Transactions using mobile wallets totaled at least 250.6 million and amounted to at least $9.5 billion in value in 2012, according to a payments report issued Thursday by the Federal Reserve. These results, part of a comprehensive update to a study released in December, represent the central bank’s first effort …

You Said How Many EMV Cards? The conversion of U.S. magnetic-stripe credit and debit cards to the Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV) chip card standard is finally under way, but just how quickly most Americans will be carrying smart cards is a matter of debate. Citing reports from industry suppliers, the EMV Migration …

Jim Daly For a time, it seemed like open-fare contactless smart cards might take over payments on America’s buses, subways, and commuter trains, but then along came smart phones and EMV. The only thing that moves slower than a bus stuck in a 5:00 p.m. traffic jam is the process …

With Bitcoin ATMs now having been deployed in scores of locations around the world, merchants are starting to see how the machines could potentially drive traffic and sales—especially with a younger, hipper clientele. The latest merchant to install Bitcoin machines is Locali Conscious Convenience, a three-store deli and convenience-store chain …

Payment-gateway services provider Digital River Inc. announced Monday that it is adding Bitcoin as a payment option for its small and mid-sized U.S. e-commerce merchants. The Minnetonka, Minn.-based firm thus apparently becomes the first U.S.-based gateway to support the leading virtual currency. n “Bitcoin continues to attract more mainstream attention,” …

Technology continues to drive change in the way riders on America’s mass-transit systems pay fares. While a few agencies have cast their lot with contactless card systems that also accept general-purpose debit and credit cards with contactless chips, other systems are turning to smart phones as add-ons to existing fare …

The national automated clearing house network enjoyed its second-strongest first-quarter performance in the past five years, with 3.8% transaction growth year-over-year, according to statistics released Monday by NACHA, the network’s administrative agency. n The new growth energy comes as the 40-year-old electronic payments network readies a proposal to speed up …

The merchant cash-advance and non-bank small-business loan sectors have boomed in recent years, with startups, established providers, and PayPal Inc. all seeking to tap merchant demand for capital that banks haven’t met. Now comes merchant processor Square Inc. with a new merchant cash-advance (MCA) service called Square Capital. As it …

By Jim Daly In what’s shaping up to be a very busy year in the vibrant world of electronic bill payments, financial-management software provider Intuit Inc. on Tuesday announced plans to buy online and mobile bill-pay services provider Check Inc. for $360 million. Rumored for about a month, the deal …

Law-enforcement agencies and government regulators may be skeptical of, if not outright hostile to, the Bitcoin virtual currency, but at least a few investors have a different attitude. Witness this week’s announcement by BitPay Inc., a processor that provides Bitcoin services to merchants. Atlanta-based BitPay said it had raised $30 …