Beer and wine are often used to lower inhibitions about anything new. Why should payment technology be any different? Many companies that manufacture or sell alcohol are at the forefront of payments innovation.

Drync, a wine-related software developer, is using Google Wallet to distill the complex process of shopping for wine from a mobile app.

At first glance, it might seem discouraging that eBay and PayPal each list only one woman on their respective executive leadership teams, but to Sarah Hodkinson, director of offers and marketing at PayPal, "looking at leadership in such a narrow, title-driven way is a mistake." In truth, 42% of eBay's employees are women, including 28% of its leaders.

First Data India is leveraging Roam's mobile platform to launch its own branded chip-and-PIN mobile card reader in the country.

Imagine arriving at an international airport and one of the first greetings you get is from your bank, welcoming you to the new country and saying where to find free ATMs.

Amazon's launch of a mobile card reader should force many mobile point of sale companies to reevaluate whether their own offerings are distinct enough to ensure their survival.

Square is seeking to gain about $200 million in funding, with part of that coming from the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, according to CNBC.

Square Cash, a person-to-person payment service Square launched in October 2013, has been redesigned to become more useful as an app-based product.

Online electronics retailer Newegg is now accepting bitcoin payments from Canadian customers.

Convenience store and gas station operator Mapco is using PayPal-funded mobile payments to keep motorists from straying to competitors' gas pumps.

Sequent has patented a payment system that allows merchants to simultaneously accept several types of cards with a single tap of a mobile device at the physical point of sale, with the goal of making mobile wallets more user-friendly.

Nearly 20 years ago, Visa executives celebrated a milestone for the card brand's global VisaNet payments network. The system could finally handle 1,000 transaction messages per second.

Citigroup Inc. has begun signing up consumers to use Citi Wallet, which is based on MasterCard's MasterPass digital wallet.

Coin's ongoing public relations fiasco illustrates that startups—especially those that have crowdfunded money from prospective customers—need to be transparent about any hiccups in the development of their technology.

Swisscard AECS AG, the Zurich-based joint venture of Credit Suisse AG and American Express, has implemented Entersekt's 3D secure-based mobile security system, Transakt.

Payza, a payment processor and digital wallet provider based in London, has launched an eGift product for customers in the United States.

The Medical research nonprofit Enduring Hearts got a quick boost from a mobile payments engine that allows consumers to donate while making purchases at a network of retailers.

The much-anticipated Coin, a programmable magnetic-stripe card that can store multiple payment accounts, is getting another rush of attention as the company pushes the product's shipping date to next year for new orders.

As payment technology pushes into the future, innovators are coming up with unexpected ways to pay. Whether this means attaching technology to animals or sewing it into our clothing, many of these products are a leap beyond the ordinary payment card.

Zumigo, a provider of location-based mobile services, has raised $6 million in a Series B funding round.