Morgan Stanley, Soros invest in NYDIG; ANZ expands Samsung Pay access

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Big dig

George Soros, Morgan Stanley, FinTech Collective and MassMutual are part of a $200 million investment in cryptocurrency technology firm NYDIG.

NYDIG plans to use the funds to develop bitcoin use cases across a variety of financial services and other use cases such as clean energy. NYDIG last month partnered with bank technology company Nymbus to attract merchants and consumers to cryptocurrency projects.

The investment is the latest in a series of high-profile moves that have brought attention to bitcoin, potentially creating momentum for mainstream payments. Mastercard, for example, has expressed support for crypto payments, while Tesla made a large investment and Square's bitcoin-related activities have grown to more than half of the company's revenue.

Bloomberg

Debit rail

ANZ has added Samsung Pay to its national Australian debit network eftpos service, enabling consumers to withdraw cash at the point of sale during checkout.

The bank is Australia's first to enable Samsung Pay for eftpos, which is designed to make it easier for consumers to track bank balances while making payments or in a queue shortly before paying.

The national debit system reports mobile payments via eftpos are currency growing 25% on a monthly basis, creating a larger addressable market for mobile wallets.

A bigger footprint

Amazon has expanded its food delivery service in Bangalore, adding dozens of new zip codes at the same time the e-commerce firm participates in a group attempting to obtain a bank license in India.

The delivery expansion brings Amazon's service to a dramatically larger area than at launch in May 2020, TechCrunch reports, adding it was available in only four zip codes in Bangalore at the time.

Amazon has pledged to invest more than $6 billion in India, and has made several moves to extend its payment footprint in the country. Amazon is additionally part of a consortium that's vying for a license to process payments domestically in India.

Closing in on two dozen

Settle's collaborative mobile payments app has expanded, reaching 22 markets across Europe following the addition of Bulgaria.

Adding Bulgaria will allow residents of that nation to connect cards to their mobile phone, adding another option beyond mobile top up or a bank account, according to a Settle release. Settle has set up a local firm, Settle Bulgaria, which will be owned and financed with local partners.

While headquartered in Oslo, Norway, Settle works through local partnerships in each nation to manage its mobile wallet.

From the web

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