Facebook Inc. is expected to release details this week, perhaps as early as Tuesday, on its Libra cryptocurrency initiative, but for now what’s known about the project has at least some experts shaking their heads. “Why a cryptocurrency, and why Facebook?” asks Tim Sloane, who follows digital currencies as vice …

The debut of cashless stores has led to pushback by several cities, the state of New Jersey, and a member of Congress concerned that card or mobile-payments-only options will leave cash-dependent consumers unable to shop in such stores. Now, new research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta concludes that …

Cross-border payments firm PPRO announced its acquisition of Allpago, a payment and gateway provider in Latin America. Terms were not disclosed. Payments-services provider i2c Inc. said it is working with Zero, a financial-technology company that provides banking services. Payveris LLC completed its $7 million Series D funding round led by …

FirstBank, one of the largest privately held financial institutions in the United States, said it has committed to using the Real Time Payments network from The Clearing House Payments Co. Glint Pay Ltd., a startup that lets people make purchases on a debit Mastercard backed by gold, announced a $6.4 …

A common assumption among merchant acquirers and retailers is that merchants are the ones who ultimately are liable for network fines after a merchant’s data breach. But a recent decision by a federal appellate court that ruled against First Data Corp., the nation’s largest payment processor, sends a message that …

Groupon announced it will provide GasBuddy, a fuel-price reporting service, with food and drink offers from local merchants via card linking. Consumers will be able to load offers directly to an eligible payment card after completing an opt-in enrollment in the GasBuddy app. POSaBIT, a fintech supplier to the legal …

Private-equity firm Acuity Capital Partners LLC acquired specialty gift card manufacturer Sterling Card Solutions, according to Sterling’s financial advisor, the investment bank Capstone Headwaters. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Besides gift cards, Sterling makes hotel key cards, identification cards, phone cards, and other products. Half the world’s population, …

With last week’s introduction of contactless card acceptance on New York City subway and bus systems, hopes are riding high on mass transit to at last stimulate contactless acceptance and usage in the United States. Now recent research indicates acceptance is picking up rapidly pretty much everywhere.  The number of …

A data-security services firm says it has spotted approximately 200,000 payment card numbers in online fraudster marketplaces stolen from a collections firm serving diagnostic laboratories, but it expects more to come up for sale later. Secaucus, N.J.-based Quest Diagnostics Inc. reported Monday that financial and other data on some 11.9 …

The Western Union Co. said it will enable Visa Inc.’s Visa Direct real-time push-payment service. The move follows the remittance-processing company’s announcement in late 2017 that it would adopt Mastercard Inc.’s rival service, Mastercard Send. Merchant processor VizyPay launched a program called Cash Discount 2.0, which calls for merchants to …