The business of getting merchants to accept cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin has started to attract independent sales organizations and payments-tech firms alike, and now Square Inc. has jumped in with a proposed service that some experts say could help the payments-technology powerhouse grab a share of online volume. The U.S. Patent …

The Western Union Co., which has been expanding its digital footprint for several years, announced a major move on Wednesday into Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Online and mobile money transfers will start over the next few weeks in Malaysia and Singapore, the company said, with service already …

Merchant processor Payment Data Systems Inc. said its FiCentive prepaid card subsidiary will provide program management and processing and develop Web and mobile applications for University Fancards, which offers university-branded gift and reloadable prepaid cards. Speedpay Inc., Western Union’s bill-payment unit, has adopted a customer-guidance tool based on artificial intelligence …

Distributed-ledger payments provider Ripple Labs on Thursday announced three cryptocurrency exchanges that will work with its xRapid cross-border payments product. XRapid uses Ripple’s XRP digital currency and depends on exchanges to translate transactions into local fiat currencies. San Francisco-based Ripple said it is partnering with Bittrex for exchanges to U.S. …

Financial institutions have been battling fast-growing fintechs and other nonbanks for payments share and revenue for years, but now new research indicates banks, which have historically controlled this crucial business, are on the cusp of slipping from that dominant perch. In 2017, U.S. banks’ total payments revenue netted out to …

Paysafe Group said it is rebranding merchant acquirer iPayment Holdings Inc. as Paysafe “with immediate effect.” Paysafe acquired iPayment this spring for undisclosed terms. Rewards platform provider Cardlytics Inc. said revenue from Cardlytics Direct, the company’s primary product, hit $35.1 million in the second quarter, up 21% from a year …

Don’t look for many optimists in the payments industry when it comes to a future with less fraud. Fully 84% of those surveyed by TD Bank say payments fraud will become a bigger threat over the next one to two years. Released Tuesday, the survey, conducted this spring at the …

Users of Square Inc.’s Cash App can now buy and sell Bitcoin in all states, according to a tweet the company sent at mid-day Monday. The Bitcoin capability, which Square introduced in November as a pilot, is hardly a major business for the San Francisco-based payments company, but it is starting …

Bitcoin’s volatility may have dampened the payments industry’s enthusiasm for the cryptocurrency, but payments players are now reaping patent awards for Bitcoin-related inventions they filed years ago. The latest example is Intuit Inc., the Mountain View, Calif.-based company behind the popular Quicken and QuickBooks accounting programs for consumers and small …

One year after the hard fork that created it, Bitcoin Cash is in some ways mimicking the digital currency it was spawned from. Bitcoin Cash’s price at $693 Monday morning has slid by about $1,000 in the past three months, according to CoinMarketCap.com. And it’s well under the $4,091 peak …