The Royal Canadian Mint’s digital payment technology MintChip™ was demonstrated last week during the 2014 National Retail Federation’s Annual Convention and EXPO. Though MintChip™ is still in its research and development phase, Ingenico, a leading provider of payment solutions based in Paris, introduced the first proof-of-concept of the MintChip™ payment technology on a POS retail…
Apple has filed for a new patent regarding mobile payments. The patent suggests that Apple is moving towards the release of a new smartphone device capable of mobile payments, possibly within the iPhone6. It concerns a Secure Element (SE) within a mobile phone in which to store cardholder information, near-field-communication (NFC – which was omitted…
O2 Wallet is due to close on 31 March 2014. The digital wallet app, first launched in April 2012, allows users to make and receive payments using just a phone number regardless of their mobile network or bank provider. It works similarly to a pre-paid card, whereby users top up their O2 Wallet balance with…
BTCChina, China’s biggest Bitcoin exchange, has stopped accepting deposits in Chinese yuan. According to the company, the People’s Bank of China has spoken to a number of payment processors in China asking them to stop trading with Bitcoin exchanges by January 1, 2014. The BTCChina website posted the following note yesterday: “Dear BTC China users:…
A US patent application has been filed by JPMorgan Chase for an online payment system, resembling the Bitcoin virtual currency. The application says that its new payment system will compete with credit and debit cards for online transactions, creating “virtual cash” that will sit in an online wallet. Similarly to Bitcoin’s “blockchain” technology, each transaction…
On the 10th December Fortumo, a mobile payments provider, launched mobile operator billing in Indonesia. Founded in 2007, Fortumo is “the most developer-friendly mobile payments provider”, enabling developers to earn money from users who purchase their apps and games which are charged to the users’ mobile phone bill. Indonesia is the fourth largest country by…
This video is for a new San Francisco based start-up company called Coin. Their stated goal is to build products which “simplify, improve, and fit seamlessly into your life”. The new product, ironically known as Coin®, is a new digital payment card which stores the details of all your payment cards – meaning that you…
The UK’s Transport for London (TFL) has announced that the use of contactless credit, debit or charge cards will be available on the tube, Docklands Light Railway (DLR), trams and London Overground rail services by early 2014. The payment cards will be used in the same way as the current Oyster card system, where users hold…
The European Central Bank (ECB) has warned that mobile payment technology currently used by smartphone operating systems represent a security risk as customers increasingly adopt mobile payments for their day to day purchases. As previously reported, mobile phone payments are growing rapidly as smartphone technology becomes more widely available and as consumer trust in the…
Bitcoin, the world’s first free market, decentralised global currency, has surpassed US$1,000 (£613) for the first time according to MTGox, one of the virtual currency’s main exchanges. Bitcoin has seen fast growth since its introduction in 2008, allowing users the ability to make payments from person to person anonymously. This has caused some criticism, with…