Digital Currency

Consumer spending in the United States, in terms of February retail sales excluding auto, was up 8.7% over February 2021 and 17.3% over February 2019, according to Mastercard Inc.’s SpendingPulse report, which monitors in-store and online retail sales.President Joe Biden signed an executive order requiring federal agencies to work out a common …

Block Inc., parent company of Square Inc., has become the latest payments provider to come under the scrutiny of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The CFPB, as well as attorneys general from multiple states, have requested information from Block related to how the company handles complaints and disputes from customers …

The Clearing House Payments Co. LLC said transaction volume on EPN, its automated clearing house network, increased 9.6% in 2021. The Clearing House and the Federal Reserve, the only ACH operators in the United States, each handle approximately half the commercial ACH market, TCH said.Buy now, pay later provider Sezzle Inc. said Yapstone …

Paysafe Ltd. early Wednesday reported progress in turning around its beleaguered digital-wallet business, noting a crucial deal with the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange and progress in its key iGaming market. As part of an effort to reinvigorate its wallets, “We’re starting to work with crypto exchanges” more actively, Philip McHugh, …

Volante Technologies Inc., a cloud payments and financial messaging provider, said it will offer U.S. financial institutions a unified real-time payments service that offers access to The Clearing House’s RTP network and the upcoming FedNow service, which is expected to launch in 2023. Volante has been in the FedNow pilot program since 2021.Facepay …

Shift4 Payments Inc. early Tuesday said it has concluded agreements to acquire international e-commerce acquirer Finaro and cryptocurrency-based donation platform Giving Block in deals valued at $875 million in cash and stock, including future earnout provisions. The latter deal has already closed, while Allentown, Pa.-based Shift4 expects to close the …

With the close of Block Inc.’s $29-billion acquisition of buy now, pay later platform Afterpay Ltd. at the end of January, the payments company installed a key component in a plan to more tightly integrate its seller and consumer businesses, Square and Cash App, according to Block’s top executives. Indeed, …

Business-to-business payments provider Tipalti Inc. reported “unprecedented” growth in payments volume in 2021, with volume growing more than 100% from 2020 to more than $36 billon. The company’s client base increased to more than 2,000, including GoDaddy, Roku, ZipRecruiter, and Amazon Twitch.Fintech Social Finance Inc. said its SoFi Technologies Inc. unit has launched SoFi …

Cryptocurrency’s steady march toward becoming a mainstream payment option took another step with Sling TV’s acceptance of seven digital currencies and five stablecoins through BitPay Inc. The deal, announced Monday, will enable existing subscribers of the streaming television service to pay their monthly subscription fee with cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, …

Buy now, pay later specialist Klarna AB said it is expanding the geographic reach of its rewards program and its Pay Now service. The rewards program will be available in nine countries, with Pay Now expanding to nine new countries beyond the current base in the U.S. and U.K., where the immediate-payment …