Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals

With gas stations and convenience stores feeling the economic pinch from the slowdown in sales caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and uncertainty over the economy, Transaction Network Services Inc. announced a new pricing structure to help cut station owners’ telecom-network installation costs for EMV at the pump. Transaction Networks Services (TNS) …

Shopify Inc., an e-commerce payments and marketplace platform that accounts for more U.S. e-commerce sales than any other company besides Amazon.com Inc., is adding a gateway that will allow consumers to pay for products from Shopify online stores using a choice of digital or fiat currencies. The so-called hybrid service …

Online purchases using installment credit will total $680 billion globally in 2025, up 92% from $353 billion last year, projects Kaleido Intelligence.In related news, point-of-sale installment lender Laybuy launched a partner program to help smaller retailers offer the credit. More than 6,000 merchants offer Laybuy.MetaBank N.A., a unit of Meta Financial Group Inc., …

In the nearly four months since it underwent a major downgrade in the incentive it offers miners, Bitcoin has seen its price rise nicely, but holders of the digital currency have not yet, at least, witnessed the wild upswing that followed the last such adjustment. Bitcoin was trading at $10,483 …

Key payment trends now being driven by the Covid-19 pandemic were already gaining a full head of steam much earlier, according to debit card transaction data released early Monday by the Houston-based Pulse electronic funds transfer network. Stay-at-home policies and business closings starting in March drove consumers to spend online and …

While the Covid-19 pandemic has raised the issue of speeding stimulus payments and other relief to consumers and businesses, The Federal Reserve system is staying with its planned 2023 or 2024 launch date for its FedNow real-time payment service, officials said Thursday in an update that comes almost exactly one …

PayPal Holdings Inc. has made big plays for the physical point of sale before, but on Wednesday the San Jose, Calif.-based company unveiled what could be its biggest strategy yet to capture transactions at the cash register. Top executives said an arrangement under way with CVS Pharmacy to run PayPal …

Payment processor Paysafe said it has a deal to acquire the gateway Openbucks for an undisclosed price.The Missouri Department of Social Services said it now allows child-support payments via Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayPal.Mogo Inc., a Canadian fintech, made publicly available MogoSpend, a so-called spending account that comes with a cobranded Visa Platinum prepaid …

The big card networks have been introducing a one-click e-commerce checkout and plan to take it overseas by next year, but now a Ripple Labs Inc. executive may beat them to the punch with a single-click capability for Ripple’s XRP cryptocurrency. In what he characterizes as a “personal project,” Ripple director …

Expanding on an initiative it began April that offered free listings for some merchants, search-engine leader Google on Thursday announced a test that charges zero-percent commissions to online sellers when they sell a product through its Shopping Actions service. In addition, sellers can use Shopify Inc.’s payment service as well …

Coffee king Starbucks Corp. announced new options beginning this fall for earning loyalty points, or stars, in the Starbucks Rewards program without paying with a registered Starbucks physical card or card loaded into the Starbucks mobile app. The options to be available at company-owned stores in the United States and Canada will …

Free of the restraints of a legal agreement with PayPal Holdings Inc., eBay Inc. said early Monday it will now start on a global expansion of its 2-year-old managed-payments program. The program has already delivered $4.7 billion in total payment volume in the United States and Germany, the company said, …

A new European Commission report shows how interchange regulation has lowered merchants’ payment card acceptance costs and taken more than $3 billion a year from card issuers’ top lines. The EC, the executive arm of the Brussels-based European Union, implemented its so-called Interchange Fee Regulation in 2015 and 2016. The …

7-Eleven Inc. is testing a fuel loyalty program that also provides a contactless payment option with Siri functionality for iPhone users. The convenience-store chain also is expanding its mobile checkout capability through its app to Utah locations. Irving, Texas-based 7-Eleven is testing the fuel loyalty service in Orlando, Fla., northern …

Merchants in the United Kingdom won an important battle against interchange fees on Wednesday but it remains uncertain just how much that will mean to them in terms of remuneration from Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. The case also could have ramifications for similar action in the U.S. market, some …

Independent sales organization VizyPay LLC launched a cash-discount app for Fiserv Inc.’s Clover point-of-sale systems; the app, an extension of VizyPay’s cash-discount program, is available in the Clover App Market.MoneyGram International Inc. reported a doubling of its digital-transaction volume in May from May a year ago. Growth in this category in the first …

Investors appear eager to buy stocks of payment-processing companies as evidenced Thursday by Shift4 Payments Inc. pricing its initial public offering at $23 per share, nearly 10% above the high end of the $19 to $21 range it had expected just days earlier. Shift4’s shares opened late Friday morning on …

Three weeks after an automated slashing of the reward cryptocurrency miners collect to process Bitcoin transactions, average prices are up while transaction fees have slipped. With respect to the price of Bitcoin, at least, this result follows an historical pattern. On May 10, the Bitcoin miner’s reward was cut in …

Citing the business disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, Visa Inc. announced late Tuesday that it will delay until next April most of the interchange rate changes it had planned for July. The network also publicly confirmed the six-month postponement of its EMV liability shift for fuel pumps, and further …

Payroc LLC said it acquired Gateway Payments LLC, an independent sales organization with merchants primarily along the Gulf of Mexico coast. Terms were not disclosed.Weave Communications Inc., a provider of payments and other services for small businesses, said its Weave Lite tool set will be offered free for 90 days. Weave …