Experts have been saying that the payments business is hot, but few suspected it was this hot. The 12-year-old Dutch processor Adyen N.V. gained more ground Thursday on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange before closing the day at 438 euros, or $510, down 3.7%. That’s after finishing on Wednesday, its first …
Read More »Eye on Small Merchants: Wells Simplifies Pricing; First Data Trumpets Clover
Wells Fargo & Co. this week disclosed a simplified point-of-sale pricing plan for small card-accepting merchants, while First Data Corp. touted the strong growth in its Clover line of payment technology for small businesses. At San Francisco-based Wells, which has a joint merchant-processing venture with First Data and is one …
Read More »First Data’s Star Debit Network Plans To Challenge Visa and Mastercard for Signature Transactions
Payment processor First Data Corp.’s Star debit network is poised to aggressively challenge Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. for a share of the signature-debit market that the global networks have dominated since signature debit became a payment option more than 20 years ago. Star gained a potentially big foothold in …
Read More »Worldpay Tests Dynamic CVV Cards in Anticipation of Broader Availability
Worldpay Inc. is adding another tool for financial institutions in their efforts to curtail the pricey and nuisance-laden aftereffects of rampant data breaches. The company’s solution comes in the form of credit and debit cards that use a dynamic card-verification value. Cincinnati-based Worldpay is testing the Motion Code-enabled credit and …
Read More »The MAG’s Horwedel Prepares To Step Down as CEO
Mark Horwedel, chief executive of the Merchant Advisory Group, an association of more than 100 of the nation’s biggest merchants that concerns itself with payment issues, plans to step down at year’s end. Replacing him will be John Drechny, chairperson of the group’s board of directors and currently senior director …
Read More »In a Sharp Return to Volatility, Cryptocurrencies Shed Almost 13% of Value in One Day
The cryptocurrency market suddenly turned bearish over the weekend, with price drops Sunday among the top 10 coins ranging from 6% to 16%. Overall, the total market capitalization of more than 1,600 currencies tracked by Coinmarketcap.com stood at $296.3 billion Monday morning, compared to $339.4 billion around noon on Saturday, …
Read More »The Electronic Payments Coalition Takes a Potshot at the New Secure Payments Partnership
A lull in the longstanding war of words between merchants and the global payment card networks came to an end with the creation Thursday of the Secure Payments Partnership, an advocacy group of retailers and PIN-debit networks. On Friday, the Electronic Payments Coalition, a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying organization led primarily …
Read More »Vinyl Lovers Find An Easier Payments Experience With Discogs Payments
Discogs, a Web site and app that’s on a mission to build a comprehensive music database and marketplace, launched Discogs Payments this week for its U.S. online buyers and sellers of vinyl records and CDs. The integrated checkout, backed by Adyen, a Netherlands-based processor, is in addition to a system …
Read More »Cryptocurrencies Take off With Travel Site CheapAir.com
Customer demand has prompted CheapAir.com to accept three more cryptocurrencies in addition to Bitcoin, which the travel-booking site began accepting in 2013. The new ones are Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Dash. These three currencies promise faster transaction times and lower fees than Bitcoin and are the most-requested cryptocurrencies among those customers …
Read More »An iPayment Tie-in With Aliant Will Harness More ISO Horsepower for Crypto Acceptance
The same force that decades ago hit the streets and made credit and debit card acceptance nearly universal is revving up in a nascent effort to do the same for cryptocurrency. Aliant Payment Systems, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based independent sales organization that has been marketing Bitcoin, Ether, and Litecoin acceptance …
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