A Federal Reserve-issued digital dollar could speed up payments, expand financial access and reduce financial crime. But it also brings trade-offs that policymakers are only just beginning to consider.

Consumers will still prefer minimizing physical contact, while relying on digital payments and looking forward to adopting smarter methods that are secure, convenient, and less time-consuming, says Global Market Insights' Vinisha Joshi.

It is a frustrating reality during a time of national crisis that emergency payment options for vulnerable populations remain such a complex and inefficient landscape, says Flourish Ventures' Sarah Morgenstern.

Changing regulations mix and uncertain access to international talent are among the potential challenges, but both sides favor fintech--in their own way, says QED Investors' Nigel Morris.

Reflecting the rapid transition to digital payments, PayPal has reported its strongest growth in total payment volume and revenue in its history, coupled with strong growth for Venmo, its P2P app.

Refinitiv, a global risk intelligence firm, has agreed to buy Giact, a company founded by a brother-and-sister team in Allen, Texas, in 2004 to enhance payment fraud protection and identity verification for banks and corporations.

The person-to-person network is being used more often for purchasing, with consumer payments to small businesses up sharply.

As the pandemic and economic downturn take their toll on consumer spending, the card companies are relying on scale, partnerships and subsidiaries to turn consulting, security and fast technology deployment into new and sustainable revenue streams.

MoneyGram's digital offerings are attracting different types of consumers into the company fold, CEO Alex Holmes said during the third-quarter earnings call.

The concept marries digital ID to the trend toward making the car’s internet connectivity an e-commerce lane.

For those looking to combat credit card testing, there are several tactics that merchants can employ, says T1 Payments' Donald Kasdon.

Though the COVID-19 pandemic continues to stifle economic growth globally, Western Union again pointed to its fast-growing digital services as key to keeping the company on a positive trend.

As global e-commerce grows and more sellers are attracted to the marketplace concept, it's become a challenge to keep fraudulent sellers out.

Amid the global explosion of e-commerce and demand for digital money transfers, Visa is acquiring YellowPepper to help drive tokenization and real-time payments in Latin America.

Cross-border payments provider dLocal has expanded its network services in Africa and developed new partnerships in Nigeria and Egypt.

Expect to see other credit card companies join the race to customize rewards to customers to maximize appeal and customer lifetime value, says RevTrax's Jonathan Treiber.

Even as consumers shift more spending away from cash and the market for personal travel picks up, the coronavirus pandemic is still exerting a heavy toll on Mastercard's consumer and corporate spending.

The inability for an e-commerce merchant to know about a fraud problem at another merchant checkout page can limit transaction monitoring and security.

Global expansion is challenging even under the best of circumstances – but payments don’t have to be, says Rapyd's Eric Rosenthal.

Michael Moeser, senior analyst at PaymentsSource, talks to Chris Lybeer, chief strategy officer at Revel, about the trends driving digital payments in the restaurant industry.