Lawmakers in the New Hampshire state legislature have killed a bill that would have allowed state agencies to accept cryptocurrencies as payment for taxes. On Jan. 8, the New Hampshire House of Representatives announced a decision to retract the bill, following a motion from the General Court’s Executive Departments and Administration Committee to deem the initiative as “inexpedient to legislate.” Bitcoin’s volatility was too high for state budgets According to public records, authorities considered the bill ineffective due to the high volatility of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC). If the bill was adopted, expenditures of the Department of Revenue Administration (DRA) …

Payments behemoth Visa acquired financial technology firm Plaid for $5.3 billion, according to a press release published on Jan. 13. Per the release, Plaid has developed a network that allows users to easily connect their financial accounts to the apps they use to manage their financial lives. The firm’s products reportedly allow for convenient sharing of financial information with thousands of apps and services by allowing users to link various accounts. The announcement states that 75% of the world’s internet-enabled consumers used a fintech application for moving funds. As such, it has “become increasingly important to facilitate consumers’ ability to …

The United States Treasury Department has almost completed tests of a blockchain-based grants payment capability as part of the exploration of how the tech can improve such operations. As the Business of Federal Technology reported on Jan. 10, the Treasury Department launched a program designed to discover whether blockchain could provide more efficiencies into the operations of a blockchain-based grants payment system. Currently, the agency has almost completed a Proof-of-Concept for a blockchain-based letter of credit for federal grant recipients. More efficient tracking Describing the principle of the program’s operation, Craig Fischer, innovation program manager at the agency, explained that …

Major cryptocurrency exchange Huobi has partnered with a real estate firm in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to allow real estate investors to pay in cryptocurrencies. The Singapore-based crypto exchange has entered a partnership with fäm Properties, a tech-driven real estate agency based in Dubai, to offer crypto payment options for its real estate investors, UAE-based business publication AMEinfo.com reports Jan. 12. Crypto to enable more stability and liquidity in the real estate market Specifically, the partnership enables fäm Properties to accept payment in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), XRP and other major cryptos including stablecoins, the report reads. …

Thai Stellar-based blockchain startup Lightnet has raised $31.2 million to boost cross-border payments in Southeast Asian countries. The Bangkok-headquartered firm has completed a Series A funding round led by major financial conglomerates in the region, Singaporean United Overseas Bank (UOB) and South Korea’s Hanwha Investment & Securities, Business Insider Malaysia reports Jan. 10. Stellar blockchain is used to replace “inefficient” payment systems like SWIFT Implementing the Stellar blockchain, a major blockchain protocol that is used to operate eponymous cryptocurrency Stellar Lumens (XLM), Lightnet has a brave plan to replace established payment systems like SWIFT in Southeast Asian market, the report …

New York lawmakers proposed a bill on a peer-to-peer (P2P) savings and payment platform called the “New York Inclusive Value Ledger.” Introduced by New York State Assembly legislator Ron Kim and Senator Julia Salazar, the bill proposes to set up the “empire state inclusive value ledger establishment and administration act” that would create a system of wallets for payments by state entities and residents. According to public records, the bill was proposed in the State Assembly and the State Senate on Oct. 23, 2019, but New York State’s legislative session only reopened on Wednesday Jan. 8. Kim says that implementing …

The president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde, supports the bank’s active involvement in the development of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) to address the demand for faster and cheaper cross-border payments. In an interview with French business magazine Challenges published on Jan. 8, Lagarde discussed the most likely threats to the global economy in 2020, among which she named a downturn in trade and a range of uncertainties, geopolitical risks and climate change. Going further, Lagarde noted that “the EU is still the most powerful economic and trading area in the world, with enormous potential.” Not …

Major cryptocurrency exchange Binance added support for Australian dollars (AUD) and Thai baht. Binance announced support for the national currencies in separate releases on Jan. 7. Thai digital asset exchange Satang Corporation will process Thai baht transfers, while Australian dollar transfers will be facilitated by Banxa, a company specialized in internationally compliant fiat-to-crypto gateways. Satang’s fiat processing service is integrated into Binance’s trading platform by means of a recently launched application programming interface that allows users to deposit and withdraw baht directly to their accounts. Satang CEO and co-founder Poramin Insom said that the collaboration will help the adoption of …

Cryptocurrency-accepting booking service Travala has seen its revenue for the month of December go up by over 33.5% month-on-month following a partnership with Booking.com. According to a post published on the firm’s official blog on Jan. 1, Travala has also seen the total monthly number of accommodation nights booked through the service reach 1,528 in December, which is a 15.2% increase since November. Furthermore, the average room price increased by over 15%, from $115 to $133 over the same period. Chart of the monthly accommodation nights booked through Travala. Source: Travala Over 9% of December’s bookings were paid in Travala’s …

Electra (ECA), the open-source Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchain project focused on digital payments, will begin beta testing its flagship product this month. Known as “ElectraPay,” the product functions as a financial management system that will let merchants adopt a cryptocurrency payment method that doesn’t require third-party service providers, banks, or credit card companies to complete transactions. Electra board member and coordinator Robert Bakker told Cointelegraph that ElectraPay is a management solution that lets e-commerce providers accept Electra’s ECA cryptocurrency via a Woocommerce plugin for WordPress. “ElectraPay is a management solution which allows a merchant to be paid in ECA directly in …

Chargebacks were originally designed to protect consumers. Today, it’s ironic that merchants often need protection against this very system put in place to protect consumers. A chargeback is the return of funds to the consumer, by the bank, to settle a debt. In the event of a filed chargeback, the bank then forcibly removes funds from the merchant’s bank account to “repay” the consumer. Chargebacks have long been a hindrance to e-commerce companies, sparking a rise in fraudulent behavior among consumers who attempt to defraud a company for their own monetary gain. While the payments sector grapples with bad actors, …

While the Indian government is uncertain about the use of cryptocurrency, the National Payment Corporation of India, or NPCI, officially announced its permissioned blockchain-based platform, Vajra, to make the payment process easier, faster and more transparent. After detailed research, the NPCI has developed a distributed ledger technology mechanism to provide a highly secure, tamper-proof database for various payment procedures. The NPCI is an umbrella organization for retail payments and settlement systems in India. It is an initiative of the Reserve Bank of India and Indian Banks’ Association under the provisions of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act 2007, aimed at …