The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the Web:
Friending crypto
Facebook has been inching toward its own cryptocurrency for more than a year, an effort that is reportedly advancing as the social network tries to line up partners for a cryptocurrency-based payment system.
Facebook is recruiting financial firms and online merchants to invest in the initiative, and also use the social network as the basis of a cryptocurrency system, reports
The social network has long been rumored to be building its own currency. By late 2018 it was reportedly working on a stablecoin and crypto-based P2P transfer system on
It won't be easy for Facebook to build its own coin. As famous as Facebook is, analysts have said it will have a hard time building a
Light rail hailing app
Uber's widely known as a ride hailing app, but it also has plans to apply its model to mass transit, a hot category for companies like
Uber has provided information about transit in
Riders will be able to buy Regional Transportation District tickets through the app, then use their smartphone to ride rail and bus transit, a derivative of Uber's ride-sharing model in which the user experience is largely seamless.
DLT alliance
Distributed ledger technologies such as
The concept has extended to governments, as the Bank of Canada and the Monetary Authority of Singapore have used a distributed ledger to transfer central bank digital currencies.
The
Samsung Simple
Digital financial services company Simple has added support for Samsung Pay — a bit late for
Simple got its start as an alternative financial services company after the 2008 crisis, pitching itself to consumers frustrated by traditional banking.
BBVA acquired Simple in 2014, and since then
Auto mall
Paytm Mall has added automobile booking through a partnership with French automaker Renault's Indian subsidiary.
Customers can book one of three Renault models through Paytm's platform, and make payments through the same user experience, which also directs the purchaser to the nearest dealership, reports
From the Web
Financial Times | Fri May 3, 2019 - Safaricom said rapid growth in its market-leading mobile payments business Mpesa had driven a jump in annual revenues, as east Africa’s most profitable company continued its march from a telecommunications provider to a market-leading digital company.
TechCrunch | Thu May 2, 2019 - You probably haven’t heard of Checkout, a digital payments processing company that was founded in 2012 in London. Apparently, however, investors have been keeping tabs on the low-flying company and like what they see. Checkout announced that it has raised $230 million in Series A funding at a valuation just shy of $2 billion.
The Motley Fool | Thu May 2, 2019 - The marketplace platform of Latin American e-commerce provider MercadoLibre was initially the focal point for growth, but recently, its payment network has been the biggest driver of growth for the company -- paralleling the experience that one of its closest counterparts in the U.S. experienced with its own related payment service.
More from PaymentsSource
Transferrable dynamic authentication is something almost everyone wants but still seems just out of reach. Experian says there are a couple of places where that problem can be solved, adding it’s time to realize that even digital-age ID rules no longer work.
In the wake of Zelle, Venmo and Apple Cash getting more active users and potential revenue, Square is relying on its Square Cash App and Cash Card as key drivers for its own growth.
Visa and Mastercard are driving digital transactions by financially empowering women in emerging markets who are unbanked but manage their families’ spending. The card networks are particularly targeting women in gig economy jobs and women-owned businesses.
British bank NatWest will launch a merchant acquiring service to attract small and midsize businesses in the U.K. and other countries.
