John Adams

As the cannabis industry has inched toward legitimacy, it hasn't abandoned its roots. And that includes the infamous pot smokers' "holiday," April 20.

It's too soon to tell whether a new button would replace Visa Checkout and Masterpass as brands. It's also unclear why consumers would choose another new payment option over the many options available today — such as PayPal.

The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the Web. Today: Amazon's folding Whole Foods loyalty program into Prime; Mastercard and Visa plan a new payments button; Google Pay extends to private jets; Snapchat adds shopping; Supply chain tech expands in Africa; TranserWise joins the U.K.'s faster payments program.

The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the Web. Today: Interac's in the Middle East; Revolut adds cryptocurrency to round up feature; ActionFraud unwittingly used by fraudsters; WeChat and Alipay extend support for traveler payments.

Zuora's stunning IPO was a victory for the entire subscription payments space, though new competitors and talk of a market bubble stalk the market.

The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the Web. Today: QR codes expand for payments in the Philippines and checking in the UAE; Worldpay adds support for new integrated point of sale technology; Mastercard applies for a patent for a blockchain identity security system.

The disparities, last-minute additions and disputes in a contractor's payment are giving the business gateway Qualpay a chance to use an invoice fixer as a differentiator in a market filled with payment companies that are morphing into general software sellers.

Artificial intelligence may help rescue donations from paper's retreat, and give a fintech startup an icebreaker with small banks that haven't embraced automated payments.

The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the Web. Today: Australian banks oppose open banking; Louisiana town plots its own currency; No more FOMO for bitcoin; Russia plans its own mobile payment system.

The cashierless Amazon Go concept is inspiring fear in traditional U.S. retailers, but the idea is already mainstream in China — with one chain opening 300 locations in just two years.

The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the Web. Today: China's version of Amazon Go grows quickly; The cops end a blockchain event in Beijing; Mastercard's hiring AI experts; Will tariffs make POS hardware more expensive?

Apple and Ripple may have a potential idea to remove friction from mobile payments, but the implementation could make for a rough ride.

The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the Web. Today: Amex launches a branding campaign; Uber links to mass transit; Taiwan regulates crypto; Long Blockchain faces delisting; Is more data more important than faster payments?

Ant Financial, the Alibaba affiliate that operates Alipay, is planning an IPO that could be worth hundreds of billions of dollars — but the funds it could raise are secondary to the consumer population it already controls.

The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the Web. Today: NAB's in the middle of a payments fraud probe; Russia moves to faster payments; ATM attacks on the rise; Unauthorized cryptomining is an expanding threat.

The $3.4 billion deal to take Verifone private is more than just an effort to strengthen the company. It's also a signal of how much the market has changed from the days when Verifone found itself scrambling to combat a newcomer called Square.

The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the Web. Today: Apple Pay gets a boost from Ripple; HSBC uses AI to fight money laundering; Banco Santander recruits payments vets; Tech help desk fraud.

Bill.com has implemented a strategy to make B2B payments more like Zelle or Venmo, removing the same pain points that those P2P apps do for consumer payments.

Starbucks has reported an impressive number of in-store sales in the U.S. coming through its mobile app, a figure that has climbed quarter after quarter since the 2009 introduction of the Starbucks Card app — until July 2017, when it reached 30% and has not budged from that number since.

The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the Web. Today: Starbucks, Samsung team on voice ordering; Spain cracks down on cryptocurrency; Walmart bolsters online order pickup; SEC freezes Longfin's crypto trades; UFO coin.