On the web:

• Google Copies Amazon's Playbook - Wall St. Journal - "Google's moves to copy Amazon underscore how the tech companies are expanding into each other's areas…"
• East Grand Rapids native Ryan McInerney named president of Visa Inc. - MLive - "McInerney, a 1993 graduate of East Grand Rapids High School, had been chief executive of consumer banking at JP Morgan Chase …"
• Bitcoin Hits the Big Time, to the Regret of Some Early Boosters - MIT Technology Review - "We’ve had multiple billionaires come in and talk to us for an hour and open an account…"
• Target, Macy's and Others Sue Visa and MasterCard Over Fees - Wall St. Journal - "The exercise of this market power has led merchants to pay excessive interchange fees..."
• Judge: Unredeemed Borders Gift Cards Are Worthless - NPR - "…the bankrupt and defunct book chain owes nothing to the roughly 17.7 million people who hold $210.5 million in unredeemed gift cards."
• A Summary of the Electronic Payment Order Forum - Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta - "On March 28, 2013, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta hosted an Electronic Payment Order (EPO) Forum with payments industry participants, including banks, nonbank payment service providers, retailers, and regulators."
• Why PayPal is bullish on Bitcoin - Fortune Tech - "The big question is whether it's going to go mainstream or stay limited to just a few zealots and criminals."
• Jamba Juice rolls out mobile payments more broadly following successful pilot - Mobile Commerce Daily - "The number one issue for a restaurant is controlling the guest experience..."
• Square Starts Mobile Payments In Japan, Its First Country Outside Of North America, In Partnership With Visa’s Ally - TechCrunch - "The Square Reader allows businesses to accept credit card payments from mobile devices for a transaction fee of 3.25% per swipe."
• Bitcoin ATMs: Handy Vending Machines or Money-Laundering Nightmares? - Wired - "Regulators aren’t sure what to make of it. And all that makes the future of Bitcoin ATMs as cloudy as it is interesting."

On the wires:

• Square Arrives in Japan - "Square is available in Japan with the support and partnership of Sumitomo Mitsui Card Corporation (SMCC)."
• LIFT and Capital One Join Forces in Million Dollar Commitment to Fight Poverty in the United States
• Virtual Piggy Delivers Security Service to Ease Compliance with Federal Trade Commission Regulations - "We validate the identity of both the parent and the child and can authenticate that the parent has approved the website for use by their child quickly and seamlessly…"

On Twitter:

Each minute, 5 new businesses sign up to use #PayPal, says @davidmarcus. #SMB #paypalit

— PayPal (@PayPal) May 21, 2013

On the web:

• PayPal to increase marketing this year for offline push - Reuters (Alistair Barr) - "We want to make sure we have enough density of consumer experiences before we do a lot of marketing. "We have really only one chance at this and we do not want to disappoint customers."
• FTC targets cash-reload code scams - CreditCards.com - "The U.S. Federal Trade Commission Tuesday announced new restrictions on "novel payment methods" that phone and Internet scammers favor…"
• Kopo Kopo: Six Revolutionary Digits -Huffington Post - "Kopo Kopo is a world-class platform which enables small and medium businesses to accept mobile payments and build relationships with their customers. They receive a six-digit till number that allows customers to pay using mobile money."
• Dimon Strengthens Grip at J.P. Morgan - Wall St. Journal - "…shareholders voted overwhelmingly against a proposal to split the chairman and chief executive roles…"
• BitInstant’s Charlie Shrem sees Bitcoin battles ahead - CoinDesk - "…it would be nice if regulations were standardized so businesspeople like him did not have to get fingerprinted again and again to comply with every state’s requirements."
• Swipely Raises $12.5M to Expand Push Into SMB Payment Analytics - Street Fight - "The payments processing and analytics play announced today that it has raised $12.5 million in new funding in a series B round led by Shasta Ventures…"
• Contactless cards: how safe is your money? - Guardian - "The even simpler alternative, I've found, is to have more than one contactless card in your wallet."
• Square will challenge PayPal with its own peer-to-peer cash service - GigaOm - "Square might just be another peer-to-peer payments setup, but it’s building up a consumer following thanks to Square Wallet..."
• Google Admits Defeat In Its 7-Year Battle With Amazon And PayPal - ReadWrite - "Google Checkout may have had great expectations, but it delivered little in the way of results."

On the wires:

• NRF To Reject ‘One-Sided’ Credit Card Swipe Fee Settlement - "The proposed settlement does nothing to bring swipe fees under control and would give Visa and MasterCard a legal blessing to continue their abuse of merchants and consumers indefinitely. No settlement at all would be better than this one-sided ‘agreement’…"
• Xoom and Vesta Announce Partnership for Mobile Wallet Integration - "Through this partnership, the Vesta wallet will also provide subscribers with access to Xoom's money transfer services directly from their smartphone."
• target="_blank"Swipely Secures $12 Million Series B Financing to Accelerate Growth - "It's a major innovation in payments and marketing for small business, and we hope it will transform the way merchants understand and engage with their customers."
• Mobile POS Grows to $2 Billion Market in North America, But Retailers Are Separating Hype From Reality - "…28% of North American retailers plan to adopt Mobile POS in some form by the end of 2013."
• Vesta Introduces New Mobile Wallet for Prepaid Operators featuring Integrated Suite of Financial Services - "By offering the Vesta PayMobile wallet, mobile network operators (MNOs) can enable their prepaid customers to conduct mobile commerce and access critical banking services through their smartphones."
• Virtual Piggy Signs First UK Partners - "Virtual Piggy promotes financial management while empowering youth under 18 to make purchasing, saving and other money management decisions for themselves…"

On Twitter:

We're hosting a payments meetup at @gumroad with talks by @airbnb and @square —come by! gumroad.com/meetup

— Sahil Lavingia (@shl) May 17, 2013

On the web:

• The future of Bitcoin: 3 predictions from experts - GigaOm - "Casares explained how some people in his country are using “old Android phones” to acquire and exchange Bitcoins at a time when the government is clamping down on the trade in U.S. dollars."
• Inside Mastercard’s Social Command Center - Digiday - "For Mastercard, diffusing social in the organization, ironically, meant centralizing it."
• High-Profile VCs Caught up in Bitcoin Mania - PEhub - "As big as the bitcoin opportunity is, it is equally rife with risk."
• Black-hat bitcoin’s days are numbered - Quartz - "Bitcoin has a lot of problems as a currency—its tendency for spasms of crazy volatility, most notably—but fewer as a payments system."
• Bitcoin’s consumerization continues with Perk, a rewards platform and Web browser for normal people - PandoDaily - "Now the only problem is figuring out how to get bitcoin into the hands of the masses."
• Google in Payments: Why Yesterday was BIG News - FinVentures (Tom Noyes) - "Osama and the Google team have done great work getting this out to market. Congrats."
• T-Mobile’s Twitter Account Explains Why Carrier Won’t Support Google Wallet - TmoNews - “We’re supporting ISIS, the wireless payment standard for mobile devices.”
• Square launches faster card swipe machine - Taking Charge - "Sure, we could make payments work better, but why should we when everyone really seems to like plastic?"
• Moving Upstream, PayPal and Square Make a Play for the Local Merchant’s POS - Street Fight - "The gist of PayPal’s and Square’s long-term aspirations is fairly clear: create a two-sided network with a consumer-facing mobile wallet on one end and a merchant processing network on the other, creating a system that gives them control over the entire payment stack."

On the wires:

• International Payment Networks Facing Emerging Threat from Domestic Competition and m-POS - "…the real threat comes when the successful m-POS solution providers follow the PayPal model and enable their own digital wallets and P2P transactions which could completely cut the international networks out of the equation.”
• What is the Killer App for Mobile NFC? It May Not Be Payments, Executives Agree at the 2013 NFC Solutions Summit - "When asked the question "Is NFC dead?" compared to alternate technologies such as cloud payments, Glenbrook Partners Consultant Allen Weinberg stressed that all these technologies are still in the early days and it is too soon to make judgments on what mobile commerce technologies will be the winners and losers. "At the end of the day, we don't have a widespread, commercialized anything yet," he said."
• sweetgreen rewards App an Immediate Success - "Representing the first white-label app from LevelUp, sweetgreen rewards has been an immediate success, allowing guests to earn dollars that can be redeemed at any of sweetgreen's 17 locations and offers various perks that can be unlocked over time…"

On the web:

• Apple Advances their Future Shopping App Again & More - Patently Apple - "Today's patent application adds at least five major aspects to the "Shopping" apps patent claims."
• Half of Visa’s payments will be via mobile by 2020, says Visa Europe VP - The Drum - "...Hawkett said that Visa views mobile as the opportunity to “redefine” payments."
• How to build trust in the Bitcoin ecosystem - Jeremy Liew - "So what is needed to create trusted Bitcoin companies?"
• Can Google Be The Amazon.com For The Rest Of The Web? - ReadWrite - "Virtually every other payment provider lacks the social integration that Google includes."
• New Cash Registers Are Sexy, But What’s Beneath the Counter Matters More - Wired - "Payments are really the only online connection into every retail store that matters..."
• mPOS: Our Latest Disruptive Device For QSRs - GoPago Blog - "Our new mPOS will debut on the Nexus 4 with a card reader, rugged case and with our POS software already loaded for $49 a month."
• Safeway CEO has big plans for payment program that avoids bank debit card fees - San Francisco Business Times - "...Safeway is already hearing from other retailers eager to avoid fees associated with accepting debit cards carrying the MasterCard and Visa logos."
• The Revolution Will Not Be Televised - Udayan Goyal (commenting on Google Wallet) - "In terms of wider industry impact, I think that incumbents will have to completely rethink how they make money around payments."
• Blimpie expands mobile repertoire with gift cards - Mobile Commerce Daily - "…40 percent of Blimpie’s traffic comes from mobile devices."
• The Road Ahead for Mobile Payments - Mobile Future Institute - "Overall, I came away with the impression there’s still quite a ways to go for mobile payments…"
• PayPal, Groupon, Square focus on traditional POS to boost mobile strategies - "In order for consumers to ditch their physical wallets in favor of digital wallets, merchants need to get rid of their old cash registers…"
• The mobile money paradox – if everyone wants it, why is it doing so badly? - Tomorrow's Transactions - "There are in excess of 160 live MM services being operated around the world right now, but despite high expectations created by success in Kenya, only a handful have thus far reached critical mass."

On the wires:

• Marqeta Online-to-Offline Commerce Engine Powering the Multi-Retailer Facebook Card - "We are very proud that Facebook has adopted our technology, and look forward to a lasting partnership with them…"
• Marqeta Raises $14 Million Series B to Accelerate Wide Adoption of its +M Platform - "Instead of receiving points and product rewards, Marqeta merchants simply give consumers more money to spend in grocery, restaurants, dry cleaning and beyond."
• BitPay Raises $2 Million led by Founders Fund - "Businesses selling electronics, precious metals, and other low-margin products over the internet are seeing a large increase in profitability by accepting bitcoin payments."
• Mobile Banking Explodes and Keynote Announces Who Does It Best – One Billion Mobile Banking Consumers Expected by 2017 - "Chase achieved its third consecutive win for Overall Score, while also repeating were Wells Fargo in second place and Bank of America in third."

A couple of interesting announcements were made today in the world of point-of-sale and next generation "cash registers":

• PayPal introduced a new "Cash for Registers" program - including offering "free credit, debit card, check, and of course PayPal processing for the remainder of the year to any qualifying U.S business turning in their dusty old cash register in exchange for a modern solution like PayPal Here (iPad, card reader, iPad stand, cash drawer, and printer)."

  See PayPal's David Marcus' blog post about the new program.

  Here's a TechCrunch story on the program.

• Square has announced Square Stand, calling it "beautiful new hardware for brick and mortar businesses that turns an iPad into a complete point of sale." Square Stand includes an integrated card reader that keeps information secure from swipe to payment, and easily connects to the hardware accessories businesses need, including a receipt printer, kitchen printer, cash drawer, and barcode scanner.

  Here's a TechCrunch story on Square Stand.

  Also, see this Fortune interview with Square CEO Jack Dorsey and Jesse Dorogusker, a former Apple exec who led the development of Stand: "A bamboo stand can be very beautiful and there's a lot of great craftwork out there, but it doesn't have the intelligence of this system."

• GroupOn also introduced "Breadcrumb POS, a free, easy to use, and reliable iPad point of sale that will blow your cash register away. It offers the functionality that cafés, health and beauty businesses and shop owners need." The company also said that "as of today we’re throwing in free processing on the first $5,000 in credit card transactions."

On Twitter:

For bitcoin to make it it needs to be banned by a few governments and critiqued by policy makers. Otherwise it will fade. #Antifragile.

— Nassim N. Taleb (@nntaleb) May 15, 2013

5 reasons the financial industry is ripe for disruption smrt.io/10N3isR > drawn from @coreemc @cfsinnovation report on #underbanked

— Arjan Schutte (@arjanschutte) May 15, 2013

On the web:

• What to watch as the bitcoin drama develops - PandoDaily - "If the promises of bitcoin could ever be unlocked – perhaps one of the biggest ifs in the tech world today – it’s about as big of a venture-style opportunity as you could imagine."
• Dept. of Homeland Security freezes accounts between Dwolla and bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox - PandoDaily - "…the Department of Homeland Security served the Dwolla mobile payment service with a court order requiring it to immediately cease all account activities with the Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange."
• Square And PayPal Push The iPad-ification Of America's Small Businesses - ReadWrite - "Square, PayPal, and Groupon all made news today with the common goal of getting small businesses to junk their cash registers for Internet-connected devices…"
• Google Ventures invests in OpenCoin, the firm behind Bitcoin exchange Ripple - GigaOm
• Why Prepaid Cards Appeal to Hackers - Bank Technology News - "…overall, prepaid cards are as safe as any other payment instrument available to consumers..."
• Visa Europe Offers to Cap Credit-Card Fees to End EU Probe - Bloomberg - "…this will allow cheaper use of cards that are a payment system used in almost half of our total payments in the EU…"
• Compass Plus survey reveals industry expectations for contactless are overambitious - Bob's Guide - "Actively tracking the difference in opinion between industry experts and the general public has been an interesting experiment..."
• Lightspeed is anchoring a Bitcoin focused fund - Lightspeed Venture Partners - "It’s no secret that that I see the opportunity for Bitcoin to disrupt multi-billion-dollar markets and dramatically cut transaction costs for people around the world."
• Liberty City Ventures Launches $15 Million Fund To Invest In Bitcoin And Other Digital Currency Startups - TechCrunch - "It seems like everyone is talking about Bitcoin these days."
• Consumers, payments and unknown knowns - Tomorrow's Transactions Blog - "It’s hard in fact for non-industry ‘civilians’ to know what they want from a technology they barely understand. Furthermore, payments is boring – consumers don’t want to think about it."

On the wires:

• Vantiv to Bring Next Generation Point-of-Sale Redemption Technology to the U.S. Market with Visa Offers Platform - "Vantiv is the first U.S. acquirer to announce their intent to offer this technology to clients across the country..."
• TapBase Introduces NFC-Less Proximity Payments - "We’re very pleased to offer merchants and consumers the ability to perform proximity or ‘contactless’ transactions with their iPads and iPhones…"
• Square reinvents the register with Square Stand - "Square Stand gives merchants a remarkable new way to manage and grow their business, all for the price of a cash register."
• Leaf Unveils Second Generation of its Built-for-Business Tablet - "Leaf is on a mission to turn standard point of sale into point of smart interactions for small businesses…"
• FIS Study Shows Significant Revenue Opportunity for Large and Mid-tier Financial Institutions from Real-time Payments Offerings - "Offering real-time payments can help consumers better manage their financial lives, offer a differentiated banking experience and provide additional revenue streams for financial institutions..." - Report available here
• eftpos Announces Contract to Enable Mobile Payment Trials - "eftpos today announced it would begin mobile payments trials with selected Australian retailers in the next few months."
• Boku Partners with Swisscom to Offer Mobile Payments - "This agreement will bring direct-to-bill mobile operator billing as a payment option to more than 6 million customers, covering more than 60% of Switzerland’s mobile market."

On the web:

• Bitcoin vs. Ben Bernanke - WSJ - "The chief scientist for the digital currency talks about its appeal—and pitfalls—in a world of fiat money."
• Square sets its sights on Foursquare: 'We can do something better' - TheVerge.com - "Lots of apps and web services make recommendations for places to eat, drink, and shop, but Square is betting its payment data will give it a decisive edge."
• Mobile payment entrepreneurs need inspiration - Taking Charge (CreditCards.com) - "I thought about that dilemma earlier this week while reading the obituary of … Stanley A. Dashew … who was the first to come up with the idea of plastic cards in place of paper…"
• What's your mobile wallet recipe? - FastCasual - Commentary by Cardfree's Chuck Davidson - "…establishments that are competing in the mobile market space would be wise to build from their existing POS infrastructure…"
• Visa’s TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon Generates Fresh Thinking on Payment Security Education - Visa Viewpoints Blog - "Visa joined in on the fun by sponsoring the Disrupt hackathon, where 700 developers descended on New York City for a chance to win $8,500 from Visa."

On the wires:

• Ingenico Secures Deal With Heartland Payment Systems® for Heartland's Next Generation E3™ End-to-End Encryption and EMV Terminals

On the web:

• Silicon Valley firms claim new California data disclosure bill is “overbroad” - ArsTechnica - "If passed, the bill would allow an unprecedented amount of access to individuals to find out what companies know about us."
• The Man (Jack Dorsey) Who Made the Cash Register Obsolete - Inc. - "One guiding philosophy at Square is that technology should be so intuitive that no one stops to question how difficult it must have been to create. That philosophy is paying off."
• With Tablets, Businesses Ring Up at More Fanciful Cash Registers - New York Times - "With the advent of tablets, particularly the iPad, many stores have traded in their clunky cash registers for mobile devices."
• "Bankalytics" – Banks and Analytics - BankInnovation - "I feel the future of banks depends on how relevant they stay to the target market, based on how they analyse the Big Data in their databases."
• Bitcoin’s Last Mile Problem - TechCrunch - "The world needs Bitcoins to exist, even if the mass of humanity doesn’t use it."
• Online Sales-Tax Bill Could Get Senate Votes This Week - Storefront Backtalk - "The bill, known as the “Marketplace Fairness Act,” would allow states to require online retailers to collect sales tax, even if the e-tailer doesn’t have a physical presence in the state."
• Dunkin’ Donut email campaign showcases ongoing mobile payment endeavors - Mobile Commerce Daily - "Mobile payments are on the rise. And, this campaign helps the company solidify its place in the space."
• Are You the Weakest Link? - Retail Payments Risk Forum - "A basic tenet of security that we often mention in Portals and Rails is that experienced criminals attack the weakest points in the system."
• Small Banks Lead the Innovation Agenda: Are They Making the Elephants Dance? - "Today, we are witnessing numerous instances of smaller players spawning innovations across social media, self-service channels, mobile banking, pricing, payments etc. to deliver customer delight."

On the wires:

• American Express OPEN Simplifies Expense Tracking for Small Business with Launch of ReceiptMatch
• Clear2Pay and Earthport partner on low value clearing - "With the OPF Earthport Connect module, clients of the Open Payment Framework (OPF) will have out of the box connectivity to Earthport’s global payments infrastructure in over 50 countries."
• Consumers Want a More Seamless and Personalized Customer Experience From Their Bank - Cisco - "Overall, the report demonstrates consumer interest in more personalized, timely and valuable connections with banks…"
• ACI Worldwide Paves the Way to True Enterprise Payments with Universal Payments Platform - "The Universal Payments Platform is a solution that provides purpose-built payments functionality to orchestrate all aspects of payments processing for any payment type, any channel, any currency and any network."
• With Consumer Optimism Rising, Chase Blueprint Unveils New Initiative to Reinforce Positive Spending Habits - Drawing upon the expertise of Chase and respected experts, the Resource Center for Mindful Spending is a free knowledge center available at Chase.com/MindfulSpending.
• USA Technologies To Demonstrate Two New Cashless Payment Devices at NAMA OneShow - "The ePort G9 represents a redesigned, feature-rich offering for USAT’s popular JumpStart program. It will include all of the functionality of USAT’s NFC-enabled ePort G8, plus new features…"
• Boulder Valley Credit Union Introduces Tyfone Mobile Banking Financial Services - "One Tyfone client has reported more than a 10 percent mobile adoption from non-PC bankers, which in turn increases the ROI for the financial institution."

On the web:

• CMU students show fingerprints may be way to buy - "With PayTango, a swipe of the finger links users' personal information to their credit or debit card in less than 15 seconds, making for a quick and easy-to-use system."
• Do Cyberattacks Threaten Confidence in Our Payment Systems? - FRB Atlanta Retail Payments Risk Forum
• Atlanta a Key Talent and Business Market for Square's Payments Business - MidtownPatch - "The company, which launched its Atlanta presence by hiring eight former Google Inc. engineers, expects to have a staff of 35 infrastructure engineers and customer support staff by the end of the year."
• Alipay Launches Sound Wave Mobile Payments System In Beijing Subway - Techcrunch - "Alipay has launched a new payment system in the Beijing subway that uses sound waves to connect smartphones with ticketing machines."
• American Express mobile advertising campaign generates 95pc view-to-completion rate - Mobile Commerce Daily - "A big part of American Express’ mobile and digital initiatives center around narrative storytelling, from both marketing and consumer perspectives."
• The real cause of the Bitcoin bubble and burst - Financial Services Club Blog - "Bitcoin is an experiment. Treat it like you would a promising Internet start-up company: Maybe it will change the world, but recognize that investing your money or time in new ideas is always risky."
• Consultation on a new payments regulator for the UK - Consult Hyperion's Tomorrow's Transactions Blog - "Will PayCom work? It's impossible to say, since I don't know what it is supposed to do."
• Will Bitcoins make you rich? - Sydney Morning Herald - "…indeed, I don't care at all for Bitcoin as a currency. Instead, I wanted to buy Bitcoins as pure, shameless speculation. I wanted a chance to ride a rocket ship."

On the wires:

• Discover Card Leads the Way in Customer Loyalty for the 17th Consecutive Year - "Discover has managed to create the highest levels of loyalty by leveraging real, emotional category values…"
• UL first lab selected to provide testing for mPOS solutions for the Visa Ready Partner Program - "UL was selected as the first lab to guide mPOS solution providers who want to ensure their products are ‘Visa Ready’ through all of the certification processes required by Visa."

On the web:

• PayPal Here Expands to Japan - The PayPal Blog
• Fair and Square: Jack Dorsey Interview - STORES.org

On the wires:

• AirTran Credit Card Portfolio Transitions to Chase
• CashStar Is First To Bring Gifting To The Tablet
• Elavon Establishes Global Professional Services Business
• iovation Launches TrustScore to Help Online Companies Identify Good Customers
• Interac Debit Card Fraud Skimming Losses Plummet To Lowest Level On Record
• SecureNet’s PayOS Advances Payment Solutions for Merchants and Integration for Developers

On the web:

• Square Slapped With Cease And Desist By Illinois State Department Of Financial Regulation - TechCrunch
• Balanced Payouts API Introduces Same-Day Payments To Wells Fargo Customers - The Next Web
• Payments Startup Stripe Launches Limited Beta For UK Payments, With Euros On The Way - TechCrunch
• Lighten Your Key Chain or Wallet With Apple Passbook - NYTimes.com

On the wires:

• Harvard Square Businesses Use Leaf to Collect More than Spare Change for the Homeless

Square now offers brick-and-mortar stores all the hardware they need to run their their business through Square Register.

With Business in a Box for Square Register, merchants can now simplify their countertop with an affordable and comprehensive package that includes two Square Readers, an iPad stand, a cash drawer, and an optional receipt printer. All work wirelessly with Square Register.

Hardware packages start at $299.

On the web:

• China Growth Elusive For U.S. Credit-Card Firms - MarketWatch

On the wires:

• Traxpay Delivers 24/7 Real-Time B2B Payments Solutions for Businesses of Any Size
• sweetgreen Launches Mobile Payment and Rewards App, Powered by LevelUp
• Seamless SEQR Mobile Payment System a Success for Public Transport in Western Sweden
• The World’s Leading Musical Artists Come to Virtual Piggy
• Blue Bottle Coffee Adopts Square for Its Point of Sale

On the web:

• ‎Debit Networks Reject MasterCard’s EMV-Durbin Solution - Digital Transactions
• Mobile Ordering Provider 'OLO' Receives $5M in Funding from PayPal and Others - QSRweb.com
• Rogue Valley Merchants Leery Of 'Checkout Fee' Surcharge - Ashland Daily Tidings
• Angie's List, Square Announce Mobile POS Partnership - Benzinga
• Visa Service Restored After Canada-Wide Outage - CBC News
• Google Wallet Gets A Makeover - NFC World

On the wires:

• TransUnion Announces Acquisition of ZipCode in Brazil
• MasterCard Expands Strategic Alliance with Hotel Company IHG into the U.S.
• Merchant Warehouse Announces Availability of 'Genius Customer Engagement Platform'
• MedDirect Launches Online Payment Portal for Patient Responsibility Balances
• PayLeap, Acculynk’s Payments Processing Arm, Introduces Developer Integration Tools
• NCR Silver to Make Everyday Easy for 600 Cellairis Franchise Stores and Their Shoppers

On the web:

• Why So Many Americans Don’t Have Bank Accounts - TIME.com
• Ribbon, A “Bit.ly With Payments,” Brings Simplified Checkout To Any Platform - TechCrunch
• Square Card Readers Now Sold In More Than 250 Retail Stores In Canada - TechCrunch

On the wires:

• Dynamics ePlate Credit Card Device Powers Amnesty International Experience
• iVeri Introduces a Mobile Chip & PIN Solution in South Africa

On the web:

• PayAnywhere Jumps Into Mobile-Payment Ring - USA Today
• PayPal Tests QR Codes In Shop Windows along with Mobile Check-Ins - TechCrunch
• Square Hits $10 Billion In Annual Payments Processed - CNET News

On the wires:

• Rockport Streamlines Mobile Checkout Flow with Google Wallet
• Western Union Expands Walk-In Biller Network to Over 15,000
• U.S. Bank and Sport Chalet Partner on Sport Chalet Visa Card
• Virtual Piggy Partners With PayPal To Increase Customer Sign Ups, Conversions, And Sales
• Cardholders of TMG Clients Gain Access to V.me for Simple Online Shopping
• eProcessing Network to Provide Level III Data Through Multiple Processing Platforms

On the web:

• Apple Store App Gets Passbook Gift Card Support - iClarified
• Square Wallet… Software Above the Level of a Single Device - O'Reilly Radar
• Starbucks Now Accepting Square Wallet Mobile Payments - SlashGear

On the wires:

• NCR Silver Small Business POS Available Now at Staples Locations Nationwide
• Truaxis Partners with Transaction Wireless and Buca di Beppo on Digital Offers
• MasterCard’s DataCash Enables Payments On Brand New Taxi Mobile App in UK

On the web:

• Twitter founder Jack Dorsey brings mobile payment service Square to Canada - Vancouver Sun

On the wires:

• Canada: Harper Government Moves to Protect Consumers when Using Prepaid Credit Cards
• J.P. Morgan Expands Global Reach Through New Products, Services and Client Mandates Announced at Sibos 2012
• Square Arrives in Canada
• New Payments Solution, ePlateTM, Gives Businesses the Power to Reward Customers with Experiences Never Imagined

On the web:

• Capital One Charges Into Developer Territory With Beta APIs - Programmable Web
• BillGuard Integrates With Passbook To Track All Your Credit Cards In One Place - TechCrunch
• European Square Clone Payleven Introduces 'Chip & PIN' solution - TheNextWeb
• Square Launches A Merchant Directory To Help Customers Discover New Places - TechCrunch
• Google Launches Micropayments Service For Web Content - Digital Trends
• Wal-Mart to Let Customers Reload Other Brands Prepaid Cards - American Banker

On the wires:

• New Celent Report on State of Remote Deposit Capture 2012
• Elavon's Chip and PIN MobileMerchant Enables Irish Businesses on the Move
• NCR and Vantiv to Grow Multivendor ATM Software Availability in U.S.
• TransCard Partners with Netchex to Offer 100% Paperless Payroll

On the web:

• China’s Alipay Has 700 Million Registered Accounts - Tech in Asia
• Square's Global March Faces A Plucky British Challenger, mPowa - Forbes
• Payments Startup Stripe Expands to Canada in Challenge to PayPal - Bloomberg

On the wires:

• MasterCard Debuts First Single-branded Cards in China with Citibank
• Euronet Worldwide Expands Independent ATM Networks to Spain and Italy
• MasterCard Study: Bill Payment Represents Key Entry Point to Greater Financial Inclusion
• Visa and Others Form "Better Than Cash Alliance" to Accelerate Global Shift to Electronic Payments

Square announced that it has closed its Series D financing round at a $3.25 billion valuation. Investors participating in the round include Citi Ventures, Rizvi Traverse Management, and Starbucks Coffee Company.

One year ago, Square had approximately 150 employees and processed over $1 billion in payments on an annualized basis. Today, Square has over 400 employees and is processing over $8 billion in payments on an annualized basis.

On the web:

• Square To Sell Card Readers At AT&T Stores - Reuters
• ‎Quiet During the Wallet Wars, Visa Readies V.me for a Year-End Rollout - Digital Transactions
• Square Clone Payleven Hits UK, Brazil, Confirms Double-Digit Million Funding - VentureBeat
• Pointing to the Future: Biometrics Crucial for Data Protection - Portals and Rails
• Walmart Tests iPhone App Checkout Feature - Reuters

On the wires:

• mopay Study Reveals Consumers’ Spending Behavior Via Direct Carrier Billing
• Western Union Launches International Business Payments Services in Chile, Cyprus and Jordan
• Discover Financial Services and Russian Standard Bank Announce Discover Card Issuance in Russia

On the web:

• Get ready for BitInstant's Bitcoin Debit Card - CNN Money
• Square Confirms Website and "Some Payments" Affected by Outage - The Next Web
• Stripe’s Capture The Flag 2.0 — A Hands On Contest For App Developers To Test Their Security Know-How - TechCrunch
• Food Carts Switching To Mobile Payments - Oregon Business

On the wires:

• Cubic's Go Card Passes 3 Million In Australia
• Nigeria Cash-Less Lagos Initiative Spurs Orders for VeriFone Solutions

Square as announced new simple pricing for small businesses - a flat $275 monthly fee for merchants who process up to $250,000 per year and for transactions up to $400 in value.

“For 62 years, merchants have suffered complicated, expensive processing fees. Square is the first company to rethink electronic payment pricing with the merchant in mind. We are giving merchants affordable, predictable pricing, ” said Square CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey. “With one monthly price, merchants know that the sales they’ve processed in a day is the same amount deposited in the bank.”

Doing the math, Square's new flat fee pricing will save fees for merchants who do over $100,000 annually in swipe payment volume as compared to its standard 2.75%/swipe fee. For example, a merchant doing $200,000/year will have an effective discount rate of 1.375%. Manually-entered card transactions are not included in the flat fee - they continue to be priced at 3.5% + 15 cents per transactions.

On the web:

• Facebook Introduces The Payer Promotion API - WebProNews
• OrderAhead Nabs $2.3M For Ordering On The Go - TechCrunch
• In the Ordinary, Silicon Valley Is Finding the Next Big Thing (Square) - NYTimes.com
• Tourism Traffic Boosts Prepaid Cards - Portals and Rails

On the wires:

• i2c Supports Western Union in the Philippines
• Deutsche Telekom Commissions Wirecard As Technical Service Provider For Mobile Payment
• PAY.ON Gateway Gives Merchants Connectivity to China UnionPay
• Vanquis Bank Accelerates International Growth with FIS

On the web:

• Want to Do Mobile Payments Acceptance? Here's a Free Tablet from GoPago - NYTimes.com
• Square/Starbucks Partnership Q&A with Jack Dorsey and Howard Schultz - AllThingsD
• ViVOtech Unloads Its NFC Reader Business, Will Focus On Software Going Forward - TechCrunch
• PayPal And Major Chinese E-Commerce Platform Part Ways - CNET News

On the wires:

• VeriFone Selected for Contactless Payment Rollout in Mexico City

Square and Starbucks have announced "a broad innovative partnership to bring the best possible payment experience to both sides of the Starbucks counter." The key partnership terms include:

• Starbucks will deploy Pay with Square in U.S. Starbucks stores this fall

• Square will process Starbucks U.S. credit and debit card transactions

• Starbucks will integrate the Square merchant directory to various Starbucks digital platforms, including the Starbucks Digital Network and eventually the Starbucks mobile payment application

• Starbucks will invest $25 million in Square as part of the company’s Series D financing round

• Starbucks chairman, president and CEO Howard Schultz will join Square’s Board of Directors

On the web:

• Bill Me Later Helps eBay's Profits But Exposes It To Risk - San Jose Mercury News
• Payment Startups Struggle with California Money Transmitter Law - Business Insider
• Square Issues Cease And Desist To mPowa: Hands Off Our Hands Picture - TechCrunch
• Rocket May Clone Stripe To Beef Up Payments Portfolio - GigaOM

On the wires:

• CashStar Raises $5 Million in Funding
• VeriFone Wins $35 Million-Plus Contract for District of Columbia Taxi Systems

On the web:

• Mobile Payment Smackdown: Square vs. PayPal Here - Mashable
• Mobile Payments Startup Kuapay Grabs $4 Million Investment - TechCrunch
• Square Card Reader App Adds Admin Accounts & Permissions TechCrunch
• Revel Systems Debuts An iPad POS In A Box - TechCrunch

On the wires:

• CyberSource Online Security Destined for Thailand's eMerchants
• New U.S. Bank Cash+ Visa Signature Credit Card Lets Customers Choose Their Cash Back Categories

Square has announced the launch of new loyalty features for Square Register and Pay with Square that further deepen the relationship between buyers and sellers.

Since Square Register's launch in March, Square Register users are five times more active on a weekly basis than Square Card Reader users and they process approximately 2x more revenue. Square's latest offering will allow participating merchants to give regular customers VIP treatment starting with the first visit. Customers will be able to store cards from their favorite Square businesses and keep track of progress towards rewards.