Disruptors

Birch Coffee has used Square's mobile card reader for its delivery service for about two years, and was one of the first to switch to the new Square Market e-commerce site ahead its launch.

MasterCard has begun offering U.S. merchants and developers Simplify Commerce, a product of MasterCard labs, the Purchase, N.Y. card network's research and development lab.

Payments startup Clinkle has attracted a long roster of Silicon Valley investors for its new payments technology, which is expected to debut within the next year.

CCBill has developed a portal to help merchants analyze data produced by payments to spot purchasing patterns and other trends that can tie past transactions to future business strategy.

Space travel and tourism are achievable dreams for the near future, and PayPal aims to reach the final frontier before its rivals do.

American Banker's Sean Sposito reports on his first day using Google Glass, the tech giant's head-mounted computer.

What does the future of payments look like through Google Glass? Reporter Sean Sposito got ahold of Google's wearable new gadget, and delivers his first impressions.

Small business online service provider Web.com has incorporated MasterCard's digital wallet, MasterPass, into its offerings, enabling MasterCard to dramatically and quickly expand MasterPass' merchant base.

Bank of America, which is testing the use of QR codes for payment at five merchants and uses the same technology at the teller line, reports success in using the codes to enroll customers in its mobile banking app.

Call it a sign of the times, but something is definitely changing as face-to-face purchases of bitcoin are booming worldwide.

First Trade Union Bank has unveiled FT Pay, a mobile payment and loyalty app powered by LevelUp. The relationship represents LevelUp's first foray into the traditional banking industry with a technology it has typically sold under its own brand.

Square Inc. now allows its merchants to establish an online store through the Square Register app.

With its newest update, Lemon Wallet is offering a 15-day free trial of its paid Wallet Plus service, a marketing scheme to whet consumers' appetites for the payments-capable mobile wallet it plans to roll out in the next couple of weeks.

Much must still be clarified about the new currencies and few have developed viable or secure business models that warrant defensive movement from the traditional banking sector just yet.

Australian bank anticipates that IBM's Jeopardy-winning computer will help financial advisors provide quick yet valuable advice.

Vocalink, a London-based payments provider, is launching a new company called Zapp, which enables consumers to make real-time payments with their mobile device by linking their mobile phone number to a bank account.

Square Inc. is active in the U.S., Canada and Japan — and a recent post to its Twitter account indicates its next move is imminent.

Lending Club is backing Tritium Racing and its 73-foot offshore trimaran (now named after its sponsor) in the Transpacfic Yacht Race, which begins in July near Los Angeles and finishes in Honolulu. Its CEO, Renaud Laplanche, will be on the race crew.

Season ticket holders of the Washington Nationals professional baseball team will soon pay for concessions and souvenirs with the same smart card they use to enter Nationals Park.

Banks may believe they can provide the best mobile wallet experience — but most have done very little to create their own product.