John Adams

Nestled among the waves of tourists and commuters near Grand Central Terminal is a spot were a “no cash” store is working, free from political pressures. But its success still suggests that paperless payments are a niche play.

Signature Bank on Jan. 1 will open its Signet Platform to support real-time settlement for commercial payments. The bank is collaborating with trueDigital Holdings, a New York-based blockchain infrastructure, exchange and settlement technology company.

Hostilities toward the legal U.S. cannabis industry are softening considerably, with signs of further removing cash and digital workarounds from a market that has long been shunned by traditional payment cards.

The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the Web: Breach woes for Uber; Australia welcomes Alipay; payment tools for freelancers; and more.

The digital ID market has massive potential, but many fundamental problems that must first be overcome. Among them: The companies best positioned to provide a viable digital ID platform are not the ones best positioned to benefit from it.

The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the Web Today: Square refiles for a bankiing license; UBS gets an AML fine; P2P for crypto; Digital receipt fintech Flux attracts investors; Coinbase offers cryptocurrency education.

The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the Web. Today: Grocers enhance delivery; Apple Pay faces pushback in Switzerland; Western Union teases crypto support; Coinbase adds crypto-to-crypto conversions.

The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the Web. Today: Amazon improves Alexa's security; Mobile pay leaps in Australia; Ride sharing app Careem diversifies; Belgian transit pay goes to the cloud.

Neither Amazon nor Starbucks could be described as a traditional retailer. But they both use their shared headquarters city as a playground for developing digital and in-store innovations that all merchants and payment companies will have to respond to the years ahead.

The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the Web. Today: Starbucks expands its deal with UberEats; Russia's Sberbank supports QR codes for payments; Nordic software comany Ervy picks up payment contracts; Sephora adds bitcoin rewards.