Prepaid cards

Xapo says its Bitcoin debit card will start rolling out by the end of June, and it will be accepted anywhere by using the rails of a card network, interchange fees included.

Visa Inc. has announced a new specification for reloadable prepaid providers focused on simplifying fees and disclosures.

Kiind, a business-to-business gifting startup, has launched a reloadable account and added new funding methods to its platform to meet the demands of its business clients for payment flexibility.

Prepaid card provider Contis Group is combining its loyalty and other closed-loop card products into a single business unit to make its gift card operation more agile.

Kalixa has purchased PXP Solutions, a U.K.-based provider of in-store payment technology.

Prepaid product and transaction services company InComm has launched a platform for mobile payments and commerce.

Loyalty programs can be a challenge because in Brazil's anti-coupon culture. Pizza Hut is overcoming this hurdle with a combined loyalty and prepaid card.

Cal-Bay International is developing a specialized prepaid and loyalty card for licensed marijuana dispensaries.

Consumers loaded more than $1.9 billion on American Express Co.’s prepaid cards this year through April, almost triple the amount from a year earlier, said Dan Schulman, group president of enterprise growth.

Executives at processor Total System Services can't predict which of the many existing mobile payments technologies will dominate the payments landscape of the future, but they plan to aggressively go after the processing business that follows.

MasterCard plans to launch au Wallet, a prepaid card program that will be available to subscribers of Japanese mobile operator KDDI's au-brand mobile network.

Better ATM Services, a provider of prepaid cards delivered through ATMS, announced that the company's president and CEO, Todd Nuttall, will assume a new role as EVP of enabling technologies.

Stockpile is selling what it describes as a new twist on gift cards. Instead of offering a card or a voucher, the startup allows consumers to give an investment in a publicly traded company.

When mainstream banks reacted to Target's holiday-season breach by reissuing cards, their biggest worry was active accounts. But for a prepaid card issuer like Green Dot, the inactive cards on retailers' shelves were also a significant concern.

Consumer travel is a growing opportunity for prepaid, although it is growing more rapidly overseas than in the United States, according to Bertrand Sosa, president of Rev Worldwide, a payment provider focusing on the underserved market.

Kofax is using its imaging technology to allow consumers to check gift card balances.

Mobile imaging is vital to Green Dot's GoBank account, which relies on the mobile device for nearly all customer interaction.

American Express' Serve prepaid account has its roots as a digital wallet, but the card issuer is finding many of its enrollments are coming through a very non-digital process: in-person activations at mobile phone stores.

Total System Services Inc. plans to build upon NetSpend's new partnerships with Western Union and Paychex to boost its presence in the prepaid card market, which it says can reach 68 million underserved consumers throughout the world.

Commuters in Sydney, Australia now have the option to use a contactless smart card to pay train fare.