New York's city council recently voted to allow campaign contributions to be made by text message.

After clashing with regulators and being blacklisted by many banks and credit unions, many emerging-payments companies are seeking a warmer welcome outside the U.S.

The Amazon Coins digital currency is now available for consumers in the U.K. and Germany to buy mobile applications and make in-app purchases on the Kindle Fire tablet and on Amazon.com Inc.'s regional app stores.

Many of the payments industry's longtime veterans and new entrants started their careers in other industries or founded their companies with a different purpose in mind. Here are some highlights from the many diverse career paths in the payments world.

Virgin Galactic, billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson’s commercial space travel venture will accept the digital currency Bitcoin for payments, founder Richard Branson told CNBC today.

Just as U.S. policymakers are taking a more supportive approach to Bitcoin and other virtual currencies, countries that have taken a hands-off approach may soon weigh in with regulations that mirror those of the U.S.

As a fast, low-cost payment system, Bitcoin provides healthy competition for legacy banks. It's also a bulwark for financial privacy and freedom of speech.

The Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission are telling a U.S. Senate committee that Bitcoins are legitimate financial instruments, boosting prospects for wider acceptance of the virtual currency.

The Dish Daily, an online publication focused on technology and entrepreneurship, has partnered with BitWall to launch its Twitter "paywall," allowing readers to view articles after they tweet a link to their followers.

Gyft, a mobile gift card provider, has launched a loyalty system that gives different levels of rewards based on the funding method, favoring alternatives over credit cards.

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) has proposed allowing Bitcoin to be accepted as contributions for federal candidates in its draft guidance.

Ripple Labs has secured $3.5 million in additional funding to fuel the development of its digital currency network.

Merchants labeled high-risk often have trouble finding processors willing to work with them, but they may have better luck if they adopt a digital currency designed to prohibit chargebacks.

On the first day RoboCoin's Bitcoin ATM was deployed, one third of its users were new to the digital currency.

The payments industry is facing pressure from outside companies that are toppling many preconceptions about how payments should work. But industry veterans are fighting back, and they shared their strategies at SourceMedia's 2013 ATM, Debit & Prepaid Forum.

As Fexco and First Data demonstrated their futuristic ATM concept, they emphasized that the bank is at the heart of the offering. And as Lamassu demonstrated a similar device for bitcoin users, a very different message came across.

Many payments companies see a conflict between innovation and regulation, with each side perceiving the other as out of touch with their needs, particularly when it comes to new technology.

GlassPay, a new Google Glass app from RedBottle Design LLC, allows consumers to make purchases with bitcoins, a prominent digital currency.

Despite Bitcoin's pop culture appeal, most people perceive the virtual currency as so complicated that it must take a rocket scientist to understand. But Moneero has invented a machine that aims to change that perception.

Even though the U.S. payments industry's regulatory environment can be difficult for startups, there is plenty of investment being made in the market for new disruptive technologies.