Billionaire Elon Musk defended Tesla Inc.’s $1.5 billion Bitcoin investment on Twitter, calling the cryptocurrency a “less dumb” version of cash.

The shift to digital is permanent, creating an opportunity to reassess long-term strategy, says Greynier Fuentes.

Japan has long been known for its heavy use of cash, which is a burden for banks that are trying to move more services online. Maintaining ATMs alone costs about 700 billion yen ($6.6 billion) annually and another 100 billion yen is spent handling cash at branch counters, Nomura Research Institute estimates.

Local payment methods can win big at e-gaming

Marqeta reached a $4 billion valuation over the last decade focusing only on prepaid and debit card issuing, and now it’s retooled its digital platform to issue credit cards, too.

Rapid changes in payments and regulations have blown open the door to new ideas, creating frontiers for fintech investors. Javier Perez hopes three decades of experience will help him have an early read on startups.

For years, many companies have spoken about becoming more digital, transforming their business and reducing waste, but always in the context of those journeys being multiyear projects.

Amex is giving consumers more details about certain purchases with Digital Receipts, starting with big-tech merchants and Square.

Exposure to one of the fastest growing and most controversial corners of the crypto world is now available in an index fund format.

Few businesses accept bitcoin for payments, but as Tesla and other big companies get on board that could change, says T1 Payments' Donald Kasdon.