PayPal and Google get cozy with new digital wallet partnership
PayPal Holdings Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google deepened their relationship with a new agreement that enables payments through the tap of a phone from PayPal accounts at thousands of new retail locations. The partnership lets PayPal users link their accounts to Android Pay, Google’s digital wallet, on smartphones running most versions of the Android operating system. This makes PayPal a funding option when people use Android Pay in locations including Walgreens Boots Alliance drug stores and Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants. PayPal was added as a payment method for Google’s Play app and digital content store almost three years ago. PayPal CEO Dan Schulman has been busy cutting deals with banks, credit […]
Bitcoin payments cheaper & safer than credit cards: Cointed
Cointed is a rather young, but fast-growing Bitcoin exchange located in Kufstein, Austria. The company was founded in November 2015 by Christopher Rieder and Wolfgang Thaler and during the first year attracted more than 4,000 permanent customers. Cointed currently makes it possible to buy and sell a number of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ether, Monero, and Zcash and convert them to USD, EUR, and GBP. Expanding to Turkey Cointed is operating more than 17 Bitcoin ATM’s around Austria, France and Italy. BATMTwo and BATMThree machines are supplied by General Bytes, one of the leading Bitcoin and Blockchain technology providers. This year Cointed is planning to expand to Turkey. With the suspension […]
How Singapore is primed to build Fintech Talent
Fintech is a burgeoning industry and leveraging it is a step in the right direction for Singapore to become the world’s first “Smart Nation”—a city-state connected and empowered by technology in all facets of everyday life. Last November, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) informed the country of its commitment to invest in the fintech sector by staging the Fintech Festival in collaboration with The Association of Banks Singapore. This event saw participation from around 50 countries and more than 10,000 participants. It even saw appearances from Microsoft, Paypal, Citi, and other market biggies. Why fintech? There is no dearth of financial startups, especially in the Asian markets of China, […]
Alphavend installs second bitcoin ATM in London
Bitcoin ATM specialist, AlphaVend is pleased to announce the installation of its second London ATM, (the third nationally) strategically situated between Euston and Kings Cross underground stations. The UK’s largest independent high street provider of foreign exchange services will play host to the ATM which is located at the No1 Currency store, 128 Euston Road. Customers can buy the digital currency from the ATM, as well as all availing of the 50+ foreign currencies offered over the counter by No1 Currency. The location of the Euston Road store, which is open 7 days a week, provides a unique business opportunity with annual footfall estimated to be in excess of 6million […]
The impact of Blockchain on Trade Finance and Cybersecurity
Companies in today’s ‘digital first’ ecosystem are being forced to continuously innovate in order to stay at the forefront and remain competitive in their industry, particularly in the financial services and financial technology space. Blockchain technology is already starting to reinvent the infrastructure for global finance; anything that facilitates the frictionless flow of money. Yet blockchain is frequently associated with fraudulent ponzi schemes and trading scams. Blockchain technology sits on a consensus-driven distributed ledger that facilitates and keeps a record of all historic transactions, without the need of a third party – a concept which could revolutionise global trade, and challenge the existence and purpose of intermediaries such as commercial […]
Fintech firms see huge potential in e-commerce in Indonesia
A bright yellow sign at the front of Mr Asep Hermawan’s stall in South Jakarta reads, “We accept KJP for the purchase of school uniforms, books and pencils”. KJP is short for Kartu Jakarta Pintar, or Jakarta Smart Card – a virtual wallet similar to Singapore’s CashCard. It was introduced by the Jakarta government as a welfare benefit for students from low-income families living in the capital. “Pencils and pens are the best sellers, then books and school uniforms,” said Mr Asep. “More and more people are using KJPs to pay.” The KJP system was introduced in 2012 to disperse welfare funds and also to prevent the money from being […]
Growing demand for mobile payment services across Asia
Cashless payments are growing in Asia with consumers lured by an increasing array of services, from smartphone payment apps such as e-wallets to stored value cards and cheap online interbank transfers. Many like the convenience and safety of not having to carry cash. But the growth is not universal, and, in some countries, cash remains king because of fears of identity theft as well as the lack of infrastructure and lack of knowledge of the digital world. Insurance agent Zhang Tong goes out for lunch every day without a dollar on her. She pays for her noodles by scanning a QR code with her phone, which is also how she […]
Dublin startup Touchtech Payments makes plans for international expansion
One of the first financial technology companies in Europe to develop a solution which uses fingerprinting and retinal scanning to authenticate online payments, Dublin startup Touchtech Payments is making plans for international expansion. Operating in a market where an EU directive will require all banks to improve security by introducing a two-factor authentication by the end of 2018, Touchtech co-founder and head of products, Niall Hogan sees an opportunity to make the most of the early mover advantage. Up until now, the market has been dominated by major players offering payment authentication solutions using passwords and text messages. “There was very little innovation in this space until the fintech revolution […]
