Mobile Wallets

By John Stewart@DTPaymentNews Buoyed by seismic political and financial events, the Bitcoin digital currency is picking up momentum in both its value and its adoption. Blockchain, a U.K. company that offers Bitcoin services, last week celebrated having issued 10 million wallets since its founding in 2011. That’s a doubling in …

By Kevin Woodward@DTPaymentNews Vending payments specialist USA Technologies Inc. says promoting Apple Pay at the point of sale produced a 36.5% increase in overall sales and a 55.5% increase in revenue from contactless purchases. Malvern, Pa.-based

By John Stewart @DTPaymentNews JPMorgan Chase & Co. on Monday officially launched its Chase Pay mobile app, announcing users can now download the wallet and use it to pay at more than 7,500 Starbucks Corp. outlets and at almost 1,400 Best Buy Co. Inc. stores to start with. The app, …

Consumers who use their Samsung Pay mobile wallets to make a payment will be rewarded for their transactions with the debut this week of Samsung Rewards. Announced Monday, the program enables consumers to earn points for their Samsung Pay transactions, which can be redeemed for retailer gift cards, prepaid Samsung …

By Jim Daly@DTPaymentNews Countless analysts have tried to diagnose what ails the lackluster U.S. mobile-wallet market, but new observations from securities rating agency Fitch Ratings Inc. succinctly identify three primary causes: a lack of compelling value propositions, an overcrowded market, and cyber-risk aversion on the part of consumers. “The vast …

• Citigroup Inc. became the latest bank to introduce a proprietary mobile wallet, in this case Citi Pay, which will launch later this year in Singapore, Australia, and Mexico, and in the U.S. early next year. Working with MasterCard Inc.’s Masterpass digital-payments service, Citi Pay provides online and in-app payment capability, …

By Kevin Woodward @DTPaymentNews More U.S consumers are using mobile peer-to-peer payments than are using a smart phone to make a point-of-sale purchase, research firm eMarketer Inc. says in a research note. While only 19.4% of consumers made a mobile payment in a store in the preceding six months, 24.9% …

• In yet another event related to payment card data security at hotels, Sentinel Hotel announced it is investigating an incident involving cards used at its front desks after receiving reports from some of its guests of unauthorized charges. • While 22% of consumers overall prefer to receive coupons through …

By Kevin Woodward@DTPaymentNews Add Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to the list of merchants that will accept Chase Pay transactions. JPMorgan Chase & Co., backer of the nascent Chase Pay mobile wallet, says the massive retailer will begin accepting the bank’s payment service in more than 5,000 Walmart and Sam’s Club stores, …

Kohl’s Corp. joins the ranks of retailers with their own mobile-wallet services with the launch last month of Kohl’s Pay. Menomonee Falls, Wis.-based Kohl’s said the barcode mobile-payment service exclusively uses the private-label Kohl’s Charge card as the payment mechanism in more than 1,100 Kohl’s stores. To use Kohl’s Pay, …