EMEA

Visa did not attribute its shutdown to the use of bitcoin, but the incident is a further reminder — as if one was needed — that cryptocurrencies' volatility extends beyond their dramatic pricing swings.

Regional and community banks will offer low-cost or no-cost financial products through Bank On, which has already reached agreements with Regions Bank, Wells Fargo and SunTrust.

One of the indirect offshoots of Brexit is a government program that's designed to keep the U.K. relevant by lending a hand to new companies.
The program, FCA Innovate, may have a global effect by nurturing companies that aim to retire static authentication modes such as usernames and passwords.

Germany joined European governments pushing for global bitcoin regulation amid mounting alarm that the world’s most popular digital currency is being used by money-launderers, drug traffickers and terrorists.

In a move designed to strengthen its capabilities for integrated payments, processor and technology provider Total System Services has agreed to acquire Cayan for $1.05 billion. The news shortly follows another deal valued in the billions — Thales agreeing to buy the chip maker Gemalto for $5.4 billion.

Loot has been in development since 2014 and has raised a total of more than $7 million thus far.

The company also said it is likely that tax reform legislation being considered by Congress would substantially reduce the valuation of its deferred-tax asset.

Pay by Bank, an app developed in recent months by Mastercard’s Vocalink unit, is expanding as Germany’s Wirecard makes the service available to all of its U.K. merchants.

Gemalto’s business boomed a couple of years ago at the peak of the U.S. EMV migration, but when new card orders tapered off and payments technology turned in new directions, the company’s profits got hammered.

We’ll view this wild rally as the starting point of cryptocurrencies becoming mainstream. They cannot be defined as a fad any longer, writes Nigel Green, founder and CEO of deVere Group.