Digital Currency

Launched in 1989, Digicash introduced the first cryptocurrency. In the 1990s, it was considered leading-edge payments technology. But physical and digital currencies are payment networks. In payment systems, good technology is neither sufficient nor generally the biggest hurdle. No matter how good the technology, without critical mass they’re worth little.  …

Payments provider Priority Technology Holdings Inc. reported fourth-quarter revenue of $106.1 million, up 8.1% year-over-year. Excluding Priority’s RentPayment business, which the company sold in September, revenue grew 12.3% from $94.5 million.Payments provider Flywire Corp. launched Flywire eStore, a platform that supports e-commerce for Flywire clients and their customers. The move follows Flywire’s decision last …

All eight hotels in The Kessler Collection will accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies under an agreement with digital-currency processor BitPay Inc. Guests will receive an email, from which they may pay using their crypto wallet.Personas Social Inc. launched its Paysonas payment-processing platform, which supports online real-time debit and Bitcoin.Menufy, a provider of online-ordering …

Building on its strategy to support cryptocurrency, PayPal Holdings Inc. announced Monday that it has agreed to acquire Curv Inc., a provider of cloud-based infrastructure for digital-asset security, for an undisclosed sum. Once the acquisition is completed later this year, Tel Aviv, Israel-based Curv will become part of a PayPal …

Cryptocurrency can be a volatile store of value and continues to struggle as a medium of exchange, but merchants in some markets are slowly moving to accept it as a faster and cheaper payment method than cards in the face of complications brought on globally by the pandemic or by …

Payments provider The OLB Group Inc. said its SecurePay gateway can now support cryptocurrency transactions and settlement of funds for merchants, putting crypto on par with credit and debit payments.PayActiv Inc., a provider of earned-wage access technology, said Hancock Whitney is the first financial institution to offer the company’s service.In related news, …

Payments provider Clearent LLC and Transaction Services Group, a New Zealand-based software and integrated payments provider, will merge and form Xplor Technologies, TSG announced. Terms were not disclosed. Both companies are part of investor Advent International’s portfolio. The combined company will serve more than 82,000 businesses that processed more than $27 billion …

Square Inc. started out in 2009 as a slick new way for micro merchants and small sellers to get sophisticated point-of-sale gear along with payment processing. On Tuesday, the company showed it’s still getting more than half its gross profit from its merchant business, but its Cash App trade is …

The planned Inspiration4 project, the first space flight with an all-civilian crew, added its second crew member, Hayley Arceneaux, a physician assistant in Memphis. Crew commander is Shift4 Payments Inc. chief executive Jared Isaacman.Credit union service organization PSCU said spending made with debit cards increased 12.5% for the week ending Feb. 14 compared to …

Promise Network Inc., a startup specializing in government-related payments such as utilities, child support, and parking tickets, said it has raised more than $20 million in a Series A funding round led by Kapor Capital and XYZ Venture Capital.A survey by payroll platform Everee Inc. of 400 U.S. independent contractors found that …