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No walls
Revolut is testing a change that will allow its customers to transfer bitcoin holdings to wallets outside of Revolut, answering requests from consumers.
The London fintech had previously deployed a "walled garden" for its cryptocurrency policies, which meant consumers could not transact with non-Revolut customers or use crypto outside of the Revolut account, reports
Revolut will start with a group of premium customers who will be able to add three external addresses and withdraw the equivalent of about $694 per day. Revolut supports 20 cryptocurrencies, and plans to expand into more cryptocurrencies and use cases in the near future.
Wall Street bound
Remitly has reportedly hired investment bankers in anticipation of a public offering in New York later in 2021.
The digital transfer firm has brought in Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Barclays to advise on the listing, reports
Remitly would join a
Punting
The National Payments Corporation of India, which operates a national digital payment rail, is asking commercial banks to make decisions governing cryptocurrency payments that involve their own institutions.
Several banks had asked the NPCI to block crypto payments on its network, according to
The NPCI operates the
More coin
Cryptocurrency firm BitPay has added support for dai and wrapped bitcoin in an effort to increase options for remittances and other cross-border payments.
Dai is a stablecoin that uses a network of smart contracts to keep its value as close to the U.S. dollar as possible as a hedge against cryptocurrency's volatility. Wrapped bitcoin is a token that represents bitcoin on the Ethereum blockchain, adding more options for trading.
BitPay is trying to make it easier for firms that transact in countries with high inflation rates or unstable currencies.
From the web
ENGADGET | Thursday, May 6th, 2021
Twitter just introduced its long-rumored in-app tipping feature. The company is enabling some users to add a “tip jar” to their profile so other users can pay them without leaving the app. Twitter says for now it’s making the feature available to “a limited group of people around the world who use Twitter in English,” including creators, journalists, nonprofits and other influential users.
TECHCRUNCH | May 6, 2021
Apple’s new AirTag item trackers are pretty small, but not quite small enough to slip into most wallets without adding an obvious bit of bulk.
TECHCRUNCH | May 6, 2021
As expected, Bill.com is buying Divvy, the Utah-based corporate spend management startup that competes with Brex, Ramp and Airbase. The total purchase price of around $2.5 billion is substantially above the company’s roughly $1.6 billion post-money valuation that Divvy set during its $165 million, January 2021 funding round.
More from PaymentsSource
The visibility of automated transactions provides a clear view of the flow of transactions, says Hummingbird's Joe Robinson.
Working with different fintechs, clothing seller Universal Standard has sped up its supply chain and photographer Matt Cameron has created a steady flow of client endorsements.
The company's Cash App business, fueled by bitcoin trading, generated the bulk of its revenue in the first quarter.
It's "powerful … to be able to use the word ‘bank’ in our marketing because we are a legitimate financial institution," CEO Dan Henry said Wednesday. Its rival Chime recently agreed to stop referring to itself as a bank in a settlement with California regulators.
This year's honorees are women under 40 who have demonstrated a strong talent for leadership and an expertise in their respective fields. They also took on crucial responsibilities to help their organizations navigate the complexities of the pandemic, and set their companies on a path for continued growth.
FIS is planning to follow the integration of its Worldpay acquisition by adding hundreds of new sales people to bring the combined companies' technology to a wider market.
Fintech companies in Africa raised more capital despite the COVID-19 pandemic, standing in contrast to their emerging-market peers such as Latin America that saw a decline.
More fintechs are developing "super apps," which are designed to bring together services from new and legacy financial services providers — and in some cases, could replace the need for a separate bank account.
Cyber attackers are always looking for new and different ways to steal payment card data from online stores. One novel exfiltration technique uncovered by researchers is to hide the card information in a .JPG image and store it on an infected website instead of sending the card info to a server they control. This not only minimizes suspicious traffic, but also helps these cyber criminals avoid possible detection.
Railsbank and Plaid have formed a strategic partnership enabling any company in the U.K. to directly embed open banking-style payments into digital flows.
Many younger people are looking for financing and are averse to traditional credit cards, says Four's Chaim Lever.
PayPal saw account openings and payment volumes soar as the world shifted away from cash. And as economies reopen, PayPal must determine whether consumers will continue their aggressive use of digital payments — or return to their old habits.
The firm will begin offering products such as debit or credit cards in the third quarter, Chief Financial Officer Raj Agrawal said in an interview Wednesday with Bloomberg Television. Western Union also is weighing the creation of a marketplace where consumers can shop, he said.
The pandemic spurred millions of merchants to add contactless payments within a year, pushing the number of global stores accepting contactless to 90%, according to new data from Mastercard.
For most payments firms, moving to the cloud often involves using multiple providers to exploit the strengths of different platforms — with the goals of cutting operational costs and enhancing the customer experience.
Restaurants have a broad menu of tech services to choose from. The challenge now is to make these products work together.
