Category: Payments

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Bitcoin Cryptocurrencies Payments

PayPal Allegedly In Talks Regarding Curv Acquisitions

PayPal’s interest in cryptocurrency may be considered one of the catalysts for the bull run cryptocurrencies have been on for the past few months.

In contrast to other companies that have gotten into cryptocurrencies, PayPal have mostly stayed out of the limelight regarding their moves in the crypto world – an approach quite different to Square’s positive statements regarding crypto as a whole, or Elon Musk taking a marked interest in Shiba Inus and tweeting saucy emojis in response to Peter Schiff’s disparaging comments.

Price Of Acquisition Rumoured To Be In The Hundreds Of Millions

Around 4 months ago, PayPal was rumoured to be in talks with BitGo, looking to buy them out for around $750 million. However, it seems the talks led nowhere – and PayPal appear to have done their shopping elsewhere.

Looking for a company that deals with cryptocurrencies in large quantities, PayPal are now apparently in talks with Curv, according to several unofficial sources.

While Calcalist – an Israeli news outlet – claims the discussed price is in the $200-300 million range, another anonymous source has stated the figure is actually closer to $500 million.

“PayPal is buying Curv for $500 million. From where I’m hearing it, I’m pretty sure it’s true.”

Another source stated that the move is logical, going by PayPal’s previous well-planned acquisitions, such as that of Venmo. However, any good business has a wealth of options – and the move into crypto is just another way of diversifying the companies’ business.

Neither Curv nor PayPal have released any statement regarding the potential business deal.

For the moment, PayPal is still offering purchases of cryptocurrency in the USA – and is planning to do the same in the UK, albeit through the third-party firm Paxos.

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Crypto Debit Cards Cryptocurrencies Payments

MasterCard Announces Crypto Support Coming This Year

In a recent blog post, Mastercard announced that they would begin supporting various cryptocurrencies later this year.

Stablecoins To Be Prioritised

Although MasterCard has not yet confirmed which cryptocurrencies will be supported natively, they have stated that they will most likely be offering more support for stablecoins.

This is due to the fact that as a credit card company, they want to offer as much stability as possible to clients.

However, the company has stated that they would not be hosting stashes of cryptocurrency directly – instead, they’ve created partnerships with companies such as Wirex, BitPay, and LVL who will convert fiat to crypto and vice versa – and only then will the “crypto” enter the Mastercard network.

Mastercard went on to say that their entire philosophy revolves around offering customers as much freedom of choice as possible – and given the widespread interest in cryptocurrency that shows no sign of stopping, adding support for cryptocurrencies was the logical choice.

“Our philosophy on cryptocurrencies is straightforward: It’s about choice. Mastercard isn’t here to recommend you start using cryptocurrencies. But we are here to enable customers, merchants, and businesses to move digital value – traditional or crypto – however, they want. It should be your choice, it’s your money. Doing this work will create a lot more possibilities for shoppers and merchants, allowing them to transact in an entirely new form of payment.”

The credit card company has also stated that they’ve engaged several central banks looking into creating CBDCs – a cryptocurrency that is backed by a central banking system. Examples of countries looking into CBDCs are Australia, China, France, Germany, and the USA. According to the blogpost, MasterCard provided some of these banks with a virtual environment to test these out.

MasterCard isn’t the only company dabbling in cryptocurrency, however; Visa has also been expanding its horizons and investing in crypto-affiliated fintech firms.

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Australia Crypto News Payments

Australian Wristwatch Brand, Jacopo Dondi now Accepts Crypto Payments

Australian Wristwatch Brand, Jacopo Dondi now Accepts Crypto Payments

It’s no longer news that cryptocurrency adoption in Australia is increasing significantly, especially since the past year. Many investors in the country have allocated a reasonable percentage of their portfolio in one or more popular cryptos like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), etc. 

Additionally, Crypto News Australia recently reported that the crypto and blockchain industry in Australia had a massive growth in the number of new companies over the past year. Perhaps, it’s quite easy to forecast that Australia is likely to see more adoption this year, as local companies are also starting to integrate support for digital currency payments.

This will allow crypto users in Australia to purchase items with digital currencies in addition to fiat currency. 

Aussie Watchmaker Embraces Cryptocurrency

Jacopo Dondi, a young watch brand based in Australia, has integrated a payment function that will enable customers in the country and beyond, to order wristwatches using cryptocurrencies. According to the information on Monday, the company is open to accepting payments with Bitcoin, Ether, and Litecoin at the moment. Thus, customers can purchase items online using these cryptos or other traditional payment mediums.

The founders of the company noted in the report that they have been investing in cryptocurrencies recently; hence the idea to start accepting them was an easy and logical step for their business.

“We understand that many people still find the volatility of cryptocurrencies a huge risk, and they certainly can be in the short term, but there is a growing number of people that have realized that this is where the world is likely heading anyway and that over a longer period of time, they’re not as risky as they appear.”

The Aussie wristwatch brand was launched through a crowdfunding platform, Kickstarter, in 2016. Following the development today, Jacopo Dondi is probably the latest company in the country to accept payments in digital currency. As cryptocurrency continues to go mainstream and price rallying, more companies in Australia are likely to follow suit.

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Australia Crypto News Europe Payments

Native Support For AUD Coming Soon To Neobank Strike

A Chicago-based neobank startup capitalizing on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, Zap Inc. has launched native support for EUR, GBP, and CHF on their banking and wallet service Strike – and announced that native support for AUD and CAD will be coming soon.

Smaller Fees For International Currency Exchange

As the first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin is starting to show it’s age, technologically speaking – which is why the Lightning Network was proposed as a solution to the number 1 cryptocurrencies’ scalability issues. It  is a “layer 2” payment protocol that operates through a peer-to-peer system in order to make micropayments of cryptocurrency using a network of bidirectional payment channels without delegating custody of funds.

The neobank intends to take advantage of this in order to eliminate the often arbitrary exchange rates used to send money through banks – or fast payment processors like PayPal. Although countries that are part of the SEPA network can often perform banking transactions almost instantly, long delays are part and parcel for many dealing with international transfers.

Jack Mallers – the Chicago-based founder of Zap – stated that the goal of his company remains in line with the original vision of Bitcoin, namely to allow large numbers of people to access the financial system quickly and cheaply.

“This will allow billions of people around the world to access the financial system in a simple low-cost way, fulfilling the original vision and promise of Bitcoin. [..] We can move any physical value anywhere in the world for no variable cost. Transaction finality from one point to another for free.”

Zap are not the first company using blockchain for quicker and easier money transfers. MoneyGram uses Ripple’s On Demand Liquidity (ODL) solutions for some money transfers, although they have denied using it for direct transfer of consumer funds, digital or not.

However, the current predicament Ripple Labs find themselves in may give other blockchain-powered payment methods some time in the spotlight – and it may be Zap’s time to shine.

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Blockchain Cryptocurrencies Payments

Visa To Integrate US Dollar Coin (USDC) System

The heavy-hitting financial institution has announced its plan to connect its global payments network to the U.S. Dollar Coin (USDC).

Taking Advantage Of An Already Large Network

Developed on the Ethereum blockchain by Circle Internet Financial, the cryptocurrency is currently worth about $2.9 billion. Once the system becomes available to Visa’s vast network of over 60 million merchants, the cryptocurrency will be able to be traded on the Visa network.

Although Visa is not planning to hold any USDC itself, the company will any interested parties on the Visa network to implement the software necessary to trade USDC into their system.

Circle Internet Financial will complete Visa’s Fast Track program itself – probably in the first half of 2021. Fast Track is a Visa program geared towards “cutting edge fintechs”, aiming to bring them into the Visa ecosystem.

According to Terry Angelos – Senior Vice President and global head of Fintech at Visa – Fast Track is designed to help small fintech companies unlock their true potential.

“Our goal is to bring cutting-edge Fintechs into the Visa ecosystem, to help them grow and scale their business in record time. Through programs like Fast Track, Visa is committed to helping Fintechs, many of which are small businesses, advance their potential and get into market quickly, so they are ready to provide innovations that move the world forward everyday – especially in current times.”

After the program is completed, Visa will begin issuing credit cards that will allow businesses to send and receive payments in USDC.

Cuy Sheffield – the head of the crypto department at Visa – stated that he foresees rapid adoption of crypto by businesses who opt in.

“This will be the first corporate card that will allow businesses to be able to spend a balance of USDC.  And so we think that this will significantly increase the utility that USDC can have for Circle’s business clients.”

Although there are already crypto cards on the Visa network – such as the Binance card – this will be the first time a crypto Visa card is issued that is not tied to any crypto trading platform.

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Blockchain Crypto News Payments Ripple

Ripple Is Selling About A Third Of Their MoneyGram Stocks

Ripple Labs, Inc. has announced that they are selling 4 million of their MoneyGram shares, worth about 33% of their stock in the company.

Relationships Between The Two Companies Remains Unchanged

However, a spokesperson for Ripple Labs stated that this should not be taken as an indication that the two partner companies are having a falling out – rather, Ripple is trying to take advantage of the recent boom in MoneyGram stock price.

“Ripple is a proud partner in MoneyGram’s digital growth transformation. This is purely a judicious financial decision to realize some gains on Ripple’s MGI [MoneyGram International] investment and is in no way a reflection of the current state of our partnership.

We will remain a significant shareholder in MoneyGram following the sale – in just over a year, we’ve made incredible progress and look forward to continuing to work alongside Moneygram to transform cross-border payments.”

At the time this article was written, MoneyGram (MGI) stock is valued at USD 7.42, a massive leap from the USD 2.06 price tag they had back on the 2nd of January.

MoneyGram and Ripple Labs partnered up last year, making Ripple Labs’ xRapid technology available to MoneyGram, who were seeking to update their traditional money transfer MO. xRapid uses Ripple (XRP) to speed up payments and add an extra level of security to them by using Blockchain. The xRapid technology has since been rebranded and is now known as the ODL (On-Demand Liquidity) network.

According to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from the 27th of November, Ripple currently owns 8.6% equity in MoneyGram, equal to 6.24 million shares.

Ripple Labs also have the opportunity to buy 5.96 million MoneyGram shares under a warrant – however, seeing as Ripple Labs have already put up the aforementioned 4 million MGI shares for sales, this seems unlikely for the moment.

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Australia Payments

Australian Digital Banking Platform, Novatti, Expands Across 179 Countries By Partnering With UnionPay

Novatti, an Australian fintech company, has expanded and improved its payments network — by partnering with UnionPay, a global card payment company.

Now Novatti, a leading digital banking platform, listed in the Australian Stock Market (ASX) — has expanded its payments network service across 179 countries by partnering with UnionPay — which has 8.4 cards issued globally. Driving immense growth for the company.

“We are thrilled to be partnering with UnionPay, a leading global card payment company. Through this partnership, Novatti will drive continued growth in our payment processing business, delivering further value from our existing platforms and technology.” 

Managing Director of Novatti, Peter Cook, stated in a press release.

Only in Australia, 90 % of ATMs accept UnionPay, as well as 80 % of sale terminals, and major retailers such as Cole and Target. This association will expand Novatti’s growing list of global partners, like Visa, Google Pay, and Decta. 

Novatti Is Not The Only Improving Australian Fintech Platform 

Another Australian fintech platform that recently improved its payment services is RaleyPay — a cryptocurrency exchange that implemented a simple and efficient method by allowing their users to pay their bills or make online shop integrations with Shopify, WooCommerce & Magento, all with Bitcoin or Ethereum.

Now Australians can buy Bitcoin or Ethereum with AUD via PayID or bank transfer — or spend their cryptocurrencies on E-commerce sites.

RaleyPay converts the crypto transactions to fiat, at the moment the transaction is made. This method bridges the gap between traditional fiat and the expanding market of the crypto world.

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Australia Crypto News Europe Payments

Digital Payment Platform Azimo Launches In Australia

Azimo – a payment platform headquartered in Amsterdam – has recently launched in Australia.

 A country known for it’s thriving payment platform industry, Holland is well-known across Europe for its innovative banking solutions such as iDEAL or bunq.

A Cryptocurrency-Friendly Platform For Payments

Although not as well-known in the industry as the aforementioned platforms, Azimo has been operating in Europe for the past 8 years with little to no hitches – and bring something special to the market.

Azimo is a user of Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity Solution (ODL).

Ripple’s ODL service uses the XRP cryptocurrency asset to provide instant payments in over 45 countries and can reduce liquidity costs by up to 60% when compared to old-school banking practices.

Dora Ziambra – the Chief Operations Officer of Azimo – stated that Azimo identified Australia and the APAC region in general as a more attractive market than the USA, likely owing to the fact that the Australian public and private sectors as a whole have proven far more interested in blockchain technology than their NA counterparts.

According to Richard Ambrose – the CEO of Azimo – the use of digital assets to reduce payment SLAs has interested them for quite some time.

“We’ve been interested for a long time in the potential of digital assets like XRP to make cross-border payments better for customers. Ripple’s ODL solution has significantly reduced the cost and delivery time for cross-border transfers, and our customers are seeing the benefits. As more banks and financial institutions use ODL, we believe it has the potential to replace current methods of foreign exchange trading and to reduce settlement time to close to zero.”

Boasting a money transfer SLA of under 24 hours, Azimo seems poised to be a competitive choice for Australians looking to send and receive quick payments worldwide. 

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Australia Crypto News Payments Ripple

Ripple Launches New Trademark Following PayID Debacle

This August, Ripple was the subject of a lawsuit served up by NPPA, a payment platform serving countless users across Australia. 

The dispute started over the use of the “PayID” name in Australia —  which the NPPA was already using. 

The NPPA claimed that Ripple’s actions constituted deceptive conduct — in breach of both the Australian Security and Investments Act and Australian Consumer Law.

In a statement, the NPPA claimed that Australian investors — as well as regular users of their PayID platform — were at risk, as they could have been liable to confusion arising from the shared name.

PayID — the payment platform run by the NPPA — has served more than 68 million bank accounts ever since it’s launch 2 years ago.

“The aim of this action is to protect Australian consumers and businesses from potential losses or scams that could arise as a result of confusion created from a payments service using the same name.”

Ripple Rebrands 

Back in August, Neil Murray SC —  a counselor for Ripple Labs — stated that they would look for options, wishing to resolve the issue amicably if possible.

Last week, Ripple Labs filed a trademark for their rebranded platform with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. 

Named Paystring, the new trademark has not been explained by Ripple — nevertheless, it is worth noting that the logo used has remained the same except for the name, as well as the trademark description itself. 

“[The]…trademark registration is intended to cover the categories of electronic financial services, namely, monetary services for receiving and disbursing remittances and monetary gifts in fiat currencies and virtual currencies over a computer network and for exchanging fiat currencies and virtual currencies over a computer network.”

Taking into consideration these similarities, it is quite probable that this trademark will be used to relaunch the service in Australia, free of legal issues.

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Crypto Exchange Cryptocurrencies Payments

Huobi Simplifies Transactions

Following the support added for Banxa earlier this month, Huobi has taken more steps to increase the ease with which people around the world can buy cryptocurrency.

Native Support

Huobi has added support worldwide for Visa and Mastercard credit and debit cards. This update will allow Huobi users to carry out transactions on the platform itself without being redirected to a third-party payment gateway.

Although Huobi supported Visa and Mastercard users before, a user attempting to make a payment or receive money through these cards was sent to a third-party processor – which often required users to go through another KYC process even after they had completed KYC for Huobi.

In an attempt to clear up confusion, Huobi has created a new entity – Huobi Gibraltar – in order to be able to process payments without extra steps for users situated in Europe and Australia, according to Ciara Sun, the Vice President of Global Business at Huobi Group.

“By removing an extra step in the user journey, we’re creating a frictionless experience.”

New currencies with native support from Huobi include – but are not limited to – AUD, ALL, BGN, CHF, CZK, DKK, EUR, GBP, HRK, HUF, MDL, MKD, NOK, PLN, RON, SEK, TRY, UAH, HKD, and USD.

Huobi is currently the third-largest crypto exchange on the globe – if we’re going by volume. As of October 27, the company also holds the largest amount of Bitcoin in cold wallets of any company.

Cold wallets are never connected to the internet unless they are plugged into a PC or mobile device – if you are a personal user – or a server rack in order to transfer cryptocurrency.