Thursday , January 15, 2026

Competitive Strategies

Bitcoin’s Runup Runs on As the Digital Currency Crashes Through the $7,000 Level

The U.S. payments community woke up Thursday morning to find Bitcoin setting yet another record, this time breaching the $7,000 level less than two weeks after soaring past $6,000. By mid-morning Central Time, the price stood at $7,132, according to Coindesk. The cryptocurrency is testing new highs in the wake …

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Bluefin Notes Processor Deal and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 11/2/17

Encryption specialist Bluefin Payment Systems said it will provide encryption services to clients of payments provider Accepta LLC. A report from processor Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS) found 25 real-time payments systems in operation globally, up from 19 last year and more than twice the number in 2013. Another …

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A Contactless and QR Code Ticketing Future Awaits, Says Report

Consumers’ fondness for using their mobile devices is going to affect mobile ticketing in a big way by 2020, says Juniper Research in its “Mobile & Online Ticketing: Transport, Events & NFC 2017-2020” report released this week. In it, United Kingdom-based Juniper forecasts that by 2020 the number of digital …

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Bitcoin Futures Market Planned and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 11/1/17

Mobile point-of-sale provider CardFlight said payment processor Beyond will offer CardFlight’s SwipeSimple device to merchants. The technology enables EMV chip card transactions from a mobile device. CME Group, a major derivatives marketplace, announced plans to launch a futures market for Bitcoin before the end of the year, pending regulatory review. On …

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With Payments Getting Faster, Banks Look to Consistent, But Flexible, Identification Routines

Financial institutions are realizing that a smooth experience is as important to consumers when identifying themselves as the authentication strategy itself, regardless of the channel consumers use to access their accounts. This finding is part of a new study from NICE Actimize, a Hoboken, N.J.-based provider of risk-management and compliance …

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VocaLink, PayPal, And P2P Will Help Propel Mastercard, the Network’s Boss Says

Mastercard Inc. enjoyed a strong third quarter, and Tuesday morning its top executive was not shy about celebrating some of the trends that he expects will further lift results for the world’s second-largest payment card network. These include recent acquisitions, a global partnership with PayPal Holdings Inc., and budding developments …

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Pineapple Payments Buys Payline Data and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 10/31/17

American Express Co. released SafeKey 2.0, an online authentication tool that uses the EMVCo 3-D Secure 2.0 standard. The service will be available in spring 2018. Payline Data Services LLC announced that payment-processing technology company Pineapple Payments purchased Payline Data for an undisclosed amount. Payline Data has almost 10,000 merchants processing …

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Aiming at Larger Merchants, Square Launches a $999 Point-of-Sale System

Square Inc., which debuted more than seven years ago pursuing micromerchants with a free card reader, launched Square Register, a $999 point-of-sale system designed for larger merchants, it announced Monday. Square Register is a full-sized POS device that has merchant-facing and consumer-facing screens. Also available at $49 a month for …

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Bank Joint Ventures Still Crimping First Data’s Merchant Unit

Most components of First Data Corp.’s massive merchant-acquiring machine performed well in the third quarter, and the company renewed its acquiring contract with Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer. But new merchant referrals from First Data’s joint ventures with three big U.S. banks remain problematic. “These businesses have remained …

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WaveCrests Adds Chips to its Prepaid Cards and other Digital Transactions News from 10/30/17

Payments company PayTrace Inc. launched a browser-based EMV-acceptance service that uses an Ingenico Group EMV card reader and processing from Total System Services Inc. (TSYS). WaveCrest, an issuer of prepaid cards used to pay fleet drivers and reimburse workers, said it has introduced EMV chips on its cards issued in …

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Digital Transactions