Digital Currency

U.S. investment managers have grown bullish about Bitcoin’s prospects despite recent events that have roiled digital-currency markets, research released Wednesday indicates. Feeding the renewed optimism are prospects for “improved regulation” and expectations of a “recovery in valuations” for Bitcoin, according to the research, in which 30 major investment managers were …

Blockchain company Ripple unveiled its Ripple CBDC Platform, technology supporting central banks, governments, and financial institutions in issuing central bank digital currencies. More than 90% of the world’s countries are at some stage of development toward a CBDC, according to the Atlantic Council. Matera, a U.S.-based instant payment and QR code technology …

It’s a laurel, of sorts, that financial firms would like to rebuff. They sustained the largest share of phishing attacks in the fourth quarter, accounting for 27.7% of all attacks, followed by the broad “other” category at 18.2%, and webmail, software-as-a-service at 17.7%. That’s according to the Phishing Activity Trends …

Payrange Inc., a payments provider for the vending and unattended-retail market, announced it has acquired Vagabond, a cloud-based provider of business intelligence for the convenience-retail industry. Terms were not announced. Sales of contactless cards helped payment card manufacturer CPI Card Group Inc. increase overall first-quarter sales 8% year-over-year to $120.9 million, with sales …

Payments processor Virsympay, which serves small and medium-size businesses, launched a gateway that supports Google Pay and Apple Pay transactions along with conventional card and automated clearing house payments. Money transfer provider Paysend said Spanish-language content and media company TelevisaUnivision has become a shareholder in the company as part of a multiyear deal …

Amazon.com Inc. reported first-quarter revenue from “other sources” of $1.03 billion, up 55% year-over-year. The “other” category includes revenue from the massive online retailer’s cobranded credit cards. Total revenue from products and services for the quarter was $127.4 billion, up 9.5% year-over-year. Law firm BakerHostetler released its 2023 Data Security Incident Response …

Payment processor and core banking provider FIS Inc. posted first quarter revenue of $3.51 billion, a 0.6% increase from $3.49 billion in the same quarter in 2022. Its net income of $141 million was 17.5% greater than the $120 million profit a year ago. FIS’s merchant solutions segment had revenue of $1.1 …

Visa Inc.’s U.S. debit card payments volume of $767 billion in its fiscal second quarter increased 9.6% from $699 billion in the quarter ending March 31 a year ago. Its U.S. credit card payments volume of $704 billion was a 10.5% increase from $638 billion a year ago. For all regions, Visa’s …

RevSpring Inc. said it is the payment partner to the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Co., a new program for U.S. pharmacies. Cheq Inc., a mobile-payments provider serving the hospitality industry, said its technology will fulfill food orders at The Bite of Seattle, a festival set for July 21-23 and expected …

Discover Network reported $54.1 billion in Discover Card volume for the first quarter, up 9.5% over the same period last year. Discover’s Pulse debit network processed $65.3 billion in volume, a 9% increase year-over-year. Revenue net of interest expense rose 29% to $3.75 billion, but net income dropped 21% year-over-year owing …