American e-commerce giant Amazon is developing a new service that will allow its customers to shop using digital currency, according to the company’s job postings. According to an official job application on Amazon, the company is now building a tech team to enable a new digital currency service. Currently known as a “Digital and Emerging Payments,” or DEP, project, the service will initially roll out in Mexico, allowing local people to buy crypto with cash to spend digital currency while shopping. The job posting reads: “We are looking for a leader to help us launch a new payment product starting …
Visa officially announced on Thursday that it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire Currencycloud, a fintech platform supporting about 500 banking and technology clients across more than 180 countries. The new acquisition aims to improve Visa’s foreign exchange business and expand them to serve financial institutions, fintechs and partners. The deal will specifically improve Visa’s payment transparency and speed, the company’s global treasurer Colleen Ostrowski said, stating: “The acquisition of Currencycloud is another example of Visa executing on our network of networks strategy to facilitate global money movement. Consumers and businesses increasingly expect transparency, speed and simplicity when making …
If 2021 has taught us anything about digital currencies, it’s that big banks and major payments providers are now feeling more comfortable with Bitcoin (BTC). While the CEO of PayPal and other large corporations are expressing excitement for crypto payments and salaries paid in Bitcoin, executives from Visa, JPMorgan and ING all agree that Bitcoin is still an investment vehicle rather than a currency. This notion was revealed during a panel discussion entitled “Buying with Bitcoin,” which took place during Forbes’ “2021 Blockchain 50 Symposium: Crypto Goes Corporate” online event. Michael del Castillo, associate editor at Forbes, led the discussion …
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 …
The number of Litecoin (LTC) transactions has rebounded to over 140,000 in recent days after falling close to the 100,000 mark in early October. Three days prior, the Litecoin Foundation tweeted about the launch of its LTC Visa Debit card, powered by fintech firm Unbanked. According to the card's homepage, potential customers would first register for a Litecoin Card account, deposit LTC into a specific wallet address, pass a know-your-customer check, and receive a virtual Litecoin Card. The service claims that the sign-up process takes less than five minutes. The Litecoin card is meant to enable users to spend their …