OLB Group (OLB), a New York-based e-commerce merchant service provider, is making it easier for businesses to accept cryptocurrency payments. OLB’s more than 8,500 merchants are now able to accept Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), USDC and DAI at the point-of-sale through the company’s OmniSoft business management platform. Customers wishing to pay with cryptocurrency in-store or through their mobile phones can simply elect to do so with their cryptocurrency wallets. All payments are processed through SecurePay, a payment gateway that authenticates the transaction, converts the cryptocurrency to U.S. dollars and approves the final sale. The decision to integrate cryptocurrency payments was …

Back in June 2019, social media giant Facebook released the details for a much-talked-about digital currency platform dubbed “Libra.” These days, Libra is known as Diem, with the project undergoing a significant rebranding in a bid to smoothen regulatory wrinkles. A year and a half later, the Diem Association has yet to launch a digital token with regulatory approval from Swiss authorities yet to materialize. Even if Switzerland’s Financial Market Supervisory Authority, or FINMA, does grant a payment license to the digital currency project, Diem will be debuting its offerings to a global landscape that is significantly more fractured in …

Yet another fine art institution is jumping on the crypto bandwagon. British artist Damien Hirst and printmaker HENI Leviathan announced Thursday the release of a print run of eight Hirst paintings, which will be available for purchase with the cryptocurrencies Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). According to the announcement, “For the first time, both HENI Leviathan and the artist Damien Hirst will be accepting Cryptocurrency for payment of editions, payments can be made by either Bitcoin or ether, as well as by credit or debit card.” The prints are available starting today and will sell through March 3. Each print …

Global money transfer service MoneyGram says it has changed its relationship with blockchain payments firm Ripple amid the latter's litigation with the Securities and Exchange Commission. According to MoneyGram's quarterly outlook, the company is "not planning for any benefit from Ripple market development fees" for the first quarter of 2021. MoneyGram said it had a more than $12 million net expense benefit from Ripple in the same quarter last year. "Due to the uncertainty concerning their ongoing litigation with the SEC, the Company has suspended trading on Ripple's platform," said MoneyGram. The collaboration between the two firms largely began three …

After paving the way for digital currency innovation at the Bank of England, or BoE, Mark Carney has officially joined the board of directors at Stripe — a company that’s committed to building new commerce solutions for the internet. Stripe introduced Carney as board member on Sunday, where he joins Christa Davies, Diane Greene, Jonathan Chadwick, Sir Michael Moritz and Stripe co-founders Patrick and John Collison. The U.S. digital payments company says it will benefit from Carney’s “extensive experience of global financial systems and governance,” especially as it rolls out new climate efforts. “The very nature of commerce has changed …

Blockchain-based payments firm Ripple Labs has now registered a business in Wyoming. According to records from the Wyoming Secretary of State, Ripple Markets WY LLC’s status as a local business is listed as "active" after an initial filing in February 2020. As a limited liability company in Wyoming, Ripple’s registered agent will be based in Cheyenne. “More crypto companies are realizing Wyoming is a better domicile than Delaware due to our crypto-friendly laws,” said Caitlin Long on Twitter. Long is the CEO of digital bank Avanti Bank & Trust and associated with the state legislature’s Select Committee on Blockchain, Financial …

Luzboa, a small energy trading company in Portugal, will soon start accepting Bitcoin (BTC) as payment for electricity. The company’s president Pedro Morais Leitão announced the news to Portuguese publication Expresso on Wednesday, stating that the new payment option should become available this month. According to the executive, Luzboa will create a Bitcoin wallet in the coming days, allowing residents to pay for electricity under a new payment system known as “Bit Spot.” According to Leitão, the firm plans to instantly convert received Bitcoin into euros to protect its business from unstable prices. “We are aware of currency volatility, but …

Akoin (AKN), the crypto project developed by Senegalese-American singer Akon, has completed the pilot rollout stage of its deployment in the Mwale Medical and Technology City complex in Kenya. As previously reported by Cointelegraph, the trial phase was launched back in November 2020 at the time of the AKN listing on the Bittrex crypto exchange. Following the success of the initial pilot, the Akoin crypto is now ready for full deployment in the $2 billion complex in July. Commenting on the success of the pilot program, Akoin President and co-founder Jon Karas revealed that the roll-out was received with “great …

The Swiss canton of Zug now allows its residents to pay taxes in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). Bitcoin Suisse, a local crypto broker that enabled the new opportunity in partnership with the canton, announced Feb. 17 that the crypto payment option has rolled out this week. The administration of the canton of Zug placed an official memo for the new tax payment option on its official website, providing detailed video instructions for paying tax bills with crypto. “This step forward for crypto adoption has been enabled by the pioneering work from the Zug cantonal tax office using …

China’s large-scale digital yuan testing across several cities continues to gather pace with some financial institution leading the development of hardware wallets for the central bank digital currency. According to news agency Xinhua, the Postal Savings Bank of China has created a biometric hardware wallet for the project. The biometric hardware wallet enables easy identity verification for users via fingerprint sensors on the card. Consumers participating in the CBDC trials in Beijing are also able to use the card to access healthcare services. Indeed, the Postal Savings Bank of China said the hardware wallet, which is still in the testing …

The Bahamas is moving to make its national digital currency more accessible by launching a prepaid card for the “sand dollar.” The Central Bank of The Bahamas has partnered with global payment giant Mastercard and local payment startup Island Pay to create a card that supports the sand dollar central bank digital currency. According to a Wednesday announcement, the card is running under a new program from Mastercard and Island Pay, allowing users to convert the digital currency to traditional Bahamian dollars and pay for goods and services. The new card will be accepted for payments across the Caribbean region …

James Bullard, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, seemingly doesn’t understand why many are looking to cryptocurrency as a medium of exchange instead of a uniform currency like the U.S. dollar. In an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box on Tuesday, Bullard said the issue for making payments isn’t currencies that can be traded electronically but rather privately issued ones, as is the case for many cryptocurrencies. He referenced a time in the United States before the Civil War when there was confusion and a dislike for trading the “equivalent of Bank of America dollars and JPMorgan dollars …