The National Bank of Ukraine is to consider the legal status and regulation of digital currencies such as Bitcoin by the end of August 2017. The Central Bank has issued a press release confirming that the issue of regulating digital currencies will be considered at the next meeting of its Financial Stability Board, to be held by the end of…
Visa Inc. has announced a new initiative called The Visa Cashless Challenge, encouraging US small businesses to stop using cash by offering thousands of dollars in reward. The Visa Cashless Challenge invites small US-based food service businesses such as restaurants, cafes or food truck owners to describe “what cashless means for them, their employees and customers”. If…
In a move towards a cashless society, South Korea has begun a trial whereby cash paying shoppers can receive their transactional change in the form of a credit deposited onto pre-paid payment cards, instead of coins. The trial begins today following an announcement by the Bank of Korea last year detailing efforts to reduce the volume of circulating coins within the country. Customers…
Android Pay, the mobile payment solution from Google, has launched in the United Kingdom. The UK is the second country to offer Android Pay, following its initial launch in the United States in September last year. Android Pay users Over 60% of the UK’s smartphone users own an Android handset. Those running Android 4.4 or higher and fitted with…
Sveriges Riksbank, the Central Bank of Sweden, has served a notice to the Swedish parliament calling for access to cash to be a legal right. The notice, which was submitted to the country’s Ministry of Finance on the 16 March 2016, asks for the nation’s banks to provide a cash service to ensure access to accounts…
The adoption of mobile payment solutions has, certainly in the last two years, been massive. With the launch of mobile wallets from key industry players such as Apple and Google, there has also been an influx of solutions from much smaller companies, with reports of new mobile wallet systems being released around the world as a daily event.…
Google has today released an app which is being piloted by users, allowing them to make in-store payments without handling either their wallet or smartphone. The app was first announced in May last year during Google’s I/O developer conference. The limited public pilot, which is being tested in a number of retail stores and restaurants in San…
A press release issued on the 9th February 2016 has confirmed that the use of the Paym mobile payment service increased by 89% during the second half of 2015 compared with the same period the previous year. Paym allows users to send and receive payments to a current account held at participating banks or building…
Taxi hailing app Uber has begun accepting cash payments for rides in Indonesia, specifically within the city of Bandung where over two million people reside. Uber users traditionally use a registered payment card to pay for their rides using the Uber app, but in countries where the use of credit or debit cards is less…
Samsung Pay, the mobile payments application from Samsung, has now been launched in the US. Since Monday, those in the US with a compatible handset, namely Samsung’s Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge, Galaxy S6 Edge + and Galaxy Note5, have been able to make mobile payments in stores. Samsung Pay not only works using Near…