On Feb. 28, the Litecoin Foundation announced a partnership with MeconCash to roll-out Litecoin (LTC) to Korean won withdrawals and remittances from 13,000 ATMs in South Korea. The partnership will see LTC integrated onto MeconCash’s M.Pay payments platform. Litecoin will also be accepted as payment on MeconCash’s retail platform MeconMall, and to pay for games that accept M.Pay rewards. According to CryptoCompare, 24-hour trade between Litcoin and won produced nearly $4.3 million in trade — comprising 0.82 percent of total trade at press time. Charlie Lee, the managing director of the Litecoin Foundation, described the partnership as “a big step …

Robert Herjavec, Multi-millionaire co-host of ABC’s “Shark Tank,” said Bitcoin (BTC) is currently valued at only a fraction of its long-term potential. “I think the price of Bitcoin, on a long-term basis, will quantuple, if that’s a word,” Herjavec told Kitco News in a Feb. 25 interview. Herjavec likes digital payments After speaking on gold, expressing that he is not a “big believer” in the precious metal on the investing side, Herjavec said he favors the future of the digital payment sector, naming Bitcoin specifically. “Consumers, over the long run, always go to convenience, and Bitcoin is just convenience,” Herjavec …

On Feb. 27, Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency payments provider Crypto.com announced a partnership with cryptocurrency-friendly travel booking platform Travala.com. The deal will see Crypto.com’s payment app integrated onto Travala.com website, providing a streamlined gateway for bookings to be made on the platform. Previously, customers needed to manually complete transfers using their wallet when seeking to make purchases using cryptocurrencies. The companies emphasize that Crypto.com Pay’s 1 million users can now access 2 million accommodations in 230 countries. Travala.com customers can use Crypto.com Pay to make payments in Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Ripple (XRP), and Crypto.com’s CRO token. Travala.com now …

Square’s Cash App derived half of its fourth-quarter revenue from Bitcoin (BTC) services. According to a shareholder letter published on Feb. 28, Bitcoin revenue amounted to $178 million during the fourth quarter of 2019, while combined non-Bitcoin revenue totaled $183 million. In total Bitcoin accounted for more than half a billion dollars of revenue across 2019, equating to around $8 million in profits. That’s up from $1.7 million the previous year. The figures show that Bitcoin is increasing in popularity with smaller retail investors on the peer-to-peer payments app, with the last quarter accounting for almost 40% of Square's Bitcoin …

A group of South Korean money transfer and remittance companies has joined Ripple’s blockchain-based financial services network RippleNet to bolster the remittance market in the country. In a Feb. 25 announcement, Ripple revealed that South Korea-based money transfer service providers Sentbe and Hanpass, and mobile and online based cross-border remittance services firm WireBarley have begun using the RippleNet platform. The collaboration is geared to improve remittances in Korea. According to the World Bank, workers’ remittances, receipts in South Korea amounted to over $6.2 billion, in 2018. The top destination country for emigration-related remittances by South Koreans was reportedly the United …

According to filings through the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), money transmission network MoneyGram has gained over $11 million from the blockchain-based payments firm Ripple Labs. In a press release by MoneyGram, the company stated it had received funds from Ripple divided over two quarters: in the fourth quarter, $8.9 million, and $2.4 million in the third, totaling $11.3 million. Its revenue for Q4 was reported to be $323.7 million. "MoneyGram continued to expand its strategic partnership with Ripple as the first money transfer company to scale the use of blockchain capabilities." Nothing in the SEC filings state what Ripple’s …

New Monaco-based cryptocurrency debit card supplier Bitsa has just expanded its prepaid card with major privacy-focused altcoin Monero (XMR). By enabling Monero support on its Bitsa Card, the company unclocks “all types” of XMR-based card transactions in physical stores and online, including card-to-card transfers and Monero conversion to euro (EUR), Bitsa announced on Feb. 21. Launched in Q3 2019, Bitsa Card supports a total of 12 cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) alongside EUR bank transfers and payments so far, Bitsa COO Luis Vaello said in an email to Cointelegraph. Bitsa Card is one of the world’s first crypto card providers to …

NSX Limited, the operator of the National Stock Exchange of Australia (NSXA), is working on a joint blockchain-based project to enable same-day settlements. According to a Feb. 20 announcement, NSX has partnered with iSignthis (ISX), a publicly listed firm specializing in payment authentication services, to establish a new venture that would provide “multicurrency, real-time and same day clearing of share trades across multiple exchanges.” CHESS system will meet new competitor, DESS Dubbed ClearPay, the new venture will develop a delivery versus payment (DvP) platform that is designed to replace the existing system of clearing and settlement process offered by current …

The Central Bank of Brazil (BCB) has announced a plan to launch a new near-instant payment system during November. Cointelegraph Brasil reported on Feb, 20 that the platform, called the Brazilian Instant Payment Scheme (PIX), will facilitate peer-to-peer and business-to-business transactions in 10 seconds or less via mobile phone, internet banking, or select ATMs. According to a press release published Feb. 20, It is mandatory for all financial and payment institutions licenced by the BCB to provide their 500,000 active customer accounts with the functionalities required to facilitate PIX transfers. The release states that transactions will be executed by using …

Cryptocurrency businesses worldwide are continuing to integrate fiat onramps into their operations in an effort to make it easier for customers to jump into crypto. United Kingdom-based cryptocurrency lending startup Celsius Network has launched in-app crypto purchases via a new partnership with Simplex, according to a Feb. 18 announcement. Simplex, a popular fiat-to-crypto payments provider servicing major crypto exchanges like Binance, will now unlock direct crypto purchases for Celsius app users. Celsius clients will now be able to buy cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) via credit or debit cards. Similar to other Simplex-powered fiat onramps, the new feature …

Another major financial institution has partnered with blockchain-based payments firm Ripple. The National Bank of Egypt has signed a cooperation agreement with Ripple to establish new channels for inward remittances, according to a Feb. 11 report from local daily news site Youm7. The agreement reportedly makes the National Bank the country’s first to venture into the blockchain sector. Remittances: an almost $600 billion global market The global remittance market — referring to the money or goods that migrants send back to family and friends in their home countries — is expected to reach $597 billion in 2020, according to data …

EPayments Systems Ltd, a United Kingdom-authorized electronic money institution, must suspend online payment operations due to the Financial Conduct Authority’s anti-money-laundering (AML) procedures. EPayments has released a short statement on its website and has sent out emails to its customers to give a few details on the FCA’s regulatory checks. This regulation has frozen ePayments one million user accounts and has banned new account openings. “Following discussions with the FCA, ePayments has agreed to suspend activity on customer accounts until remedial action has been undertaken to the satisfaction of the FCA.” The FCA has allowed ePayments to provide services including …