Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Gideon Samid • Gideon@BitMint.com How would you counsel a society that uses manual typewriters? Would you explain the clear advantages of an electric typewriter, or would you point them to computer technology? Similarly, for the huge national effort called EMV (Europay-MasterCard-Visa) migration. Consider EMV in light of “pay-phone” technology. Just …
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Cover Story: Annual Guide to Alternative Payments
Mobile dominates this year’s Guide, as you’d expect, but so does the urge toward faster payments. Neither trend is going away any time soon. The obvious theme running through alternative payments nowadays is the predominance of mobile. Processors, solutions vendors, and startups alike are scrambling to make it possible to …
Read More »Security Notes: Loyalty vs. National Currencies: The Boundaries Blur
Gideon Samid • Gideon@BitMint.com Baltimore Green Currency, unlike Bitcoin, is not a challenging currency. It is not competing with the U.S. dollar, but it is rather a dollar tethered to certain restrictions and terms of use. A regular gift card is the same: denominated in U.S. dollars, but effective only …
Read More »Blackhawk Network Gives a Sneak Peak Into Its Inner Workings Ahead of Its IPO
International expansion and broader distribution in the United States are among the major initiatives on tap for gift card and prepaid card seller and program manager Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc. to grow its business, according a filing Blackhawk made this week in preparation for its planned initial public offering. Some …
Read More »Trends & Tactics: Fraudsters’ New Targets
E-commerce, better malware, and mobile devices are on the minds of fraudsters, according to Trustwave Holdings Inc.’s latest annual data-breach study. Chicago-based Trustwave, a leading data-forensics investigator and security vendor, based its report on 450 data breaches it investigated last year around the world. Hackers targeted payment card data in …
Read More »FIS Enters Real-Time Person-to-Person Payments Arena with People Pay Service
Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS) on Monday rolled out its entry in the person-to-person payments sweepstakes and, as with other providers in recent months, its service offers real-time settlement. Indeed, People Pay—the name FIS has given its new P2P service—is built on the PayNet network the company introduced …
Read More »Eye on M-Commerce: Amazon Coins a Digital Currency; Google Cites New ‘Forms of Payment’
Amazon.com Inc. on Tuesday said it will jump into the digital-currency market with Amazon Coins, a payment product it will roll out in May on for its popular tablet, the Kindle Fire. Users of the device will be able to redeem the new currency on the Amazon Appstore, which …
Read More »Will Apple Press Forward Or Take a Pass on Passbook Payments?
n Passbook? The topic of Apple Inc.’s loyalty application didn’t come up Wednesday afternoon when the leading Silicon Valley tech company’s top brass discussed their latest quarterly results, which stock analysts found disappointing. But some smart-phone industry observers see evidence that Apple is laying the groundwork for a full-fledged mobile-payments …
Read More »Trends & Tactics
Spot Credit And Mobile Fuel Online Sales There’s been an awful lot of buzz about mobile payments the past few years, and now the payment method is starting to register. Indeed, 2012 marked the first time mobile-originated transactions accounted for a meaningful share of online purchase volume, says Beth Robertson, …
Read More »Cover Story: Private Equity’s Prize Wheel
Loyalty systems, rapidly adaptable mobile and e-commerce technology, and data-security applications are attracting lots of venture capital. Here’s a look into the minds of investors. Hint: They’re not too keen on NFC. Peter Lucas If you want to know what the next hot new company in the payments industry will …
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