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Alipay in three seconds
A three-second blockchain powered remittance has been completed between Hong Kong and the Philippines, according to a social media post from
The parties were AlipayHK and GCash, a Filipino payment app. Ma intends to export the model globally, noting there are about 1.7 billion unbanked people in the world. Cross-border remittance via blockchain has been one of his most important projects over the past six months, Ma said.
Ant has been
Former GoDaddy VPs go to blockchain
Marek Olszewski and Rene Reinsberg have launched Celo, a blockchain platform to support text-based mobile payments.
Celo will use a distributed ledger to allow mobile phone numbers to connect to encryption keys, reports
Olszewski and Reinsberg were vice presidents at GoDaddy, where they worked with small businesses and restaurants on web strategies.
More gloom for Europe
Not only are payment systems suffering
One in four European merchants in the retail, travel and hospitality and digital goods markets say they have been victimized by data theft, and 61% say they are at greater risk today than last year at this time, reports Ovum and ACI.
But fraud's not the only problem. Three in five merchants said lost sales in digital channels are a bigger concern than fraud.
Utility for miners
Bitcoin mining's impact on the
Hydro-Quebec, a public utility, has submitted plans to the government for a framework to mitigate the impact of bitcoin mining, reports
If approved, the utility would set aside 500 megawatts to crypto miners. Miners would apply to the utility for selection, based on the project's positive impact on Quebec.
From the Web
South China Morning Post | Mon June 25, 2018 - Hongkongers will soon be able to check their bank account balance and recent transactions via Facebook Messenger, as the US banking giant Citi plans to launch its smart chatbot in the city by the end of 2018, according to its head of digital banking Priscilla Ng.
The Times | Mon June 25, 2018 - People are increasingly concerned about the safety of their data that is held by private companies, a study has found. A survey for Three’s Connected Ireland Report for the second quarter of 2018, conducted by Amárach Research among 1,000 smartphone users throughout Ireland, found that 72 percent of people were worried about the safety of their personal information which is held by private firms.
Yahoo Finance | Mon June 25, 2018 - Thousands of people in Sweden have inserted microchips, which can function as contactless credit cards, key cards, and even rail cards, into their bodies. Once the chip is underneath your skin, there is no longer any need to worry about misplacing a card or carrying a heavy wallet.
More from PaymentsSource
South Asian remittance firm InstaReM has launched its cross-border P2P and B2B digital money transfer service in the U.K. and the EU as it prepares for an IPO in 2021. It also expects to become profitable by then.
Gromit Unleashed 2 will be incorporating contactless donation points along the art trail to aid the Bristol Children’s Hospital — a project that is as much a necessity as it is an innovation in the U.K.'s aggressively contactless environment.
From its origins as the fuel card operator Wright Express that launched 35 years ago, the fleet card provider WEX has aggressively expanded to other corporate sectors including travel and health care. But fleet cards still inspire some of the company’s most interesting innovations.
Despite a reputation for being the go-to P2P app of digital natives, Venmo is once again pushing its market in the opposite direction with the debut of a plastic card.
