Digital Currency

In partnership with Xsolla, a provider of videogame-commerce platforms, Affirm Inc. has agreed to offer its payments options through online-game developers. Square, a unit of Block Inc. released its Square Handheld device in the United Kingdom. Square launched the device in May in the United States. Stablecoin-card issuer Rain said it will work with Toku, a …

Stablecoins are the talk of the payments town, and some observers are questioning whether these new digital alternatives could undercut the core network businesses of Mastercard and Visa. Now, Mastercard Inc. has announced several initiatives it says will keep it in the thick of the growing stablecoin market. In a …

The commerce platform NuOrder by Lightspeed said it will work with Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman as part of an expanded agreement with Saks Global. In related news, Lightspeed Commerce Inc. said it will integrate reservations software from Whoosh for golf and club clients using Lightspeed’s payments platform. Shift4 Payments Inc. said it has yet …

Fiserv Inc. and Circle Internet Group Inc. early Monday announced they will collaborate to build products based on stablecoins for banks and merchants in Fiserv’s client base. The announcement came at the same time Fiserv said it plans to launch its own stablecoin, FIUSD, by year’s end. Simultaneously, Fiserv said …

With rules governing stablecoins under development in the U.S. Congress, there are now at least 14 countries and regions worldwide that have established or are considering regulations for the digital currency. The need for regulations in jurisdictions around the globe comes as stablecoins grow in awareness and usage and pose …

The ride-share platform Uber said it has expanded its AI Solutions business to support its gig-work model in 30 countries, with capabilities for payments and identity verification. Cryptocurrency wallet Coinbase launched Coinbase Payments for e-commerce that enables payment service providers, marketplaces and commerce infrastructure providers to offer stablecoin payment acceptance. The first user is …

With action Tuesday by the U.S. Senate to pass the GENIUS Act, the move to establish rules that would govern the burgeoning stablecoin industry now transits to the U.S. House of Representatives, where lawmakers have developed their own set of rules, the STABLE Act. Meanwhile, stablecoin-market participants are looking to the …

LendingClub Corp. said its LendingClub Bank unit introduced LevelUp Checking, which includes a debit card. LendingClub specializes in personal loans. LevelUp Checking users with one of these personal loans could receive up to 2% of their monthly payment in cash back when making on-time payments from the checking account. HungerRush, a …

The NFC Forum, a global standards body for near-field communication technology, issued Release 15, which extends the range of certified compliant NFC contactless connections up to 2 centimeters, four times greater than the current standard 0.5 centimeters. Some 97% of decision-makers in the hospitality industry said they are confident about …

Comerica Bank said it will be an early adopter of On-Behalf-Of-Payments (OBO) on The Clearing House Payments Co.’s RTP network, a real-time payments platform. OBO payments are originated by a sender acting on behalf of another person. SpotOn, a processor specializing in point-of-sale payments for restaurants, announced GoTo Place, a mobile-first …