Disruptors

While regulators and law enforcement agencies are beginning to strike a more conciliatory tone with respect to digital currency, industry players complain the technology is still being stifled by its pariah status.

Square Cash has changed a lot since it was introduced as an almost purely email-based person-to-person payments service in 2013, but the addition of its Cash Drawer feature is perhaps the biggest game-changer.

Interac, the Canadian debit network, has frequently spearheaded contactless payments innovation. It is now taking steps to extend this tradition to mobile commerce.

As wearable technology advances, it is taking a back seat to the designs that will have these high-tech features woven in.

Chase Pay is tied to the issuer's 94 million credit, debit and prepaid card accounts, representing half of U.S. households. Depending on the perspective, this means Chase's wallet either starts with — or excludes — half of the market.

SecondMarket’s founder built a successful company by creating a market for illiquid paper. Then he went all in on bitcoin. The gamble doesn’t sound quite so crazy anymore.

Chinese banks will reportedly pay half of what U.S. banks are forking over to support Apple Pay, a sizable gap that's due to Apple's relative fame in different parts of the world and the sizeable hype behind the product's U.S. launch in 2014.

The terms "peer-to-peer" and "marketplace" lending are often used interchangeably to define all manner of loans made through the Internet. The reality, though, is that aside from lacking storefronts, the many firms now operating in this arena have little in common with one another. Here's a guide to help tell them apart.

Inefficient, paper-bound processes, oligopolies that can charge high prices, the Rube Goldberg structure of correspondent banking, and excessive regulation all make it expensive for migrants to send money home. Technology is a big part of the answer.

Mondo, a U.K. challenger bank, plans to make it easy for customers to use financial products and services from other companies. Rather than giving away the store, the bank says this approach will make it a marketplace.