Digital Currency

Square Inc. late Tuesday said it is expanding its Bitcoin pilot as the cryptocurrency continues to climb, briefly breaching the $13,000 level early Wednesday. The pilot, which Square launched four weeks ago for what it said was a “small” number of Square Cash users, is now being made available to …

Online payment processor Payza announced Monday that its customers can now use funds in their Payza accounts buy alternatives to Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency market leader. The news comes six months after Payza launched a service enabling customers to sell so-called altcoins such as Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, Dash, Monero, and Zcash. …

CME Group Inc. said on Friday it will launch a futures contract for Bitcoin on Dec. 18, a move some expect will lend considerable stability to the market for the 8-year-old digital currency. Also on Friday, Chicago-based CME’s crosstown rival, Cboe Global Markets Inc., said it will announce “shortly” an …

Much as cryptocurrency skeptics would like to set aside Bitcoin, the currency keeps intruding into the payments world. On Wednesday, Bitcoin began trading above $11,000, only a day after it sailed past the $10,000 mark and just three days after pushing past $9,000. But Bitcoin bullishness isn’t helping Square Inc. …

So far, nobody is making any money betting on Bitcoin to crash. The digital currency on Sunday soared past the $9,000 mark just five days after hitting $8,000 for the first time, and the $10,000 level could be in sight as early as later Monday, according to Coindesk, an online …

Bitcoin keeps rising to new heights, though in fits and starts. The world’s leading cryptocurrency leapt to yet another record high on Sunday to breach the $8,000 level for the first time, sank several hundred dollars on Monday, then sprang back overnight. By Tuesday morning, it was trading above $8,300, …

Bluewater Grill Restaurants, with seven locations in Southern California and Phoenix, has deployed the Rail pay-at-table platform from TableSafe Inc. Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, will continue to attract consumers to stores. A study from Deloitte found that 70% of U.S. consumers plan to shop in a store that …

In the latest example of the growing market for cross-border payments using blockchain technology, American Express Co. announced Thursday that business customers of its FX International Payments (FXIP) service can now use Ripple Labs Inc.’s blockchain-based RippleNet network for payments between the United States and the United Kingdom. The two …

For the last four years, Square Cash has been a popular person-to-person payment app, but now Square Inc. is adding another function: buying and selling Bitcoin. The San Francisco payments company is testing the new feature with an undisclosed number of Square Cash users, according to the company and users’ …

Observers who wondered not long ago whether Bitcoin was too valuable to be a payment method may now be wondering whether it’s too volatile. The cryptocurrency has soared all year, reaching a peak near $7,800 only six days ago, but then it crashed hard, shedding about $2,000 in value by …