Digital Currency

Digital-currency payments specialist Circle Internet Financial LLC announced it has agreed to new terms with Concord Acquisition Corp., terminating an agreement it had reached with that company in July. The new agreement values Circle at $9 billion, twice the valuation set by the original SPAC combination. The holding company established by the original agreement …

Payments-technology firm Buy It Mobility launched BuyPass, a platform aimed at allowing merchants to more quickly launch automated clearing house and merchant-branded payments programs. BIM is working with network capabilities and virtual card technology from Discover Network to reduce the time and cost for merchant integration.Transaction-security firm Forter launched Smart Payments, a technology that uses the …

U.S. retail sales in January, excluding automobile-related spending, grew 7.2% year-over-year, with online sales increasing 10.4%, according to the Mastercard SpendingPulse report. Sales were propelled by such factors as accumulated savings and wage growth, the report says.Payments-processing giant Global Payments Inc. reported revenue of $2.19 billion on a GAAP basis for the fourth quarter, …

Apple Inc. launched Tap to Pay on iPhone, a service that enables U.S. merchants to accept Apple Pay and other contactless payment services with an iPhone and an iOS app. Long speculated, especially since Apple’s 2020 acquisition of Mobeewave Inc., which developed the ability to accept payments via an NFC link, Tap to Pay …

Processor Fiserv Inc. said it has agreed to acquire digital-banking developer Finxact Inc. Fiserv, an early investor in Finxact, will acquire total ownership interest for $650 million.Israel-based payments provider Nayax Ltd. said it has submitted a draft registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a potential U.S. initial public offering of …

Nayax Ltd., a payments processor for vending machines, announced it has launched an EMV-compliant platform allowing multiple choices with a single transaction authorization.Hospitality-technology provider Bite Ninja said it has acquired Zenu, a provider of ordering and payment technology for restaurants. Terms were not announced.BlueOne Card Inc. said it is launching its BlueOne Card, …

Silvergate Capital Corp. late Monday confirmed widespread reports that it has acquired assets from the stablecoin venture Diem Group. The deal, valued at $182 million in cash and stock, includes Diem’s intellectual property and “other technology assets related to running a blockchain-based payment network,” according to the announcement. The La …

Trust Payments Ltd., a payments provider in the U.K., European Union, and U.S. markets, announced it has acquired retail-technology company WonderLane Solutions Ltd. Terms were not announced.In related news, Trust Payments is the first client to go live on a payments platform created by cryptocurrency specialist Ripple Labs Inc. and Moduir Finance …

Visa Inc.’s top executives made it plain Thursday afternoon that the story of the company’s growth into the near future is threefold, including cryptocurrency, cross-border transactions, and the buy now, pay later trend. “Visa is enabling scale for BNPL, crypto, and wallets,” Visa chief executive Alfred Kelly told equity analysts …

The turbulent story of the Diem digital currency recorded yet another twist with reports on Tuesday that the two-and-a-half-year-old project is seeking to dispose of its assets. The latest news, first reported by Bloomberg, comes less than a year after the Diem Association moved its headquarters from Switzerland to the …