Startups and established players alike have been working out payments applications for distributed-ledger technology for several years, and on Thursday one of those applications went commercial. San Francisco-based Wyre, founded in 2013, launched its cross-border payments service based on the blockchain. On the same day, Wyre also raised $5.8 million in a …

The merger of messaging apps and payments took another step forward Wednesday with the news that The Western Union Co. is allowing U.K. users of the popular Viber service to send money from within the app. The deal follows a similar arrangement the money-transfer kingpin made with Viber for U.S. …

It may be called artificial intelligence, but the potential this technology opens up for payments and banking is turning out to be very real. Earlier this week, yet another major messaging platform agreed to support chatbots that would let its users transfer funds, check their bank balances, and perform other …

Students of federal regulation can be forgiven if they’re not yet up to speed on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s new rule governing prepaid accounts. The document runs a total of 1,689 pages, almost double the length of the draft prepaid rule the CFPB issued two years ago. Admittedly, the …

• The Independent Community Bankers of America trade group submitted a faster-payments proposal to the Federal Reserve’s Faster Payments Task Force; developed with North American Banking Co., the ICBA proposal includes a white-label mobile application and a payments directory to enable transaction settlements through the automated clearing house network’s new …

• The Clearing House Payments Co. LLC selected IBM Corp.’s Power8 system for its real-time payments service, expected to go live next year. The IBM system will run software from VocaLink Holdings Ltd., which TCH selected last year as a vendor for its project. VocaLink is being acquired by MasterCard …

• E-commerce services provider Digital River Inc. released a white paper, “The Subscriptions Generation,” which offers guidance for e-commerce decision-makers and product marketers considering online subscription-based business models. • The Western Union Co. announced it is offering free money transfers from agent locations in most countries to more than 450 agent …

• International Business Machines Corp. reportedly is in early talks to acquire iPad-based point-of-sale technology provider Revel Systems Inc., according to Bloomberg. • Investment firm Battery Ventures said it reached an agreement to acquire Bluepoint Solutions Inc., a privately-owned image-capture and document-management firm, and will merge it with Alogent, a …

• The Texas Attorney General’s office and PayPal Holdings Inc. last week settled the office’s allegations that PayPal’s Venmo person-to-person payments service compromised customers’ privacy and security; PayPal agreed to improve disclosures, ensure that Venmo users know who can see their transaction information, and pay the state $175,000. “We are …

Our list this year showcases some of the most interesting innovation going on in payments. As we put together this year’s Guide, we were struck by the sheer breadth of innovation the 37 entries that made this year’s list represent. Yes, much of this technology has to do with mobile …