The two big card networks are making preparations for big moves into cryptocurrency payments. But crypto is no stranger to fraud, so Mastercard Inc. on Thursday announced it is acquiring CipherTrace Inc., a 6-year-old company specializing in technology to combat money laundering and other crimes involving digital-currency transactions. The deal, …

Looking to move further upmarket from the small sellers it started with, Square Inc. on Wednesday announced it is launching its Square Register point-of-sale system in Canada. Square is promoting the technology, which includes a screen facing the customer as well as one for the merchant, as suited to a …

Mastercard Inc. strengthened its hand in open banking on Monday, reaching an agreement to acquire European open-banking platform provider Aiia. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition is expected to strengthen Mastercard’s position as a provider of open-banking services in Europe. Mastercard established a presence in the business …

North American payments processors are focusing lately on bulking up resources in Latin America, largely via acquisition. The latest example is Montreal-based Nuvei Corp., which on Tuesday said it has acquired Paymentez LLC, a 10-year-old payments provider that enables more than 80 payment methods in Mexico as well as 10 …

Vending-payment specialist Cantaloupe Inc. on Friday reported record revenue of $49 million for the June quarter, a 50.2% increase over the same period a year earlier, and a 14.6% increase from the same period in 2021.  Equipment revenue totaled $10.8 million during the quarter, a more than 100% increase from …

U.S. payments networks continue to cultivate their connections to what is for them a potentially massive market in China. In the latest development, Leshua Technology announced early Friday it will support acquiring for American Express Co.’s joint venture in China.  AmEx last year became the first foreign payments company to win …

Zilch Technology Ltd. is preparing to become the latest entrant in the U.S. buy now, pay later market. The move hinges on the London-based company’s acquisition of San Francisco-based debt-funding platform Neptune Financial & Management Services LLC (NepFin), a deal Zilch announced on Thursday. The terms were not disclosed. The …

Giant pharmacy chain Walgreen Co. is getting into the banking and debit card business with the launch of Scarlet. Announced Thursday, Scarlet is a Mastercard-branded debit card issued by MetaBank. InComm Payments provides the system for the account. Scarlet works like most bank accounts and is designed to help accountholders …

U.S. consumers are spending $273 per month on subscription services on average, up 15% from the average in 2018, yet they estimate they are spending less, according to a poll from consulting firm West Monroe.Payments provider Nuvei Corp. completed its $250-million cash acquisition of SimplexCC Ltd., a cryptocurrency gateway that links exchanges, brokers, wallets, …

The Financial Data Exchange (FDX), a non-profit standards body for providers of open-banking and open-finance applications, announced on Wednesday that the number of consumer accounts using its application programming interface has swelled to 22 million, up from 16 million in April, an increase of more than one million accounts per …