The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the Web:
Contactless school
Apple has added a new group of universities to its network of schools that allow students to use Apple Wallet for ID and payments.
The universities include Georgetown, Clemson, the University of San Francisco, and about ten others, reports
The college deployments come as
Crypto subscription
LinkedIn co-founder Eric Ly and early bitcoin investor Roger Ver have launched a subscription payments system that supports crypto payments through a permission-based smart contract.
Called Monarch, the service lets merchants create recurring payments for subscriptions. There are also features that support one-off or installment payments for larger ticket items.
Monarch's model is different than most other cryptocurrency-based subscription services in that it's decentralized, so merchants to not have to formally partner with Monarch. Monarch is supporting Ethereum, ERC stable tokens with plans to support any ERC token, according to a release.
It pays to be Alipay and WePay's partner
Sequoia Capital China and Matrix Partners have invested $20 million in QFPay, a digital payments startup that allows Alipay and WeChat Pay to process payments internationally.
This raises QFPay's total to $36.5 million, which the company will use to build new payments technology, reports
Salary corner
Isle of Man crypto exchange and wallet firm Coincorner has convinced all of its staff to receive its salary in cryptocurrency.
The staff at the company, which has more than 15 employees, was given a choice to receive pay in the pound equivalent of crypto, reports
It's a relatively small company in a friendly niche, though it does reveal some demand for crypto payroll, and the company's news comes shortly after
Pizza bike
Domino's tries to cover as many bases as possible when it comes to ordering and delivery. The chain has supported mobile payments for most of the decade, and more recently embraced
This week Domino's is taking a e-bike delivery program out of pilot, expanding it nationwide, reports
It's a very narrow last-mile niche, since e-bikes are designed to have a slightly longer range than regular bicycles and can handle hills, but have a much shorter range than cars.
From the Web
Jing Daily | Tue August 13, 2019 - Mainland consumers are used to their preferred forms of payment (Alipay, UnionPay, and Tenpay) and are gravitating toward a cashless society with more transparent and inclusive payment systems. Because of this, luxury retailers who accept and validate mobile payment methods have an edge over their competitors.
Yahoo Finance | Tue August 13, 2019 - Western Union and BDO Unibank have extended their relationship to expand reach in the Philippines with more than 1,100 BDO Unibank branches now ready to pay-out Western Union international money transfers from across the world.
CoinDesk | Tue August 13, 2019 - A leading bank technology provider in Latin America is partnering with cryptocurrency exchange Bitex to facilitate cross-border payments over the bitcoin blockchain. Bantotal is a core banking service provider based in Uruguay that services over 60 different financial institutions across 14 different countries.
More from PaymentsSource
VCs have been devoting more attention — and funding — to U.K.-based digital remittance providers such as TransferWise, Revolut, WorldRemit and their smaller rival Paysend. These startups have the potential to fundamentally disrupt the global remittance industry, which processed $689 billion in transfers in 2018, and is dominated by expensive incumbents.
E-commerce has expanded greatly, giving any merchant the opportunity to sell in any market. That leaves payment providers scrambling for an angle in a crowded market.
A decade after the last economic crash, the U.S. credit card market is again showing signs of overheating.
Expense management provider Bento for Business has launched its Bento Pay B2B payment app with partner Dwolla, which has specialized in B2B payments the past few years after initially operating mobile wallet and financial institution faster payment services.
