The cryptocurrency-focused merchant bank Galaxy Digital, led by a former Goldman Sachs partner, will start trading on a Toronto exchange this week. Its journey is a cautionary tale in regulatory risk.

Banks that have decided to use Hyperledger Fabric now have a place to find apps that run on it — apps that someone else has tested. The store, LedgerConnect, is also meant to give vendors a way to distribute their wares to banks.

American Express' blockchain patent application isn't just about payments: It could also radically change how card-based merchant offers are made and allow them to become much more targeted.

Two payments startups, PayStand and Quadpay, are collaborating with Silicon Valley Bank and First Data during a four-month accelerator program to explore mutual product development opportunities.

Digital money platform Wirex has added a Ripple cryptocurrency wallet to its portfolio, giving its users the ability to exchange and spend Ripple's XRP token through their Wirex Visa cards.

The research, carried out in coordination with the all-party U.K. parliamentary group on blockchain, profiles companies, think tanks, innovation hubs and individual players in the U.K.

Considering that cryptocurrencies are designed to circumvent the banking system, banks will need to come up with ways to protect themselves, writes Ely Pinto, chief information security officer at Bank Leumi.

Since blockchain technology is based on the core principle of decentralization, it provides an opportunity to break through the multiple middleman fees with an alternative low-fee digital payments network, writes Sarthak Moghe, CEO of TillBilly.

Venezuela's alternative currency, the Petro, isn't the only cryptocurrency serving the needs of the country's population.

Citigroup is using tracking and transparency to push back against rivals that paint traditional bank-powered international payments as a costly, time-consuming relic.