One of the most aggressive—and worrisome—central bank digital currency models is a proposal from law professors Morgan Ricks and John Crawford and lawyer and former regulator Lev Menand that the Fed provide direct banking “FedAccounts” to consumers and businesses. It’s intended to improve payments efficiency and reduce the number of …
Read More »Maverick Payments Debuts Gateway and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 6/22/20
Maverick Payments launched its payment gateway, which supports 3-D Secure, account updaters, and interchange optimization.Digital-payments technology provider Checkout.com announced a $150 million Series B funding round, valuing the company at $5.5 billion. The round, led by technology fund Coatue, tripled the company’s value.ATM and point-of-sale hardware and software provider Diebold Nixdorf Inc. said it generated …
Read More »Diebold Nixdorf Eyes $50 Million in Savings and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 6/19/20
ATM manufacturer Diebold Nixdorf Inc. extended its agreement with consulting firm Accenture plc to streamline its operations by making business processes digital and moving them to the cloud. Diebold Nixdorf says the pact could yield $50 million in savings through 2023.The Federal Reserve released its FraudClassifier model, an effort to bring consistency to the …
Read More »COMMENTARY: Digital Fiat Currencies Should Come From the Private—Not Public—Sector (Part One)
Digital fiat currencies are coming. Bitcoin and the more than 5,000 cryptocurrencies it inspired have ignited the interest of the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, and the Peoples Bank of China, as well as that of private-sector players like Visa and Facebook, in digital currencies tied to dollars, euros, …
Read More »Rewards Tailored for Quarantined Cardholders Are Keeping Travel-Related Cards Aloft
Merchants that cobrand rewards cards to build business are often connected one way or another to the travel industry, but they may not have much to worry about even though the Covid-19 pandemic has kept consumers close to home. Twenty-three percent of these cardholders think they’re getting more value from …
Read More »Private-Label Debit Provider ZipLine Sold to PDI
ZipLine, the provider of private-label debit payment services for convenience stores like Cumberland Farms, has been acquired by Professional Datasolutions Inc., a c-store software developer and services company. Announced Thursday, the deal will enable Alpharetta, Ga.-based PDI to bundle ZipLine’s private-label debit and mobile-payment app with its Marketing Cloud Platform. …
Read More »May E-Commerce Spending up 93% and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 6/18/20
E-commerce spending in the United States surged 93% in May, compared to May 2019, according to Mastercard Inc.’s SpendingPulse data service.Installment-payment technology provider Splitit Payments Ltd. said it signed a multiyear deal with Mastercard Inc. to provide access to Splitit’s installment options through Mastercard’s merchant network. Split and Mastercard also plan to jointly …
Read More »With a Loss Before Britain’s High Court, Visa And Mastercard Face an Interchange Reckoning
Merchants in the United Kingdom won an important battle against interchange fees on Wednesday but it remains uncertain just how much that will mean to them in terms of remuneration from Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. The case also could have ramifications for similar action in the U.S. market, some …
Read More »Paysafe’s Skrill Adds Loyalty Program and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 6/15/20
Paysafe Group said it has expanded its Knect loyalty program for its Skrill digital wallet to the U.S. market. The program offers points that can be redeemed for cash when users perform transactions using the digital wallet or a linked Skrill Visa prepaid card. Last week, Paysafe launched its Skrill Money Transfer service …
Read More »BitPay Launches a Prepaid Mastercard to Bring Spending Utility to Bitcoin And Other Cryptos
Bitcoin may be the most popular cryptocurrency, but acceptance of any digital currency is limited to just a few thousand merchants. Crypto processor BitPay Inc. on Thursday introduced a solution with a service that lets users spend their holdings via a prepaid Mastercard that features an EMV chip and contactless capability. …
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