Federal Reserve Board Chair Janet Yellen said today that the central bank does not have the power to supervise Bitcoin, the most widely-recognized digital currency.

The Royal Canadian Mint, which casts coins for the Canadian federal government, has started a pilot test of its MintChip digital currency. Through these tests, the Mint must make clear what this new currency is and what it is not.

Dash Software LLC, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based mobile payment provider that targets restaurants and bars, has raised $1.2 million in investment to launch its updated iPhone app in Manhattan.

The U.S. payments industry has long agreed to disagree on the way to properly route EMV debit transactions, stalling the country's shift to chip-based cards. First Data hopes its decision to support and share Visa's technology will finally break the stalemate.

Sterling Bancorp in Montebello, N.Y., has signed a long-term merchant servicing agreement with e-commerce and payment processing firm First Data Corp.

The payments industry still has much to do before anyone can claim mobile payments are secure. Many merchants, consumers, and processors are mistakenly comfortable with notion that encryption equals full security.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) wants federal regulators to ban Bitcoin.

The Dutch startup Eaze introduced a "Nod to Pay" app for Google Glass that uses the headset's camera and ability to sense motion to enable Bitcoin payments.

Now that the Internet Corporation for Names and Numbers (ICANN) has approved the use of the Internet domain ".creditunion," CUNA says it has set up a mechanism for CUs to register their interest.

Revel Systems and Index are partnering to bring the kind of personalized consumer messaging that's common in e-commerce to the countertops of retail stores.

IKaaz is launching a Near Field Communication mobile payments platform in Nigeria to take advantage of the proliferation of mobile devices locally and in other nations in Africa.

The e-commerce technology provider Live Gamer Inc. is incorporating MasterCard's MasterPass digital wallet into its checkout services.

Square has purchased BookFresh, a company that sells booking and appointment management technology to merchants.

Square is developing an app that allows people to place orders in advance of visits to Square merchants.

Visa Inc. and First Data's Star Network will share Visa's technology for routing debit transactions initiated through EMV chip-based cards.

After every major Samsung product unveiling this week, PayPal was quick to say: we have an app for that.

CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski wants his company, Klarna AB, to be the Apple of European payments. That is to say, he is trying to earn a reputation for being "better than the rest in every small detail… of technology and innovation."

For years, the U.S. has been divided on whether EMV-chip cards should be deployed as chip-and-PIN cards or the simpler chip-and-signature. After the Target data breach drew attention to the threat of data theft, the PIN debate seems to have lost its edge but it hasn't gone away.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. will issue chip-and-PIN credit cards this year, a deviation from the company's earlier plans to issue only chip-and-signature cards.

JPMorgan Chase plans to develop a one-click checkout option for its customers when shopping online or through mobile devices.