On the web:

• Blackhawk Network Plans IPO of Shares Valued at $200 Million - Bloomberg
• Balanced Raises $800K On Little-Known Fundraising Platform Called Facebook - Pando Daily
• Lenovo To Include Contactless Payments On Notebooks, Tablets - MobilePaymentsToday.com
• US Treasury Issues Guidance On 'Convertible' Virtual Currencies - The Next Web
• PayPal Stops Foreign Charity Donations From Singapore Accounts - TechCrunch

On the wires:

• NCR Silver Makes Everyday Easier for Small Businesses with Gift Card Update
• Merchants Can Leverage Transactional Data for Big Benefits, Says Tranzlogic
• GlobalCollect Expands Asia Pacific Presence In Support Of Booming E-Commerce Market
• Bluefin Payment Systems Integrates Payment Gateway with CUSI Software Platform

On the web:

• Target Rolls Out Shopkick Integration Nationwide - TechCrunch
• Consumer Watchdog Plans Limits for Prepaid Debit Cards - NYTimes.com
• Taco Bell, Burger King and Others Eat Up Virtual Currency - ClickZ

On the wires:

• Flash Valet Launches Mobile App-Based Solution for Valet Parking Industry
• Ingenico and Vantiv Partner for EMV, NFC Mobile and Secure Encrypted Payments in U.S. Marketplace

On the web:

• Making Plastic Credit Cards Smarter at SXSW - CardSpring
• Isis’ campaign to win over consumers starts at SXSW
• Can Banks Avoid Being Friends with Facebook?
• 63 Minutes With Jack Dorsey
• No wallet? No problem. PayPal Now Available Through the Tabbedout Mobile App
• Luxury Daily: Are retailers ready for mobile payments?
• How mobile payments might drive health behavior change
• Apple Wins Patent for iWallet: The one that will rule the World
• AMEX’s new Twitter integration is “brilliant” marketing
• On the mobile payments front at MWC: Much ado about nothing
• Clover Raises $5.8M From Andreessen Horowitz; Launches As A One-Click Mobile Payments Platform
• 15M Facebook users bought virtual goods with Credits in 2011
• Virtual Currency Is The Next Big Platform
• Best Buy snags Starbucks tech guru

On the wires:

• Green Dot to Acquire Loopt
• Discover Financial Services and National Payment Corporation of India Announce Strategic Alliance Enabling Increased Network Acceptance

Glenbrook has released a new research report on virtual currencies fundamentals.

Our focus is on describing what virtual currencies are, how they work, who uses them, and why. We describe the general characteristics and key attributes of a typical virtual currency program, demonstrating the strategic choices facing online sites as they contemplate whether or not a virtual currency is an attractive addition to their monetization strategy.

The specific currencies covered include Facebook Credits, Microsoft Point, PlaySpan Ultimate Points, Tencent Q Coin, Second Life Linden Dollars, World of Warcraft Gold, various Zynga currencies, and the experimental BitCoin digital currency.

TechCrunch is reporting that American Express has acquired Sometrics, a virtual currency platform and in-game payments provider serving the online game industry, for $30 million. Supposedly, Sometrics will be used within American Express' Serve digital payments platform. No details have been disclosed, but AmEx has confirmed the acquisition with a tweet.

Zeevex, an InComm company distributing virtual currency cards through national retailers in the U.S., has announced that it "has entered into an exclusive agreement with Twitpay to bring viral social network payments to the online game market."

Yesterday, at Facebook's f8 developer conference in San Francisco, Facebook Credits manager Deb Liu provided more details about Facebook's plans for Credits - "a virtual currency in games, which you play for free but pay for specific virtual items with the virtual currency, which you buy with real money."

In an article titled "How Facebook plans to fuel the app economy with Facebook Credits", Dean Takahashi writes for VentureBeat about Credits.

In an article titled "A Look At The Future of Facebook Credits", Jason Kincaid writes for TechCrunch - in particular about App2user Credits - "a set of promotions that allow users to earn Facebook Credits in ways that don’t involve paying with their credit card."

Take a look at the Inside Facebook blog and the ads from its sponsors - including Zong, SuperRewards, Allpass, PaymentPin and OfferPal.

Also, notice the survey results discussed in this article - none of the major consumer credit card companies or issuers made the top 10!

Have you signed up to use virtual currency or pay for digital goods using your mobile phone?