An Australian startup is to begin issuing NFC tags that act as Bitcoin wallets, NFC readers that merchants can use to charge customers in Bitcoins, and to provide Bitcoin ATMs that can be used to issue new wallet tags as well as top up and withdraw funds from Bitcoin accounts. More
A cross border NFC payments service using On Track Innovations’ Wave NFC add-on device is to be offered by Hong Kong ATM network JetCo, which has thirty member banks, by Taiwan’s Trade-Van and by Macau’s MTel. More
Ukraine-based PrivatBank has developed an ATM that uses NFC to “significantly reduce” product costs by eliminating the need to include a pin pad, screen and other user interface features. More
Hong Kong ATM network provider Jetco is to offer NFC payments using an add-on device that plugs into the headphone jack of a standard smartphone, the South China Morning Post reports... More
ATM maker Diebold is adding the option to upgrade its Opteva terminals to enable them to interact with contactless cards and NFC devices... More
Transaction automation specialist JCM Global has demonstrated an NFC-based mobile wallet designed to be used in casinos... More
The Austrian bank’s CardMobile service allows low value transactions to be aggregated, removing the need for each transaction to be authorised individually while still keeping a full audit trail of purchases made. More
All three of Singapore’s mobile network operators are now offering commercial NFC services, enabling consumers to make purchases at more than 20,000 merchant points of sale across Singapore. More
NFC payments are five to ten years away from mainstream adoption and on the crossover between the ‘Peak of Inflated Expectations’ and the ‘Trough of Disillusionment’, according to this year’s Gartner Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies. NFC as a whole is expected to hit the mainstream more quickly, but is still two to five years away from maturity. More
ATM maker Diebold has joined smart card and secure element standards body GlobalPlatform... More
Hardware manufacturer Duali’s Dragon NFC reader has become the first product to achieve NFC Forum certification in Korea... More
All the participants in a small four month mobile payments trial conducted by BNZ, Vodafone, Visa and Paymark in Auckland and Wellington said they were likely to recommend the service to friends and 14% said they would be willing to pay a small fee for the service. More
Vodafone, 2degrees and Telecom New Zealand have partnered with the operator of the country’s debit card and ATM networks to introduce a central TSM platform that will allow the carriers to “continue to compete vigorously for customers by developing their own innovative services on top of the open platform infrastructure provided by the TSM”. More
Support for a range of Android phones based on Samsung’s Galaxy S has been added to NFC supplier DeviceFidelity’s Moneto service... More
The payments giant has set out its plans for moving the US from magnetic stripe card technology to chip cards and NFC phones. The plans include incentives for merchants, integrated customer loyalty programmes and support for dynamic authentication technologies. More
La Caixa is to equip all its 17,000 retail points-of-sale in Barcelona with contactless POS terminals while BBVA and Bankia are converting 7,000 points-of-sale in central Madrid, with the aim of paving the way for NFC mobile payments. More
The trial will see five hundred bank staff using BlackBerry NFC smartphones to make MasterCard PayPass payments, and the technology used will in future also support the country’s national transportation ticketing technology. More
A survey of UK consumers conducted for Gemalto has found that a third of Brits would use NFC services — if they understood the technology better and knew it was completely secure. More
The bank has unveiled ‘Commbank Kaching’, a next generation mobile payments service that lets iPhone users easily send money to their Facebook friends, email contacts and phone contacts as well as make payments in stores via an add-on NFC case. More
News in brief from the NFC world and beyond: Austrian bus stops offer NFC updates • Caen gets NFC transit stops too • NFC tag store opens in Korea • Belgian museum offers NFC info • Gentag picks up patch patent • plus Clear2Pay, ITSO, TfL, FirstGroup, Google and more… More