Digital Currency

Neobank First Boulevard will test a suite of crypto application programming interface tools as part of Visa Inc.’s digital-currency strategy, Visa announced Wednesday. And Uphold Inc., a platform for digital wallets and cryptocurrency trading, has acquired Optimus Cards UK Ltd. and intends to issue crypto-enabled debit cards in Europe on …

American Express Co. said it is working with its reservation-technology company Resy to encourage cardholders to order out from restaurants. The program includes new dining offers on many AmEx cards.Exactuals LLC, whose PaymentHub platform processes residuals, royalties, and other payments for the entertainment industry, said dollar volume on the platform grew …

Javier Perez, formerly president of Mastercard Europe, has launched Global PayTech Ventures, said to be the first venture-capital firm concentrating exclusively on payment technology.Springbrook Software, developer of systems supporting payments for local governments, released its Municipal Payments Collection portal, which supports payments for miscellaneous town fees. The portal is available via …

Visa Inc. along with many other payments companies was thrown for a loop by the coronavirus pandemic, but now it’s clawing it’s way back on the strength of debit cards, e-commerce, and a real-time payments service called Visa Direct. “In the United States, we are actually back to our prepandemic …

Mastercard Inc. saw overall payment volumes inch up in the final quarter of 2020, buoyed by rising debit card volumes and such factors as federal stimulus payments in the U.S. market, the card network’s top executives reported Thursday. Looking ahead, the arrival of vaccines to combat the coronavirus pandemic will …

One week into the new year, Bitcoin’s dizzying rise is prompting questions about what’s fueling it and how long it can go on before yet another crash. One factor, as it turns out, could be greater clarity concerning Bitcoin’s potential to enter the mainstream of retail payments after a dozen …

Social Finance Inc. said it will use the special purpose acquisition tool to become a publicly traded company. Known as SoFi, the company will merge with Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp. V, a SPAC, to enter the public market. SoFi’s equity value is pegged at $8.65 billion in the deal. SoFi, which …

Amara’s Law, coined by Stanford computer scientist Roy Amara, says we tend to overestimate the impact of a new technology in the short run, but underestimate it in the long run. So it was with the Internet and mobile phones. So it’s likely to be with digital fiat currencies.  Since …

Buy now, pay later provider Afterpay Ltd. said users’ average ticket increased 30% in the fourth quarter compared to the same period in 2019.Affirm Inc. completed its acquisition of PayBright, a buy now, pay later provider in Canada.PayPal Holdings Inc. announced a check cashing feature for select Venmo app users. This enables them to have funds …

Bitcoin, the world’s largest and most well-known digital currency, is ending the year above $28,000, a quadrupling of its value since the start of 2020. Its market capitalization as of Dec. 30 is $536 billion, up from $133 billion at Jan. 2.RevoluGroup Canada Inc. has launched the RevoluEX Cryptocurrency Exchange that …