Bailey Reutzel

Visa Inc. now counts Overstock.com Inc. among the list of retailers accepting its V.me digital wallet.

The fragile Bitcoin economy will change drastically as companies scramble to obtain the proper licensing in response to guidance from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), which categorizes administrators and exchangers of virtual currencies as money services businesses.

Trying to start a "paper recession," Billtrust announced it will be adding quick-response (QR) codes to bills to push consumers to use electronic bill pay.

In the low-margin farming industry, companies are particularly sensitive to credit card transaction fees or the time it takes for checks to clear. Dwolla has started targeting these industries with its alternative payment service.

Tranzlogic LLC is targeting independent sales organizations to scale its customer intelligence and marketing strategy more quickly than it could by selling to end users.

Many Bitcoin enthusiasts expect the U.S. government will take steps towards regulating the digital currency. Whether this regulation will threaten or legitimize the currency is still an open question.

Consumers in Edmonton, Alberta can now avoid the cold by paying with AJB Software Design Inc.’s FIPay Mobile application, which allows customers of Hughes Petroleum Ltd. to purchase gas and car washes with their mobile devices. They can do this all from the warmth of their vehicles.

In an interview with PaymentsSource, Cohen describes the opportunities that arise for companies like Merchant Warehouse amid the rapid changes taking place in the payments industry.

PayPal announced it has acquired Duff Research, a group of mobile app developers, keeping with the company's growing focus on mobile devices.

Just three months after reaching 500,000 users, LevelUp hit one million customers, with a meaningful portion of that new audience attracted by adapting the company's offer system to work over Facebook.

Apple's Passbook has no payment function of its own — it is a blank canvas for other developers to add their ideas. In this way, Apple's featureless mobile wallet is fast becoming one of the most full-featured options available today.

A relationship between McDonald's Corp. and Seamless allows consumers in Sweden to pay for their fast food with their mobile phones.

While BillMyParents was a catchy name for a teen-focused payments company, it didn't do much for its message of promoting financial responsibility. So for the third time in four years, the company changed its corporate name.

While Justin Bieber croons "I'll be your platinum, I'll be your silver, I'll be your gold," on stage, off stage he is the latest celebrity to endorse plastic. But there's something different about Bieber's pitch for prepaid cards.

Many merchants still don't take credit or debit cards, usually because of the cost. Two-year-old Plastiq aims to help these holdouts by shifting the cost of card acceptance to the consumer.

Coinlab Inc., a Bitcoin services company, is partnering with the largest Bitcoin exchange in the world to facilitate Bitcoin transactions in the U.S. and Canada. The deal could promote Bitcoin use, but Coinlab's existing relationship with Silicon Valley Bank could compromise the cryptocurrency's key trait —anonymity.

The sales pitch behind many mobile payment systems is convenience, but some companies are learning that when a payment system becomes too convenient, the backlash can last for years.

Merchant Warehouse announced it is adding a former VeriFone executive, Greg Cohen, as chief revenue and strategy officer.

VeriFone announced a partnership with SK C&C, a Korean IT services company, to deploy open mobile payment technology for mobile network operators.

Consumers are notoriously reluctant to choose new payment habits. This week, LevelUp and 20 retailers forced the issue by taking away their choice. The "credit card diet," which took place Feb. 26, involved 20 retailers in Boston and Washington D.C. They all refused credit cards for one day.