Acquiring

Block Inc.’s Square point-of-sale payments unit will provide terminals, kiosks, and kitchen-display systems and process payments for Steak Escape, a 23-location fast-food chain.  Visa Inc. said it has worked with Pinwheel, a platform for in-app bill management, to launch its Enhanced Subscription Manager service, aimed at helping consumers track and manage recurring charges. …

Retail technology provider PAR Technologies Inc. has acquired the Bridg point-of-sale marketing platform from Cardlytics Inc. ParTech expects the move will enable its quick-service restaurants and other customers to activate offers targeted at previously anonymous shoppers and identify which marketing tactics drive consumer spending. New Hartford, N.Y.-based ParTech is paying …

Bluefin Payment System LLC, an Atlanta-based company specializing in payments security at the point of sale, late Wednesday launched BluePOS, payment software designed for point-of-sale devices from PAX Technology Inc. The new technology, which uses Bluefin’s PayConex gateway, signals a move by the company to develop new products completely in-house …

Visa Inc. announced its Enhanced Subscription Manager service, part of the network’s Digital Issuer Solutions unit. Developed in collaboration with Pinwheel, a provider of in-app bill-management technology, the service aims at helping consumers track and manage recurring payments. Visa also said it will serve as one of 40 super validators on the …

There’s a new top U.S. merchant acquirer. Global Payments Inc., with an estimated $2.8 trillion in 2025 U.S. processing volume, has moved into the top spot in the 2026 TSG  Directory of U.S. Merchant Acquirers, unseating JPMorgan Chase & Co., which had held the top rank since at least the …

With the increasing activity of AI agents in online commerce, payments-technology company Ixopay said it is working with digital-payments specialist Zip to develop a unified trust layer, or an open framework meant to address trust and risk in agentic commerce. Financial-services technology developer Q2 Holdings Inc. said it will work with Stablecore, a platform …

Payments processor Lightspeed Commerce Inc. announced a new AI-based tool aimed at helping merchants with inventory, product availability, and stock discrepancies.  Ticket Fairy, a digital platform that handles ticket sales and other functions for live events, announced its incorporation of AI in the launch of its new platform, Ticket Fairy 3.0. Founded …

It’s been 13 years since merchants were allowed to add surcharges to cover much of their credit card processing costs, yet confusion and complexity remain. Speakers at the Transact 2026 conference last week, sponsored by the Electronic Transactions Association, did their part to dispel much of this confusion. “Surcharging is a …

AI in retail applications is expected to generate $500 billion in incremental volume by 2030, according to the “2026 Global Unified Commerce Benchmark for Specialty Retail” report from Manhattan Associates. The report relies on research among more than 400 specialty retailers in global markets, including North America. Arguing that AI agents …

The cryptocurrency platform KuCoin introduced its Tomorrowland Limited Edition KuCard, a Visa card issued in partnership with the Tomorrowland music festival taking place March 21-28. Glia, an AI platform for banks, has integrated a loan-payment technology from MessagePay in an effort to integrate payments into digital interactions between community banks and their …