The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the Web:
Down under
U.K. digital payments company Revolut has signed up a waiting list of about 20,000 consumers for a beta test in Australia, where it's also opened an office in Melbourne to recruit about 30 staffers.
The company will offer its core transfer product and financial services, and will also pursue a cryptocurrency exchange, reports
Revolut has also faced challenges this year, namely from an investigation in Europe into the company's
West coast
2019 has been the year of upgrades for
Los Angeles' transit agency has deployed an Android app from transit technology firm Cubic that bridges both transit and retail payments, allowing the system to respond to the larger trend of deemphasizing physical ticketing systems that reside inside transit systems. In Los Angeles, the merchants will sell transit ticketing and top-ups through their mobile apps as a prelude to other use cases that tie commuting to shipping.
The Los Angeles project gets underway as
Real time
The
The network has also picked up a larger bank as FirstBank, one of the country's largest privately held banks, announced it will support the RTP network. The bank has locations in Colorado, Arizona and has about $19 billion in assets.
The Clearing House is trying to build a base of bank users as the Federal Reserve weighs its level of involvement in the U.S. migration to faster payments.
Social commerce
Facebook is the lead investor in a $65 million round in Meesho, a social commerce startup that uses sites such as WhatsApp to connect buyers and sellers in an online marketplace.
It's Facebook's first equity investment in an Indian startup, reports
Facebook's investment comes as outside technology companies step up investments in
From the Web
CoinDesk | Thu June 13, 2019 - BRD, a mobile wallet company, announced that US customers are now able to purchase bitcoin, ethereum, and Dai using bank transfers. This feature is supported through a partnership with Wyre, a blockchain payments provider, and over 1,700 US banks.
Yahoo Finance | Fri June 14, 2019 - Crypto wallet Blockchain says the bitcoin bull market is helping it add more customers as it looks to add new products, it said in a monthly update. In the update, which covered future product launches, feature highlights and industry analysis, Blockchain said it added 4 million new wallet accounts in two months.
CoinDesk | Thu June 13, 2019 - Circle announced Thursday it would be discontinuing its mobile app, Circle Pay. The company announced a multi-phase wind-down wrapping up on September 30, when remaining funds will be turned over to states or countries, in accordance with local laws. Starting on July 8, only withdrawals will be allowed on the app.
More from PaymentsSource
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Banks and merchants absorb billions of dollars in payment card fraud annually, but it's not for a lack of tools designed to stifle that fraud. It's becoming increasingly apparent that those tools simply aren't being used to their fullest capabilities.
India’s government has taken drastic steps to encourage and standardize digital transactions, and those moves appear to be paying off.
