The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the Web:
YapStone shopping: Online marketplace payment gateway
'You're on your own': While stopping short of banning most cryptocurrency, as
Nano hack: There have been several cryptocurrency hacks recently, with claims that
Ripple deal:
Hong Kong banks on the QR bandwagon: Eight banks in Hong Kong will support QR code payments through the Jetco Pay merchant service, including Bank of Communications (Hong Kong), Bank of East Asia, Chong Hing Bank, Dah Sing Bank, ICBC (Asia), OCBC Wing Hang Bank, Shanghai Commercial Bank and Wing Lung Bank. Consumers can make payments through their mobile phone number, with the transaction is linked to the user's bank account.
From the Web
The Wall Street Journal | Mon Feb 12, 2018 - Chinese technology company Ant Financial Services Group is aiming to raise as much as $5 billion in a new funding round, according to people familiar with the matter, a move that would bolster the company’s financial position as it weighs an initial public offering. The Hangzhou-based firm, an affiliate of e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding Inc., is in talks to pick advisers for the new equity placement, the people familiar said. Ant’s last fundraising round was in April 2016, when it secured $4.5 billion from a slate of investors, including sovereign-wealth fund China Investment Corp. and private-equity firm Primavera Capital Group, as well as large Chinese state-owned banks and insurers. The deal valued Ant then at about $60 billion.
Krebs On Security | Mon Feb 12, 2018 - Newtek Business Services Corp., a Web services conglomerate that operates more than 100,000 business Web sites and some 40,000 managed technology accounts, had several of its core domain names stolen over the weekend. The theft shut off email and stranded Web sites for many of Newtek’s customers. An email blast Newtek sent to customers late Saturday evening made no mention of a breach or incident, saying only that the company was changing domains due to “increased” security. In reality, three of their core domains were hijacked by a Vietnamese hacker, who replaced the login page many Newtek customers used to remotely manage their Web sites with a live Web chat service. As a result, Newtek customers seeking answers to why their Web sites no longer resolved correctly ended up chatting with the hijacker instead.
CNBC | Mon Feb 12, 2018 - An Alibaba-led digital trade zone in Malaysia, which is part of Beijing's ambitious infrastructure project, is expected to boost trade between Southeast Asia and China, but some fear it could hurt Malaysian firms. The "Digital Free Trade Zone," or DFTZ, is designed to make cross-region shipments more affordable for Malaysian small and medium-sized companies — the majority of businesses in the country. A core element of the scheme is an electronic world trade platform (eWTP) which is designed to ease trade between Malaysian and Chinese firms. The virtual platform, due to take effect in 2019, will connect businesses, manage cargo authorizations and assist on customs. A brick-and-mortar facility in the Malaysian capital will also help with logistics.
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