April 29, 2019

Liquid Group has entered a joint venture with Virtual Currency Partners to expand the Liquid.com platform into the U.S., according to a press release.

The joint venture company, called Liquid Financial USA Inc., will acquire a FinCen-registered money service, thus allowing the company to operate in the U.S. Liquid, with offices in New York and Atlanta, will make its native token, called Qash, available for utility and trading in the U.S.

"The U.S. is one of the world’s largest markets for cryptocurrency and we have received widespread expressions of interest from our community, corporate and institutional customers to support the U.S. market," Mike Kayamori, co-founder and CEO of Liquid.com, said in the release.

The announcement comes less than a month after the announcement by Liquid.com of a Series C funding round led by IDG Capital that valued the company at more than $1 billion.

VCP, led by chairman Barry Schiffman, is a consortium of investors and cryptocurrency partners who operate in the crypto and virtual currency space. Schiffman was executive managing director at Jafco Ventures, the U.S.-arm of Japanese venture capital firm Jafco.

Liquid USA officials are working on regulatory approvals and plan to start onboarding U.S. customers in January.

Topics: Bitcoin, Mobile Payments, Region: Americas, Region: APAC, Regulatory Issues

Related Content

Latest Content

April 29, 2019

The European Commission has announced its acceptance of legally binding 5-and-a-half year commitments from Mastercard and Visa to cut interregional interchange fees by approximately 40%.

Interregional interchange fees, also known as interregional multilateral interchange fees, are applied to payments made when a credit or debit cardholder from outside the European Economic Area makes a purchase inside the area — for example an American tourist dining at a restaurant in Belgium.

"Mastercard and Visa have committed to significantly reduce the interchange fee applied to payments made in Europe with cards issued elsewhere," Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who is in charge of EEA competition policy, said in the announcement. "The commitments, which are legally binding on Visa and Mastercard, will reduce the costs borne by retailers for accepting payments with cards issued outside the EEA."

Within six months, Visa and Mastercard will lower the fees for in-store purchases by 0.2% of the value of the transaction for debit cards and by 0.3% for credit cards. For online purchases, the companies will lower fees by 1.15% for debit cards and 1.5% for credit cards.

Vestager said that the agreement, combined with a January decision on cross-border payments, will serve to lower prices for European retailers to do business, which ultimately will benefit consumers.

When a consumer makes a purchase, the bank of the merchant — i.e., the acquiring bank — pays a multilateral interchange fee to the bank of the cardholder — i.e., the issuing bank. The acquiring bank passes the cost of the fee to the retailer, who passes it on to consumers.

The EC first informed Mastercard of its concerns about interregional MIFs in July 2015 and informed Visa in 2017. The concern was that the fees might increase prices in an anticompetitive manner for customers of retailers accepting cards from outside the region.

Topics: Bill Payment, Region: EMEA, Regulatory Issues

Companies: Visa, MasterCard

Related Content

Latest Content

April 29, 2019

PayPal Inc. plans to buy $500 million in Uber Technologies Inc. common stock through a private placement, according to a regulatory filing ahead of the ride sharing company's initial public offering.

PayPal would pay $47 a share, the assumed IPO price, and would buy more than 10.6 million shares, according to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Paypal CEO Dan Schulman said in a posting on Linkedin that the company will extend its existing partnership with Uber, and that the companies will explore additional payment collaborations, including the development of an Uber digital wallet.

PayPal has been the lead payment processor for Uber in the U.S. and Australia since 2013, according to Schulman.

Topics: In-App Payments, Mobile Apps, Regulatory Issues

Companies: Uber, PayPal

Related Content

Latest Content

April 29, 2019

Sainsbury's has launched what is says is the first till-free grocery store in the U.K. at its Holborn Circus location in London, where customers can check out without a cashier, according to a company release.

The retailer will test its SmartShop Scan, Pay & Go technology at the location for three months before making adjustments and rolling out the service to a wider number of stores.

All customers using the store will be able to scan their items with the SmartShop Scan, Pay & Go smartphone app by scanning a QR code, which confirms that they paid for a particular item. No waiting in line will be necessary.

"We know our customers value their time and many want to shop as quickly as possible — technology is key to that," Clodagh Moriartty, chief digital officer at Sainsbury Group, said in the announcement. "This is an experiment rather than a new format for us — it hasn't been done in the U.K. before and we're really excited to understand how our customers respond to the app experience."

Store workers will be free to help customers and stock shelves; a help desk will be available to assist customers who want to pay with cash or cards. The store is currently about 82 percent cashless, according to the company.

The store is configured for customers on the go, featuring drinks, snacks, breakfast pots, pastries and sandwiches that can be quickly picked up and scanned. Customers can get coffee and other hot drinks through a self-service coffee machine.

Sainsbury says it was the first U.K. grocer to bring in-app mobile payments to its stores starting last August. The technology is currently available in eight stores.

Topics: In-App Payments, Mobile Payments, Region: EMEA, Retail

Related Content

Latest Content

April 29, 2019

Western Union Co. announced the expansion of its digital money transfer service in the United Arab Emirates, meaning that it is now live in seven Middle East countries, the others being Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar.

The service allows customers to transfer funds internationally using the Western Union mobile app and a relaunched Western Union website. Customers can make direct funds transfers from UAE-based bank accounts connected to the service. Most of the Middle Eastern countries served have gone live within the past 12 months, according to a spokesperson.

"Our commitment to the MIddle East is a step forward to a more prosperous and globally connected future," Hikmet Ersek, president and CEO of Western Union, said during the company’s launch ceremony in Dubai, according to a company release. "Our digital services support globally integrated living without leaving anyone behind."

To the first use of the Western Union online service, customers must first register at westernunion.com and then verify their identity in person with a government-issued resident ID card at an Al Fardhan Exchange agent location. Customers receive notification that they can use the online service once their identity is verified.

Western Union offers digital funds transfer in 60 counties, and the company's mobile app is live in 35, according to the spokesperson. Retail locations are available in 200 countries and bank payout is available in 100 countries.

Topics: Mobile Apps, Money Transfer / P2P, Region: EMEA

Related Content

Latest Content