Slovenia-based crypto payment infrastructure provider aims to boost cryptocurrency adoption through its global expansion. GoCrypto, a merchant-oriented upgrade of Eligma’s crypto payments solution Elipay, is targeting expansion into more countries around the world. The plans follow recent contribution into the project, in which Eligma secured 4 million euros (roughly $4.4 million) from Bitcoin.com and Swiss-based Pangea Blockchain Fund. With the objective to make GoCrypto a global payment scheme that connects cryptocurrency owners, wallets, merchants and cashier systems to enable instant crypto payments, the company’s point-of-sale solution is currently available in nine countries. Initially starting from Slovenia and Croatia, Eligma has …

Japan’s top credit card issuer JCB plans to adopt a new business-to-business (B2B) payment solution based on blockchain technology. JCB has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with blockchain-based commercial payments platform Paystand to develop a digital payment platform for enterprises and customers in Japan, Cointelegraph Japan reports Dec. 20. Initiative to cut costs and delays associated with “pre-internet technology” in Japan’s $10 trillion B2B market The new joint development aims to cut costs and delays associated with “pre-internet technology” that is still practiced in Japan’s $10 trillion B2B market that is still dominated by cash transactions, Paystand CEO Jeremy …

PayPal is suing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) for requiring the firm to make “misleading and confusing” disclosures about its fees. The digital payments giant filed a lawsuit against the CFPB on Dec. 11, arguing that the agency has ignored critical differences between digital wallets and prepaid products like prepaid debit cards (GPR). CFPB makes PayPal provide disclosures about fees that it doesn’t charge, the suit says According to a Dec. 11 court filing seen by Cointelegraph, the CFPB mandates that digital wallets and GPR cards should be regulated the same way, which allegedly resulted in a “fundamentally ill-suited” …

Blockchain-based money transfer startup SendFriend utilizes Ripple’s technology to save up to 80% in remittance fees, according to a blog post published on Dec. 12. SendFriend uses Ripple’s xRapid product for cross-border payments, converting between the United States dollar, XRP and Philippine pesos and circumventing the longer process of traditional banking systems. Philippines-focused remittance platform SendFriend’s money transfer app aimed at reducing annual remittance fees for cross-border Filipino workers claims to lower such transaction costs by up to 75%. What makes it possible, according to the startup’s CEO, David Lighton, is RippleNet’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) technology. With ODL, RippleNet’s users …

JPMorgan’s blockchain-based payment network will launch in Japan in early 2020, Cointelegraph Japan reports on Dec. 10. Based on JPMorgan’s in-house blockchain platform Quorum, the Interbank Information Network (IIN) intends to accelerate payment transactions as well as address major challenges of sharing data between banks. Bloomberg reports that more than 80 Japanese banks have expressed their intent to join the platform. Japanese banks now account for more than 20% of the 365 total global members that announced their participation since September 2019, accounting for the largest portion of participants from any single country. Daizaburo Sanai, an executive director at the …

It has been almost a year since the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) unveiled the development of its national digital currency dubbed Sovereign (SOV). The cryptocurrency is set to tackle some issues the RMI struggles with, including high costs of remittances. A crypto legal tender could purportedly create a situation where the solution to costly remittance is “baked into” the monetary system itself. Examining SOV’s white paper, Cointelegraph noticed that it hints at a Delegate Proof of Stake (DPoS) system that is probably derived from EOS, specifically when it comes to block production. Cointelegraph reached out to Jim Wagner, …

Japanese financial services giant SBI Holdings is considering to pay shareholder dividends in the form of XRP tokens, following the same practice by its subsidiary MorningStar. After MorningStar started offering its shareholders dividends in XRP earlier this year, SBI CEO Yoshitaka Kitao revealed that the company is now considering to follow suit, Cointelegraph Japan reported on Dec. 5. SBI would launch the program during the fiscal year ending in March 2020, with Kitao further stating that it is opt-in. MorningStar’s XRP dividends grew SBI's crypto business MorningStar Japan, an independent financial investment research firm, first revealed its plans to incorporate …

Cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex and crypto store Bitrefill partnered to allow the trading platform’s clients to shop with Bitcoin (BTC) over the Lightning Network. According to a press release published on Dec. 4, Bitfinex users can instantly pay for a variety of services with Bitcoin that they hold on the exchange as of today. A Lightning B2B settlement system Per the press release, the companies attribute the development to the “world’s first dynamic B2B settlement process over the Lightning Network.” The announcement builds on recent news that Bitfinex enabled Bitcoin Lightning Network transactions and that those using it for deposits and …

The central bank of France plans to pilot a central bank digital currency (CBDC) for financial institutions in 2020. François Villeroy de Galhau, the governor of the Bank of France, announced that the bank will start testing the digital euro project by the end of the first quarter 2020, French financial publication Les Echos reports Dec. 4. The Bank of France confirmed the news on Twitter, noting that the announcement was made at a conference co-hosted by two major French financial regulators, the French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority and the Autorité des marchés financiers. Digital euro pilot won’t involve …

Disclaimer: Following reports that the card release news was false, Cointelegraph contacted SoftBank, which confirmed that the news was incorrect. SoftBank said that it is still trying to find out who made the announcement and how. Japanese holding company SoftBank has introduced a new debit card featuring a built-in cryptocurrency wallet. According to a press release on Dec. 1, SoftBank developed a debit card featuring a built-in blockchain wallet in collaboration with United States-based wallet card developer Dynamics. The new product is called SBC Wallet Cards and can be used as a traditional debit card or blockchain wallet. Crypto storage …

Russia is allegedly preparing a ban on the use of cryptocurrencies to pay for goods and services. A report from Izvestia on Nov. 29 cites several sources allegedly familiar with ongoing discussions at the country’s central bank, financial regulator and Ministry of Finance in support of a ban. Legal measures not yet officially confirmed At present, cryptocurrencies can be used for e-commerce and many Russian freelancers, including programmers, designers and copywriters, agree to receive their salaries in Bitcoin (BTC) or Ether (ETH), Vladislav Antonov told Izvestia. Antonov, an analyst at Alpari Information and Analytical Center, noted that while they are …

The Cardano Foundation, the firm behind the 12th biggest cryptocurrency Cardano (ADA), has launched AdaPay, an ADA payment gateway for merchants. Developed by the Cardano Foundation and enterprise-grade fintech platform Coti, the solution allows merchants to accept ADA payments with “near-instant” settlement in 35 fiat currencies directly in their bank accounts, the firm announced Nov. 27. The payment gateway was first announced in October 2019 The Cardano Foundation and Coti first announced their plans for the ADA payment gateway on Oct. 23. The payment solution is now purportedly available to be integrated directly into merchant’s website, using either an AdaPay …