Visa, Mastercard, PayPal and Stripe are reportedly unsure whether they wish to become paid-up participants in Facebook’s Libra digital currency. According to a Bloomberg article on Oct. 2 — citing “people familiar with the matter” — the four payment giants have reservations about the social network’s project. Sources: Facebook “oversold” regulator support The companies formed part of the cohort which originally said they wished to act as nodes for Libra, subject to a fee of $10 million. Libra has since faced a major backlash from regulators worldwide and the four now share concerns their own reputations could suffer. According to …

United Kingdom-based digital banking app Revolut announced a major partnership with Visa to expand its services globally across 24 new markets, including North America. According to a Sept. 30 press release, this will bring 56 markets worldwide in total into Revolut’s reach. North, Latin American and Asian markets Per the release, the terms of the agreement stipulate that Revolut will primarily issue Visa-branded cards as it pursues its global expansion push. Visa will enable the app to launch services initially in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore and the United States. This first group of jurisdictions will be …

Customers of major crypto exchange Binance can now purchase crypto directly using debit and credit cards via payment processing firm Koinal. 2.5% fee for buying crypto from Visa and MasterCard Binance users can now buy crypto using their Visa and MasterCard debit and credit cards, the company announced in a blog post on Sept. 25. Using Koinal, Binance clients are able to buy five cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), XRP and Bitcoin Cash ABC (BCHABC), the post notes. The London-based payment processor charges 2.5% per transaction, with the purchased assets on average taking five to 20 minutes …

Many cryptocurrency analysts and industry representatives are predicting that the increasing integration of blockchain payments with messenger apps will comprise the catalyst for the next wave of mainstream distributed ledger technology (DLT) adoption. However, critics are warning that the blockchain payments integrated with messenger apps may undermine many of the core values underpinning cryptocurrency. They predict that the majority of individuals’ economic activities may occur with centralized mediation from a handful of large companies. In turn, they may be able to profit from the mass of financial data that will be yielded through the mass adoption of DLT payments integrated …

A fiat-to-crypto exchange has unveiled a new feature enabling its consumers to buy Bitcoin and Ether using credit cards. BiboxEurope says it offers a much-needed bridge between fiat and crypto thanks to its Insta-Buy function, which paves the way for major coins to be acquired using euros and British pounds. According to the company, cryptocurrency that’s purchased using a Visa or MasterCard credit card subsequently arrives in the customer’s account within 10 minutes. Compared with fiat-to-crypto offerings by other exchanges, BiboxEurope says its fees are a user-friendly, competitive 2.9%. Other rivals in this space, such as Binance and Coinbase, charge …

London-based banking alternative Monolith announced its partnership with decentralized finance companies Digix and MakerDAO, Aug. 15. As part of its drive for digital payment adoption in e-commerce, DGX, DGD and DAI tokens will now be loadable onto the Monolith Visa debit card. A critical bridge between the worlds of decentralized finance and retail Effective immediately, users who sign up for a Monolith Visa debit card will be able to load it up with MakerDAO and Digix’s digital currencies through the Monolith mobile app. The currencies can then be used for everyday purchases, bill payments and to send and receive money. …

The emergence of blockchain technology has undoubtedly altered the course of global digital payment development. With the likes of Ripple and Facebook’s Libra challenging the monopoly of banks and other financial institutions, mainstream players like SWIFT, Visa and Mastercard have been forced to seek significant improvements to the legacy system. Moving forward, the burning issue appears to be relevance. Blockchain systems run on the premise of replacing the legacy system with a more secure and efficient payment infrastructure. The mainstream players seem forced to face the quintessential evolutionary puzzle of “adapt or die out.” Like in every technological race, competitors …

Alfred F. Kelly Jr., the CEO of Visa, said that no companies have officially joined Libra. At this stage, the 20-some companies involved with the foundation have reportedly only declared interest via a nonbinding letter of intent. According to an apparent transcript of a Q3 2019 earnings call for Visa dated July 23, Kelly said: "We have signed a nonbinding letter of intent to join Libra. We're one of — I think it's 27 companies that have expressed that interest. So no one has yet officially joined." As per the transcript, Kelly was responding to an inquiry from Bryan C. …

Until recently, cryptocurrency debit cards appeared to fall short of expectations. Despite many failed efforts in recent years, crypto debit cards are enjoying a second wind thanks to a surge in crypto prices over the summer. With some of the crypto world’s biggest names launching crypto debit cards, Cointelegraph takes a look at the latest updates in the burgeoning payments sector. What are cryptocurrency debit cards and how do they work? Cryptocurrency debit cards are almost exactly the same as the bank card you carry around every day in your wallet, except for the fact that you can use them …

Ethereum’s co-founder Mihai Alisie is extremely concerned that Facebook is attempting to hoodwink regulators into approving a centralized “cryptocurrency,” according to a report by Bloomberg on July 11. In an interview with Bloomberg, Alisie stressed that Facebook is attempting to get regulator approval for its yet-to-be-released virtual currency Libra by claiming that it will not be centrally controlled by Facebook, or other business giants, five years down the line. Alisie reportedly said that Facebook intends "to mislead the regulators who have learned in the last few years that blockchain is not something that can easily be regulated [...] It should …

Once seen by the mainstream zeitgeist as a fringe technology destined to languish on the outskirts of society, cryptocurrency today is alluring many leaders of the fintech sector by offering companies the prospect of being at the forefront of the largest financial revolution of the past century. With mainstream society increasingly accepting Bitcoin (BTC) as a means of payment, financial firms are increasingly seeking to offer a frictionless and convenient means for consumers to make payments using crypto. Square introduces BTC deposits On June 26, San Francisco-based mobile payments provider Square announced that users of the company’s Cash App can …

Global payment giant Visa has recorded its second investment in a crypto project by leading a $40 million funding round of Anchorage startup, according to a Fortune report on July 10. Visa has reportedly led the round along with major cryptocurrency venture capital (VC) firm Blockchain Capital to support institutional-grade crypto custody service Anchorage, which previously raised $17 million in an investment led by Andreessen Horowitz. In the new round, both the amount of Visa’s contribution and Anchorage’s private valuation were not disclosed, the report notes. Both Visa and Anchorage are founding members of Facebook’s cryptocurrency project Libra, which was …