Amazon and Visa agree to end global dispute over credit card fees - Amazon has been piling pressure on Visa to lower its fees, in a series of moves that signaled growing frustration from retailers over the costs associated with major card networks, as well as the tech giant’s market power and sway over its partners. Read more
US accuses financial website of spreading Russian propaganda - The officials said Zero Hedge, which has 1.2m Twitter followers, published articles created by Moscow-controlled media that were then shared by outlets and people unaware of their nexus to Russian intelligence. The officials did not say whether they thought Zero Hedge knew of any links to spy agencies and did not allege direct links between the website and Russia. Read more
Divorcing couples fight over the kids, the house and now the crypto - An ugly divorce tends to generate arguments about virtually everything, but the difficulty of tracking and valuing cryptocurrency is creating new headaches. In many cases, divorce lawyers said, spouses underreport their holdings, or try to hide funds in online wallets that can be difficult to get into. Read more
Quick cash, easy sales: iBuyers are grabbing more of the real estate market - While still relatively small, the iBuyer sector could have an outsized impact on the industry, which is currently grappling with a shortage of available homes. Some builders have seen iBuyers as a way to ensure the quick sales of homes. Opendoor has partnered with Lennar, and Offerpad has partnered with Taylor Morrison. If that proves effective, it could help spur more construction. Read more
Fireblocks acquires crypto payments processor First DAG in cash-and-stock deal - First DAG is building a crypto payments platform to help merchants accept stablecoins. The platform, to be launched this spring, will now help Fireblocks enable stablecoin payouts and B2B payments with stablecoins for its institutional clients. Read more
Coinbase offers free crypto cashouts for transfers to Mexico - Coinbase announced a pilot program this week that will let Mexicans receive crypto transfers and then convert the balance into pesos by presenting a redemption code at more than 37,000 stores, which will be free of charge until March 31. To arrange the transfers, Coinbase has partnered with the money transfer service Remitly, which has relationships with Mexican retail outlets like Bansefi, BanCoppel, Oxxo, Sorina, and Telecomm Telegrafos. Read more
Buyout firm Madison Dearborn to take MoneyGram private in $1.8b deal - The Dallas-based company, with nearly $800m in net debt and more than 150m customers, became an acquisition target as it struggled to capture the growing market for payments and remittances amid competition from rivals such as Remitly Global and Western Union. Read more
JPMorgan opens a Decentraland lounge - In Decentraland, one of the most popular metaverses, the bank's Onyx lounge resides in Metajuku, a virtual version of Tokyo's Harajuku shopping district. A tiger wanders the first floor, and a picture of the bank's boss Jamie Dimon hangs on the wall. A winding staircase leads to the second floor, where a person's avatar can watch experts talk about the crypto market. Read more
FIS acquires Payrix to boost embedded payments, eCommerce and SMB financial offerings - The acquisition will allow FIS to go global at scale and includes new capabilities including digital and automated onboarding, compliance, billing and settlement, which will allow the firm to expand into new market segments, including SMB eCommerce. Read more
Crypto company Circle comes back around on SPAC deal while doubling its valuation to $9b - The company announced it has terminated its previously announced merger agreement with special-purpose acquisition company Concord Acquisition Corp., but has agreed to new terms that will double the crypto company’s valuation to $9b. The original deal with Concord was announced last July and valued the company—an issuer of USD Coin at $4.5b. However, USD Coin’s circulation has more than doubled since the original deal was announced and has now reached $52.5b. Read more
Mercado Pago starts to operate as a payment initiator in Brazil - Mercado Pago is the first company with a payment transaction initiator (ITP) license to have the service operational. This figure was created in the third phase of open banking and allows you to initiate operations at a third party without leaving the environment of the original institution, simplifying operations. Read more
Centre consortium unveils decentralized ID solution for crypto finance - Centre - a consortium founded by Circle and Coinbase to serve as a standard setting body for blockchain-based financial services - announced Verite, a decentralized model for identity credential issuance, custody and verification. Read more |
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