Building the processing tech was the easy part. Finding the right mix of users and transactions posed many challenges.

The overwhelming success of Square’s bitcoin trading service creates new opportunities for its bank to work with underserved markets.

The overwhelming success of Square’s bitcoin trading service creates new opportunities for its bank to work with underserved markets.

Toronto-based Ethoca is seeing rising demand from banks and merchants for granular details about purchases, so it’s renamed and tweaked its service delivering digital details.

The insurance industry has shied away from crypto, but as the market gets larger opportunity will arise for insurers, says InsuranceQuotes.com's Brian O'Connell.

Klarna Bank said it raised $1 billion at a valuation of $31 billion, triple the price investors gave the Swedish payments firm during its last funding round, following rapid growth in its U.S. business.

The council plays a critical role ensuring technology meets robust security needs as fraud risks rise, says MYPINPAD's Justin Pike.

Supermarkets and restaurants were already starting to go digital when the pandemic pushed hard on the gas. Expect more mobile and virtual experiences —and much less space for sit-down dining.

When managed effectively, certification bodies can coordinate industry-wide solutions to otherwise significant challenges, easing pain points and ultimately driving innovation, says Fime's Reza Rahmani Fard.

The fresh funding would recrown the Swedish company as Europe’s most valuable startup after the payments business Checkout.com was valued at $15 billion.

APIs and the cloud can help financial institutions reach consumers who have become accustomed to digital, says Episode Six's John Mitchell.

The U.K. got an earlier start on open banking implementations, prompting European merchants and fintechs to turn to payments-as-a-service providers for rapid deployment.

Making gig workers’ pay automatically available at no cost each day or after each completed shift would benefit everyone, while providing a win-win scenario for the worker and platform alike, says Payfare's Marco Margiotta.

Transit and parking draw new users to mobile wallets, and Google is expanding both features to add use cases for its payment app.

The uncertainty and changeable environment requires lots of options, says Ivalua's Arnaud Malarde.

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.