Disruptors

Square has released a new mobile card reader that is meant to improve accuracy and durability.

Nacha says the industry wants faster processing and is “working to make it happen in a way that is a win-win for all.” The biggest banks are in no rush.

RevolutionCredit is looking to partner with creditors on its behavior data software for underwriting and prospecting.

McDonald’s has more than 34,000 locations in nearly 120 countries, making it an ideal testing ground for payments innovation. As such, many payments providers try get on its menu.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) this week.

Many of the payments industry's longtime veterans and new entrants started their careers in other industries or founded their companies with a different purpose in mind. Here are some highlights from the many diverse career paths in the payments world.

Google Wallet now offers a plastic Google Wallet debit card designed as an alternative to using a smartphone to pay at the point of sale.

The buzzy credit card consolidator, at least in its initial incarnation, doesn’t render wallets redundant or, even, allow the consumer to do anything they can’t already.

The copier company-turned-business processing outsourcer for banks and other companies is testing a new option for at-home agents: pods, complete with work desks and video capabilities, that are designed to serve as a private workspace for remote staff.

Square has updated the design of its Square Register app in an attempt to improve user navigation and provide a consistent experience across different operating systems such as Google's Android and Apple's iOS 7.

PayPal's freshly announced support of in-app payments for Uber and McDonald's illustrate that the eBay unit is fast adapting to a world that demands more of its payments technology vendors.

PayPal is moving into more modern marketplaces through a deal with car-service company Uber Technologies Inc.

As a fast, low-cost payment system, Bitcoin provides healthy competition for legacy banks. It's also a bulwark for financial privacy and freedom of speech.

Lew Goodwin, head of Green Dot Bank, and Alex Sion, president of Moven, hope to draw market share away from traditional banks with their digital banking offerings. One method: telling consumers at all times where their money is.

With their regulatory status, refined customer identity procedures and global infrastructure, banks could offer bitcoin exchange services and lead the modernization of financial services. Instead, they’re freezing Bitcoin entrepreneurs’ accounts.

When Isis launched its mobile wallet nationwide this month, it also launched a new interface. Here's a look at what new users see when they sign up.

Isis, the mobile wallet venture led by AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless, is launching nationally after extended public tests.

Square has eliminated holds and deposit limits for manually entered transactions in the U.S., and is marketing these changes to frustrated PayPal users.

Even if it takes the payments industry months to respond to Google's use of Host Card Emulation, which simulates the signal from a Near Field Communication chip, the technology is a potential game changer.

Google Inc. sent a few tremors through the payments industry when announcing its newest Android operating system can perform contactless payments without high-level access to NFC hardware. No one could blame SimplyTapp CEO Doug Yeager if he were cheering Google on from the sidelines.