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 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s recent data requests show how regulators are teaming up and provide clues about the near future. In October 2020, the Bureau announced that it requested data from Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, PayPal, and Square (now Block) about their payments operations, and that it would compare …

The turbulent story of the Diem digital currency recorded yet another twist with reports on Tuesday that the two-and-a-half-year-old project is seeking to dispose of its assets. The latest news, first reported by Bloomberg, comes less than a year after the Diem Association moved its headquarters from Switzerland to the …

Payments provider Lightspeed Commerce Inc. announced new features for its Lightspeed Restaurant point-of-sale technology, including order throttling, a feature that helps manage spikes in demand.Software firm Launch Cart said it will introduce on Feb. 2 its On-Demand eCommerce SaaS platform, intended to ease entry into e-commerce for small business owners and entrepreneurs.Payments provider Paysafe Ltd. said …

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 …

Taptap Send, a startup providing instant-payment capability for cross-border transfers, announced a $65-million Series B funding round led by Spark Capital. Its total financing now tops $80 million.Humboldt State University will adopt the Passport Parking app for on-campus parking beginning Jan. 18, announced Passport Parking.The Center for Advanced Facial Plastic Surgery said …

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 …

Buy now, pay later spending in the United States through provider Afterpay Ltd. has risen 230% in the past 12 months, with a 34% increase year-over-year during the Black Friday through Cyber Monday period, the company said. Square Inc.’s acquisition of Afterpay, announced in August, is expected to close in the first quarter next …

And you thought stablecoins were all about ‘set it and forget it.’ Some—including the government—think otherwise. It is one of the ironies of the payments business these days that there seems to be little that’s stable about the news surrounding stablecoins. For a concept that came on the scene a …

Another sort of unicorn. Here’s why it’s more accurate to speak of super-power apps. Mobile payments in the United States remain a minority, accounting for just under 4% of all payments made in-person. Even worse, 25% of U.S. consumers are still using paper forms of payment, including checks. Fintech-supplied bank accounts …