You may or may not buy into Bitcoin, but you’re going to love the blockchain. Or so say those who are adopting Bitcoin’s ledger technology for everything from stock exchanges to ticket sales. When the speculative bubble that had driven the price of a single Bitcoin to four-figure heights burst …

Trading stocks based on blockchain technology may seem like a radical idea, but not to Overstock.com chief executive Patrick Byrne. Byrne, who is an unabashed fan of the cryptocurrency and the algorithms behind it, has proposed an idea for a stock exchange where trades are made and settled using blockchain …

To hear Charles Allen, chief executive and founder of BTCS, a Bitcoin mining company, tell it, when the day comes that Bitcoin miners have to start charging transaction fees for keeping the blockchain because they can no longer be compensated with newly mined Bitcoins for their work, the survivors will …

The broader business of point-of-sale technology has many concerns that include payments but aren’t limited to that function. These days, though, it may seem that payments—and especially EMV—is all this business talks about. This was certainly the case this week at RetailNOW, a four-day conference in Orlando, Fla., produced by …

As states and national governments consider regulations for virtual currencies, a new report from a Canadian Senate committee recommends a “light touch” lest regulation stifle a promising young industry. In considering any legislation, regulations or policies, the Canadian federal government should “create an environment that fosters innovation for digital currencies …

Payments 3.0 A good working definition of short-circuiting something is “to force the termination of a process before its conclusion by bypassing one or more steps.” Short-circuiting also usually blows up the bypassed mechanism. Established industries operate on mutually agreed-upon principles and rules. But when the rules become over-protective of …

These days, the payments business is all about mobile innovation. But, as ever, it’s also about adoption. How many of these players will crack that nut? If anything rules in the payments business, it’s adoption—the ability of a new payment service to win usage by consumers and uptake by merchants. …

Funding is pouring into payments technology at a furious rate. Now startups and established firms alike are wondering: How long can it last, and what’s the long-term impact? If one thing is certain about the six years or so that have passed since the financial crisis, it’s that nobody can …

Payments 3.0 This issue inaugurates the Payments 3.0 Fearless Forecast. The expectations discussed here represent a distillation of insights gathered from banks, merchants, card schemes, startups, regulators, and consumers, distilled by 30 years of seeing new payments systems come and go. Apple Pay: 2015 will be the year for Apple …

Cover Story By John Stewart Putting the Silk Road and Mt. Gox disasters behind it, the Bitcoin train is picking up speed. But what’s the real destination? If you want to get an idea of how far Bitcoin has come, take a look at what people are buying with it. At …