The digitalization of payments and currency: Some issues for consideration — The Federal Reserve — “Given the dollar’s important role, it is essential that we remain on the frontier of research and policy development regarding CBDC [Central Bank Digital Currency]. Like other central banks, we are conducting research and experimentation related to distributed ledger technologies and their potential use case for digital currencies, including the potential for a CBDC. We are collaborating with other central banks as we advance our understanding of central bank digital currencies.”
- McKinsey: Coronavirus will cost the payments industry $165bn
- Canada increases contactless transaction limit by 150%
- Australia doubles contactless transaction limit to A$200
- Fitbit Charge 4 launches with NFC contactless payments
- Visa reports on the impact of Covid-19 on payment volumes
7-Eleven pilots cashierless store at US headquarters
7-Eleven is piloting a cashierless store concept at its US headquarters that uses technology developed in-house to let employees check in to the 700sqft store, shop and then exit — without needing to visit a physical checkout. More
Apple to add support for NFC car keys?
Evidence of a new feature that will make it possible to use an iPhone or an Apple Watch as a car key has been spotted in the first beta version of iOS 13.4, which was released to developers yesterday. More
Calypso and OSPT Alliance to create single open standard for transit ticketing
Calypso Networks Association (CNA) and OSPT Alliance have begun work on the creation of a single, global open standard for transit ticketing that will leverage “the unique strengths” of both the Calypso and the Cipurse standards... More
Corethree lets transportation operators replace prepaid ticket validators with low-cost NFC tags
Transportation ticketing specialist Corethree has introduced a service that enables transit operators to let passengers tap low-cost NFC tags placed on board a bus or other public transport service to activate and validate a prepaid mobile ticket... More
One in fourteen UK consumers no longer carry a physical wallet
One in 14 people ‘no longer carry a wallet’ — Yahoo Finance — “One in 14 people say they no longer carry a wallet, a survey has found. Some 7% no longer take a wallet out and about with them, while a fifth (20%) said that if they were to look in their wallet it would not contain any cash.”
Israeli banks balk at Apple Pay fees
Turbulent entry into the payments market: Apple Pay requires high commission in Israel — Calcalist (translation) — “Apple representatives have begun a round of meetings with banks and credit companies to formulate agreements to begin Apple Pay’s operations in the country… Some players were surprised to find that Apple requires a fairly high fee estimated at 0.15% to 0.25% of any transaction made through Apple Pay… ‘It is disproportionate, and constitutes an exploitation of its status and power,’ says a source close to the talks between the parties.”
Jameson adds NFC tags to whiskey bottles for St Patrick’s Day
Jameson Irish Whiskey’s annual St Patrick’s Day limited-edition bottles this year include NFC tags that customers can tap to design their own custom label and enter a competition to win a personalised limited-edition bottle... More
Weave adds NFC to tabletop role-playing game
Continue to redefine your story with the new Storyteller Screen for Weave — Gaming Trend — “The traditional game master screen has been re-imagined with new technology to keep storytelling fresh… Scan the app with the NFC chip to load character sheets, launch new or old stories and invite new players to current sessions.”
Visa to introduce variable interchange rates in the US
Visa is planning the biggest changes to swipe fees in a decade — Bloomberg — “The company’s interchange rates — fees charged every time a consumer uses a card — will go up or down depending on the merchant and the way a consumer pays for their purchases, according to a document Visa sent to banks that outlines the changes. Higher rates are looming for transactions on e-commerce sites, while retailers in certain services categories, such as real estate and education, will see fees decline.”
Royal Australian Mint to phase out silver coins?
Royal Australian Mint expects lowly silver coins to be phased out amid rise of contactless payments — ABC Radio Melbourne — “Royal Australian Mint chief executive Ross MacDiarmid said demand for coinage had dropped by about 55% in the last five years, and most of that had been for silver coins… Rising inflation, coupled with the growth of online and contactless payments, are rendering the lowly silvers obsolete… Much like the old 1 and 2c coins, phased out in the 1990s, Mr MacDiarmid expected the mint to eventually stop producing 5 and 10c coins.”
Lancashire Cricket puts mobile tickets on the blockchain
Lancashire Cricket becomes first organisation to activate blockchain secure ticketing — Lancashire Cricket — “Lancashire Cricket is leading the way in ticketing technology after becoming the first organisation in the UK, in any industry, to activate blockchain secure mobile tickets for all domestic and international fixtures at Emirates Old Trafford in 2020. The club will be using TIXnGO, a new blockchain mobile tickets platform, after successful trials took place during the 2019 season.”
Kansas City Chiefs issue NFC tickets to premium suite guests
Super Bowl LIV winners the Kansas City Chiefs have installed NFC ticketing in the premium suites at their Arrowhead Stadium, enabling fans to receive tickets directly on their Android or Apple mobile phones and then tap to enter their suites using NFC... More
Worldline to acquire Ingenico for €7.8bn
Worldline to acquire Ingenico — Worldline — “This transaction would combine two premier companies to create the world’s number four player in payment services with circa 20,000 employees in approximately 50 countries… Upon closing, the new combined group would offer best-in-class payment services to nearly 1m merchants and 1,200 financial institutions.”
Mercer University reports on iPhone NFC ID adoption
Mobile student ID coming soon to Android devices — The Cluster — “Eight months after the launch of a mobile Bear Card for Apple devices, associate vice president for auxiliary services Ken Boyer said the digital credential will become available for Android devices in the second quarter of 2020… Boyer said 3,198 students, faculty and staff have enabled the digital ID since. The Office of Auxiliary Services anticipates that 2,500 more users will sign up once the Android option is available.”
NXP leverages NFC for easy pairing in new Bluetooth SoC
NXP delivers new Bluetooth microcontroller intelligence with value-added NFC peripheral — NXP — PARTNER NEWS — “By tapping an IoT device based on the QN9090T to a smartphone, tablet or other NFC reader device, a BLE connection can be quickly established, greatly simplifying the pairing process. The built in NFC NTAG eliminates the need for the tag to be powered and creates additional opportunities for diagnostics or device commissioning in stages of the device life cycle.”
Visa CEO shares contactless, tokenization, transit and secure remote commerce adoption data
Data on the latest adoption rates for contactless transactions, tokenization, transit payments and secure remote commerce has been made available by Visa CEO Al Kelly — along with details of the revenue model to be used by Plaid, which Visa is to acquire for $5.3bn... More
Miami-Dade launches mobile ticketing app that rewards passengers for watching ads
The Miami-Dade Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTPW) has launched an app that lets passengers earn loyalty points that they can then exchange for free travel when they view or interact with personalised ads... More
Google lets developers build their own NFC security keys
Developers and researchers can now make their own Fido-compliant NFC, Bluetooth and USB hardware security keys using new open source software developed by Google... More
IBM patents self-aware cryptocurrency token
IBM awarded patent for ‘self-aware token’ — Coindesk — “The patent outlines a ledger-based payments system that could make it easier for individual users, businesses and governments to track and trace transactions made using a cryptocurrency. Dubbed the ‘self-aware token’, it is designed to record all transaction data when not being used on a payments platform IBM patented in 2012. When the token rejoins the platform ecosystem at a later stage, it automatically uploads data from any ‘off-line transactions’.”
