Golden Ark, a marijuana payments startup, has launched a metaverse-based payments system. It’s developed virtual cannabis as a cryptocurrency that supports real-life cannabis authentication and transactions.
Read MorePayPal announced the launch of its “PayPal Pay Monthly” service, which lets customers pay in monthly installments for purchases between $199 and $10,000. WebBank is the lender for the service.
Read MoreBrian Brooks, former acting Comptroller of the Currency during the Trump administration, said the head of “one of the two largest banks in the United States” was considering a ban on gun purchases using the bank’s debit and credit cards. Brooks convinced the bank CEO to not go ahead with the move.
Read MoreThe Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) said Apple will comply with a ruling that requires the computing giant to allow other payments methods for dating app purchases. Penalty payments surrounding the case totaled €50M.
Read MoreDigital payments company MFS Africa acquired US-based Global Technology Partners (GTP), a card-issuing startup, which will let MFS issue virtual debit cards to its customers. MFS Africa paid $34M for GTP through cash and shares.
Read MoreThis morning at its 2022 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), the computing giant introduced attendees to Apple Pay Later, a proprietary buy now pay later (BNPL) service. Goldman Sachs is the lender for the instalment loans.
Read MoreThe Royal Bank of Canada announced that it will combat fraud by combining card and biometric authentication with a PIN authentication via mobile apps. Canadians lost more than $300M to fraud in 2021, as compared to $80M in 2020.
Read MoreDaniel Defense, which allegedly manufactured the weapon used to kill 21 people last week at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, offers BNPL financing through the fintech Credova. Larger BNPL providers, like Affirm, Afterpay, and Klarna, do not work with firearms sellers in the U.S.
Read MoreThe international payments network, in partnership with Capgemini, a French IT services company, is testing how to interlink domestic Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) for international payments.
Read MoreIn an op-ed for MIT Technology Review, Lana Swartz, who studies the history and future of money at the University of Virginia, reflects on monetary tools that serve public interests. Cash, she argues, is the best financial technology for community and individual autonomy.
Read MorePlaid announced that it’s launching products that offer identity verification, which hopes to make account linking and identity verification a simultaneous process. The company is also moving into ACH payments.
Read MoreThe payments giant announced the launch of its Biometric Checkout Program, which lets customers pay by smiling or waving their hand over a reader. It will first be used at five supermarkets in Brazil as a pilot program.
Read MoreThe BNPL provider announced that it will offer its solution on Fiserv point-of-sale technology, including the Carat commercial system as well as Clover POS devices at brick-and-mortar stores. Visa announced a similar partnership with FIS last week.
Read MoreAccording to Meta’s Head of Fintech, Stephane Kasriel, the company is rebranding Facebook Pay as Meta Pay to emphasize interoperability across its platforms, and to reflect Meta’s investment in the metaverse. People across 160 countries currently use Facebook Pay.
Read MoreVisa announced that it’s added a BNPL option to its “Visa Ready” program. Unlike traditional BNPL solutions, Visa’s product also lets consumers opt into BNPL installments at point-of-sale through virtual cards, not just online.
Read MoreThe Financial Revolutionist is weekly newsletter and blog focused on the torrid pace of financial innovation. Today, thanks to the exponential rate of technological change, explosion in global trade and new regulations ushered in by the Great Financial Crisis, a new financial revolution is under way. In this battle, virtually every aspect of the greater financial services sector is subject to rigorous challenge. With the Financial Revolutionist, we are aspiring to create a boots-on-the-ground and highly opinionated assessment of important financial innovation developments in the past week.
