Payments

When bicycle purchases surged during the pandemic as people flocked to new outdoor activities, many bike dealers were frustrated by strained supply chains and tight access to capital.

Transit and parking draw new users to mobile wallets, and Google is expanding both features to add use cases for its payment app.

The uncertainty and changeable environment requires lots of options, says Ivalua's Arnaud Malarde.

Billionaire Elon Musk defended Tesla Inc.’s $1.5 billion Bitcoin investment on Twitter, calling the cryptocurrency a “less dumb” version of cash.

The shift to digital is permanent, creating an opportunity to reassess long-term strategy, says Greynier Fuentes.

Unsecured personal lending has fallen as many consumers have stashed away cash and paid down credit card balances during the pandemic. The trend probably won’t reverse course anytime soon.

Japan has long been known for its heavy use of cash, which is a burden for banks that are trying to move more services online. Maintaining ATMs alone costs about 700 billion yen ($6.6 billion) annually and another 100 billion yen is spent handling cash at branch counters, Nomura Research Institute estimates.

Local payment methods can win big at e-gaming

Marqeta reached a $4 billion valuation over the last decade focusing only on prepaid and debit card issuing, and now it’s retooled its digital platform to issue credit cards, too.

Rapid changes in payments and regulations have blown open the door to new ideas, creating frontiers for fintech investors. Javier Perez hopes three decades of experience will help him have an early read on startups.