Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals

Coinbase Commerce said it will no longer support so-called native payments made with Bitcoin on its merchant platform but will support transactions in which the user has a Coinbase account. The move was made to avoid “challenging” processing issues Coinbase had encountered in handling Bitcoin transactions made by users without Coinbase …

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s most recent analysis of card issuing practices found that in the first half of 2023 small banks and credit unions tended to offer lower interest rates than the top 25 issuers. For consumers with scores between 620 and 719, the median annual percentage rate for a large …

FIS Inc. said it is working with Banked, an open-banking provider, to develop new pay by bank services for businesses and consumers. Gateway provider Trice Technologies Inc. said it is a technology provider and real-time payments gateway for the RTP network from The Clearing House Payments Co. LLC. Web services and payments provider GoDaddy …

Bank of America reported an all-time high 21.5 million customers now use the peer-to-peer payments network Zelle. BofA customers last year sent and received 1.24 billion Zelle payments totaling $373 billion, both also record highs. In the fourth quarter, Zelle send transactions were double the number of checks written, the bank …

Decentralized finance (DeFi) is revolutionizing the way consumers and businesses handle their financial affairs, offering an innovative alternative to traditional, centralized financial systems. This transformation is creating a dynamic financial landscape where both traditional finance methods and DeFi coexist, encouraging real-time, transparent, and secure digital payment solutions. This evolution presents …

Minneapolis-based Entrust, a provider of identity technology and data security for payments, said it has entered into exclusive talks to acquire London-based Onfido, a platform for identity-verification based on artificial intelligence technology. Pay-at-table technology specialist Toast Inc. said Choice Hotels International has selected its Toast for Hotel Restaurants portfolio for two Choice chains, Cambria …

AffiniPay, a specialist in payments for professional offices, launched a refreshed version of its In-Person-Payments service featuring new payments devices that include tap-to-pay functionality. Fiserv Inc.’s Small Business Index for January remained unchanged from December at 138. Year-over-year sales grew 1.7%, down from December’s 2.6% rate. The Index, introduced in January, measures …

Sports-betting enthusiasts rank rapid payouts and payment choice most highly when choosing a sportsbook, according to a report from Paysafe Ltd., a payments processor for which gaming is a major market. The research canvassed 3,000 bettors in six states, Canada, and the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy in December. Airwallex, …

The Huntington National Bank launched a secured credit card offering 1% cashback rewards and no annual fee. Secured cards require cardholders to make a one-time, refundable deposit to back activity on the card. Mastercard Inc. and BOK Financial Corp. expanded their agreement making Mastercard the exclusive payments network in BOK’s debit and …

PayPal Holdings Inc. has put its new stablecoin to work as an investment tool with a PayPal USD investment in Mesh Connect Inc., an embedded-finance platform. Announced Monday, the stake from PayPal Ventures, the digital wallet’s investment arm, was made almost entirely in PayPal USD, a stablecoin PayPal introduced in …

Affinipay, an e-commerce payments provider specializing in professional markets, launched a generative AI capability in its platform for law offices, including its LawPay service. Generative AI refers to predictive technology based on artificial intelligence. The cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin announced users of its KuCard debit card can spend their digital currency from their …

Subscription management specialist Recurly Inc. released its 2024 State of Subscriptions report that found 45.5% of consumers chose debit as the subscription payment method, followed by credit cards, 33%, PayPal, 19.3%, and other alternative payment methods, 2.2%. Wise, a platform for international money transfers, said junk fees associated with credit cards and …

Digital-currency platform Bit.Store launched its Visa Virtual Crypto Card, a prepaid card that can store Bitcoin and offers cashback rewards on transactions. The social-media platform X has reportedly established a “dedicated account” that could transact in cryptocurrency for the platform’s expected peer-to-peer payments service. There has been no official word so far from X, formerly …

Synchrony Financial said it will acquire the point-of-sale financing business of Ally Financial Inc. The portfolio includes $2.2 billion in loan receivables and includes relationships with nearly 2,500 merchant locations and more than 450,000 active borrowers in home improvement services and health care. Terms were not disclosed. Alchemy Pay, whose gateway …

UnionPay, an international payment card network based in China, said it is now accepted in 183 countries and regions, with issuance outside the Chinese mainland exceeding 230 million cards in 81 countries. Issuance outside Mainland China commenced in January 2004. Consumer-finance and card issuer Synchrony said it is testing a browser extension …

On Nov. 20, 2023, Mastercard Inc. announced that its Chinese joint venture with Netsunion to process domestic payments had been approved by the People’s Bank of China and the National Administration of Financial Regulation. Was it a victory for, or a mockery of, free trade? If this landmark approval were …

Sift, a provider of technology to prevent online fraud, said it has been engaged by Underdog, an online sports-fantasy platform, to prevent the use of stolen payment credentials. Darwinium, a fraud-prevention provider, said it will work with email-address technology from AtData to enable clients to identify fraudulent emails. Digital authentication …

BitPay Inc. said Tuesday it will start adding dozens of cryptocurrencies to its platform this week in a move that includes a revamp of the company’s payments service. The Atlanta-based company, which has been processing crypto-based payments for more than 10 years, said it will start supporting more than 100 …

GoCardless said it will process open-banking payments made on JustGiving, an online donation platform, replacing American Express Co. FirstOntario Credit Union said it is preparing to launch open banking through connections to Everlink Payment Services Inc. and open-banking technology platform Flinks. The federal government in Canada said in November it planned to …

Bitcoin has struggled for years to win breakthrough adoption among sellers large and small, even though some major, e-commerce companies like Overstock-com, Newegg.com, and Microsoft Inc. have accepted the digital currency for at least a decade. But Bitcoin’ spotty acceptance may be masking some important advances among smaller and lesser-known …