January
Payment Stocks Sputtered Toward 2019’s End, but They Still Outperformed the Market for the Year
Payment-company stocks lost ground as a group in December and didn’t match the major market indexes in the fourth quarter, but they still bested the indexes for all of 2019, according to a new report. Twenty-six electronic-transaction processor stocks monitored by Chicago-based Barrington Research Associates Inc. posted a negative mean …
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3 January
eBay Unfazed by Payment Critics and other Digital Transactions New briefs from 1/3/20
An eBay Inc. executive said the online marketplace will not back down on the introduction of its Managed Payments program in the face of criticism from some sellers regarding the program’s costs and policies. The company introduced the new payments program, which relies on gateway services from Adyen N.V., last year after years …
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3 January
New Fed Data Underscores How Far Electronic Payments Have Eaten Into Checks
It’s no secret that electronic payment methods have systematically eaten away at check volume in the United States, but now new data from the Federal Reserve shows just how far that trend has gone. A total of 16 billion checks were written in 2018 for a total value of $26.2 …
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2 January
Lawsuits Filed Over Wawa Data Breach and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 1/2/20
At least six lawsuits seeking class-action status have been filed in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia against Wawa Inc., an 850-location convenience-store chain, in the wake of Wawa’s previously announced data breach. Most recently, the Goldman Scarlato & Penny P.C. law firm said its attorneys are investigating consumer claims concerning the breach. Data stolen …
December, 2019
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31 December
Mercado Pago Adds PayPal Checkout Option and other Digital Transactions New briefs from 12/31/19
PayPal Holdings Inc. announced it has signed a commercial agreement with MercadoLibre, a major e-commerce marketplace in Latin America. As part of the deal, PayPal will become a payment choice in the Mercado Pago online checkout for customers in Brazil and Mexico, a move PayPal says could lead to PayPal users getting …
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30 December
Everi Makes $25 Million Acquisition and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 12/30/19
Everi Holdings Inc., a provider of payment processing, slot machines, and various services to the gaming industry, said its Everi Payments subsidiary bought $25 million in “strategic assets” from Micro Gaming Technologies Inc., a privately held provider of loyalty and marketing products and promotional tools and apps for casinos. Under …
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27 December
Amazon’s Record Holiday Season and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 12/27/19
E-commerce leader Amazon.com Inc. said the 2019 holiday shopping season was a record-breaker for the company, with “billions of items ordered,” including “tens of millions” of Amazon devices. The company didn’t disclose payment volumes.Following a 79% collapse last year, the cryptocurrency market rebounded in 2019 to a total value of $192.3 billion, up 58%, …