The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the web:
Lightning Strike
Visa's Fast Track program has added support for LastBit, a Bitcoin Lightning startup, on a project that allows consumers to pay for items in dollars but use bitcoin. The startup plans to add euros in about a month.
Users load bitcoin onto LastBit's app, and access a debit card for bitcoin payments. The payee receives dollars or euros after a conversion, explains
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have long struggled to
Playing keys
Standard Chartered Bank Korea and Isreali fintech PayKey are using open banking to centralize external apps, payments and financial services.
Consumers will use a keyboard interface to directly access different banks and products, avoiding distinct log-ins and navigation to different sites. Balance queries, payments and other transactions are available at launch, with plans to add more complex banking services such as trading and investments.
The bank hopes to take advantage of recent regulatory updates in South Korea that create a PSD2-style data sharing standard between banks and third parties.
Number's up
Japan's effort to move people to digital payments during the coronavirus has been so successful the country is running out of credit card numbers.
Japan had about 283 million credit cards in March 2019, a number that started accelerating after government incentives to use cards were introduced in October 2019, reports
The obvious fix of adding a 17th digit is complex and expensive. It would require trials to ensure security of the cards, and would also likely require the country's existing base of about 300 million cards in circulation to be re-issued.
Non-profit push
Sparkasse has added support for Apple Pay for its debit card, covering more than 400 banks in Germany that operate under the Sparkasse brand.
The deal will increase Apple Pay's reach among non-profit financial institutions in Germany, since most of the banks in Sparkasse's network are owned by local governments or charitable foundations,reports
Sparkasse initially added Apple Pay for credit cards in 2019, but the move to debit was delayed.
From the web
REUTERS | Wednesday Aug 26, 2020
Ant Group's planned sale of up to $30 billion worth of shares is set to revive fortunes for Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd (HKEX) which fell to fifth rank as a destination for initial public offerings (IPOs) in the first half of 2020.
TECHCRUNCH | Tuesday Aug 25, 2020
FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange that offers derivatives, options and other sophisticated products, is acquiring a popular portfolio tracking app, Blockfolio.
REUTERS | Wednesday Aug 26, 2020
It sounds like a surefire bet. You lend money to a borrower who puts up collateral that exceeds the size of the loan, and then you earn interest of about 20%. What could possibly go wrong?
More from PaymentsSource
Checkout-free retail is still not ready to move out of tiny spaces, though Amazon’s trying to accelerate progress through a trio of initiatives that have come to light over the past few weeks.
Afterpay has entered into an agreement with NBQ Corporate SLU to acquire Pagantis SAU and PMT Technology SLU for €50 million (about $59 million) to expand into France, Italy and Spain — a direct challenge to Klarna, one of the dominant European buy now, pay later (BNPL) providers.
Now that cash flow is king, companies are shifting to accommodate more ACH enablement outreach.
Billionaire Jack Ma’s Ant Group filed for an initial public offering in Hong Kong and Shanghai to bankroll its expansion in financial services and bolster its lead as China’s largest online payments platform.
The digital banking and payments wave needs more cloud computing and less hardware, says Ripple's Marcus Treacher.
The 2020 election has tossed the U.S. Postal Service under extreme scrutiny, pressuring the institution at a time when it has become a potential catalyst for financial inclusion.
A borrower advocacy group is asking federal banking regulators to investigate PayPal and Synchrony Financial, which partner on a product that is used to offer high-cost education financing.
