Since 2012, investors have poured $407 million into Bitcoin startups, with three-quarters of that sum flowing into the cryptocurrency just this year, according to figures compiled by CoinDesk, a Bitcoin newsletter. But now at least one expert is expressing doubts that these investors will see much of a return—if any—on …

  Small banks spent $90 million to reissue 7.5 million credit and debit cards in the wake of a payment-card data breach at The Home Depot Inc., says the Independent Community Bankers of America association, which has more than 6,500 member banks. First publicly known in September the Home Depot …

The earliest known example of a closed-loop gift card was offered during the Christmas holiday season in 1916 by Hampton’s Quality Store in Eugene, Ore. The store advertised a “Christmas Glove Gift Card” that could be given to a lady, allowing her to redeem it for the gloves she wanted. …

NCR Corp. has added mobile payment and marketing provider LevelUp as an option for merchants using NCR Silver, NCR’s tablet-based point-of-sale system, NCR announced this week. Duluth, Ga.-based NCR says consumers can pay with LevelUp once merchants activate it as a payment option in NCR Silver. NCR Silver is a …

  Merchants using integrated point-of-sale systems and that process payments with First Data Corp. have a new data-security option if they use POS terminals made by VeriFone Systems Inc., which goes by Verifone. Atlanta-based First Data is now selling Verifone’s Secure Commerce Architecture service, which eliminates the flow of consumer payment …

Point-of-sale terminal maker VeriFone Systems Inc. saw a nearly 20% increase in its fourth-quarter North American revenues as U.S. merchants continued to prepare for Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV) chip card acceptance. Looking forward, the company is getting ready to introduce major new products in fiscal 2015, a year chief executive Paul Galant …

When it comes to Bitcoin, no major merchant has more experience with the digital currency than e-commerce giant Overstock.com, which has been accepting it since Jan. 9. Now, with nearly a year of experience under its belt, the retailer will close out 2014 with about $3 million in Bitcoin sales, …

Dwolla Inc. has entered the race to simplify—and ultimately speed up—payments between individuals and between organizations and individuals. Starting Thursday, the 6-year-old Des Moines, Iowa-based payments provider is allowing people who don’t have Dwolla accounts to receive payments from Dwolla users and flow them directly into their bank account. The …

  Chalk another payment-card data breach up for the bad guys. Payment gateway Charge Anywhere LLC announced Tuesday it discovered a breach of its payments network. It says it has shut down the malware that caused it. South Plainfield, N.J.-based Charge Anywhere said the malicious software, which was discovered Sept. …

  Fast-food restaurant chain Chick-fil-A Inc. has jumped into the mobile-payments frying pan with the debut Monday of a mobile payment and ordering app. Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A says the app, available for iOS and Android smart phones, can be used for mobile ordering at 130 Chick-fil-A restaurants in Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, …