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.

Visa has accumulated a 9.99% stake in Square, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, giving a boost to the mobile point of sale company, which has faced challenges recently.

Much of the growth in wearable technology is happening without an eye to enabling payments. This is prompting many companies to find a way to add payment capabilities to wearables without forcing users to buy an entirely new device.

Silicon Valley companies like Marqeta, Stripe and Braintree cut their teeth on the open network concept, creating a place for themselves at the table of future embedded payments, instant card issuing or instant credit.

The honorees, selected by the editors of PaymentsSource, are responsible for businesses and innovations as diverse as the payments industry itself.

There have never been so many foundational changes at once in this industry, Murray said. It’s imperative that everyone in it stay on their toes and be “prepared to change direction at any moment.”

A consortium of Swiss banks hope the country's reputation for banking, technology and smartphones will give its financial institutions a commanding position for in-store and in-app payments.

Rather than partner with a startup, 45-year-old Equitable Bank in Canada created a separate brand, EQ Bank, to acquire customers who are ready for an account without a debit card.

For the first time in its nearly 60-year history, Visa is inviting third-party software developers onto its network with the goal of advancing digital commerce.

The Canadian bank's U.S. wealth management arm is moving toward a hybrid digital-human advice platform, partnering with BlackRock's FutureAdvisor to add robo tools for its 1,900 advisers.

Blockstream, a tech startup that employs several core developers of the bitcoin protocol, has raised $55 million in venture capital to develop its sidechain technology and expand its global operations.