The United States is way behind other markets in adopting tap-and-go cards. That’s about to change. Thad Peterson explains why. The main benefit of EMV implementation is the virtual elimination of card-present counterfeit card fraud, and that alone is worth EMV’s massive infrastructure investment. But there’s another benefit to new …

ISOs have been slow to jump on the bandwagon for digital currency because the list of barriers to mainstream use remains too long. Merchants such as Overstock.com and Newegg.com may be leading the charge to accept Bitcoin and myriad other crypto­currencies, but if crypto is to make serious progress toward …

Across the world, governments are cracking down on immigration. Cross-border payments, however, continue to grow with the global economy. Will blockchain be next? President Donald Trump has made cracking down on both illegal and legal immigration to the United States a showpiece, though controversial, policy of his administration. European countries, …

USA Technologies Inc., a vendor of payment-acceptance technology for self-serve machines, launched its ePort G9 in Canada. The device accepts contactless debit cards equipped with Interac Flash. The Western Union Co. said it has been asked by Amazon.com Inc. to develop a service that will allow overseas shoppers to pay …

First Data Corp. plans to further exploit its fast-growing Clover point-of-sale hardware and software platform for small and mid-sized businesses by bringing it to full-service restaurants. “Clover has always been strong in small, quick-service restaurants, but the FSR segment needs much deeper functionality and is a large addressable software market …

Mobile-payments company PayByPhone said consumers can use its app to pay for parking operated by Tacoma Platinum Parking Partners. PayByPhone said the service covers more than 100 parking spaces in the Washington city. Ripple Labs Inc. said it sold $163.3 million of its XRP cryptocurrency in the third quarter, more …

Online marketplace Shopify Inc. says it will add Venmo as a payment option, MarketWatch reported. PayPal Holdings Inc., Venmo’s parent, has been promoting a Pay With Venmo service to encourage more users of Venmo, known chiefly as a peer-to-peer payment app, to rely on the service for online purchases. The …

Processor Total System Services Inc. (TSYS) said its Merchant Solutions unit processed 1.53 billion point-of-sale transactions in the third quarter, a 22% increase from 1.26 billion a year earlier. Sales volume rose 30% to $40.9 billion. The Consumer Solutions segment, which includes the Netspend prepaid card operation, posted gross dollar …

Electronic Merchant Systems announced the acquisition of Total Touch POS, a POS system developer for the hospitality industry. Terms were not disclosed. Bank of America Merchant Services, along with First Data Corp., announced it integrated BlueSnap Inc.’s All-in-one Payment Platform into its system. BAMS is the first integration since First …

Visa Inc. is banking big on its Visa Token Service with the addition of 20 acquirer, gateway, and technology companies signing up to offer the network token. The card brand Wednesday announced the additions, called requestors because they request tokens for the credit and debit cards processed through their systems. …