That visual, machine-interface technology we all know from the grocery store is experiencing a renaissance. The first item to be marked with a Universal Product Code or barcode tracks back more than forty years. But now the technology is brand new again, expanded in form to the quick-response (QR) code …

Apple Inc. launched Tap to Pay on iPhone, a service that enables U.S. merchants to accept Apple Pay and other contactless payment services with an iPhone and an iOS app. Long speculated, especially since Apple’s 2020 acquisition of Mobeewave Inc., which developed the ability to accept payments via an NFC link, Tap to Pay …

Nayax Ltd., a payments processor for vending machines, announced it has launched an EMV-compliant platform allowing multiple choices with a single transaction authorization.Hospitality-technology provider Bite Ninja said it has acquired Zenu, a provider of ordering and payment technology for restaurants. Terms were not announced.BlueOne Card Inc. said it is launching its BlueOne Card, …

Governments are moving closer to issuing digital money. That could introduce some benefits—but also many risks and complications. Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are coming, slowly but inevitably. They can be retail (for use by consumers and businesses), wholesale (for use between financial institutions), or both. Evangelists enthuse they’ll improve …

The Federal Reserve Board released a paper Thursday afternoon on the question of a central bank digital currency for the United States, and even though the Fed would play a crucial role in any such venture, observers looking for hints on how the central bank is leaning on the issue …

Colony Bankcorp Inc. announced it has launched a merchant-acquiring division led by Steve Raines as director for merchant services. Raines most recently was director at Synovus Merchant Services.Laurentian Bank of Canada said it will work with the card-issuing platform Brim Financial to issue Visa products in 2022, with features including instant virtual …

New research from Fiserv Inc. found that 16% of U.S. consumers have used cryptocurrency at least once to pay for goods and services. The survey of 2,200 U.S. adults also revealed that 25% of crypto users cited lack of merchant acceptance as the primary limitation to increasing the use of crypto as …

Fuel retailer BP is installing automated checkout technology from Grabango in 10 convenience store locations, Grabango announced. Seven AMPM stations in California and three Amoco stores in Pennsylvania will have the technology operational by mid-2022. Consumers use a Grabango app to shop and pay without queuing for a checkout lane.Buy now, pay later provider Klarna …

Have you used Bitcoin or some other cryptocurrency lately? Or have you used one at all? If you did, was it worth the same at the time of the transaction as it was when you obtained it? Chances are, its value had fluctuated, maybe by a very wide margin. Bitcoin, …

Two trends have buoyed the payments business since the onset of the pandemic—online shopping and buy now, pay later capability—and on Wednesday Klarna AB launched a new app that exploits both trends by letting consumers use Klarna’s BNPL service regardless of whether the store is a Klarna merchant. The new …