Group items tagged

Square, the digital-payments platform led by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, agreed to buy Australian buy-now, pay-later company Afterpay Ltd. for $29 billion in an all-stock deal. Square said the buy-now, pay-later concept represents a chance to capitalize on a shift away from traditional credit, especially among younger consumers. The plan is for Square to integrate Afterpay into both its consumer Cash App, and its Seller product for small businesses.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation gave the green light to an application from the FinTech firm Square to create a de novo industrial bank in Utah. Square Financial Services will originate commercial loans to the retailers that use Square for payments. The Utah Department of Financial Institutions still has to issues approvals to the San Francisco-based FinTech.

Square purchased $170 million Bitcoin, raising its holdings to about 5% of the company's cash and equivalents. Square reported that crypto-assets continue to be a growing part of its business through the use of its Cash App for Bitcoin transactions. The financial payments company's involvement with Bitcoin is a reflection of CEO Jack Dorsey's belief in crypto-assets and the open internet.

Payments firm Square recently began holding back between 20% and 30% of the money it collects from some customers - claiming that it does so to protect against risky transactions - in a move that has sparked an outcry from small businesses in financial distress during the pandemic. The firm described the withholdings as part of its "rolling reserve" policy, adding that it had started the practice late last year and expanded it after the pandemic began to "protect buyers." The company claimed that it applied the reserves policy on more "risky" sellers who sell goods or services more prone to disputes or who take prepayment for a service to be delivered at a future date.

Payments company Square is rolling out bitcoin deposits for at least some users. Previously, users could purchase or sell bitcoin, as well as transfer the cryptos to another wallet.

Square Cash App users will now be able to deposit bitcoins from external wallets into their app bitcoin address. According to Square's announcement, deposits are limited to $10,000 worth of bitcoin in a seven day period.

JPMorgan has filed a request with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to approve a debt instrument linked to 11 firms that have all invested in Bitcoin and other crypto-assets. The debt instrument will enable investors to have direct exposure to a basket of cryptocurrency-focused firms. 68% of the "Basket" will be made up of MicroStrategy, Square, Riot Blockchain, and NVIDIA. Other companies that are included in the debt instrument are PayPal, Advanced Micro Devices, Taiwan Semiconductor Company, Intercontinental Exchange, CME Group, Overstock.com and Silvergate Capital.

Jack Dorsey, co-founder, and CEO of both Square and Twitter, released a white paper detailing plans for Square's decentralized Bitcoin exchange tbDEX. Unlike most decentralized exchanges, or DEXs, tbDEX will not utilize a trustless model, and therefore will not feature its own governance token. Instead, it is a message protocol designed to facilitate trust relationships without relying on a federation to control access.

"The same question could be directed at other well-known money transmitters like PayPal, Square, and Western Union... and my guess is that their answers would be equally unclear."

Transactors can use the smartwatch app to generate a QR code - a square-shaped barcode - that someone else can then scan with their smartphone to send over a payment.

Payments platform Square added a feature to their app to allow users to direct U.S. COVID-19 stimulus payments to their Cash App accounts. This is particularly useful for eligible recipients who do not usually file a tax return, who otherwise will not automatically receive the funds.

Treasury has released a new lender application for non-bank lenders such as Paypal PYPL and Square to increase the availability of loans. Here is a current list of FinTech companies that can also help you apply for these loans.

These days, by far the fastest and most efficient way of delivering money is via smartphones and mobile devices. The U.S. government should simply provide a general portal to a wide range of payment delivery mechanisms. Visa and Mastercard are easily capable of handling these payments, especially as their normal transaction volumes have fallen significantly due to the shutdown. But the government should also work with platforms such as Venmo, Zelle, Square Cash, Paypal, Apple Pay and Google Pay [Chime, a San Francisco fintech startup, says it's piloted a way to distribute the $1200]. And it could also offer payment in cryptocurrency as an option.

More and more people are ditching cash in favor of cards and digital payments, but that doesn't mean cash it out of the picture, according to a new report from financial tech company Square.

According to analysis by crypto fund Pantera Capital, the recent crypto-asset rally has likely been driven by an influx of retail investors buying Bitcoin. The main trigger is the October launch of PayPal's new service that enables customers to buy, sell, and hold crypto-assets directly from their PayPal accounts. According to Pantera's projections, PayPal users alone may soon acquire more Bitcoin than there are being mined. Square launched similar capabilities in its cash app in June 2019, but it only gives access to Bitcoin, whereas PayPal's offering supports Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin.

Data aggregator Plaid Inc., whose software is used by apps including Venmo, Coinbase, Square, and Stripe, accesses user bank accounts and collects detailed financial information without consent, a new class suit filed in federal court claims. Plaid's software is used by more than 2,000 apps to link consumer financial accounts, and about 1 in 4 people in the U.S. have an account linked via Plaid, the suit says.

The U.S. Federal Reserve has officially started onboarding pilot participants onto the FedNow Service, signaling that the initial testing phase of the FedNow Pilot Program is underway. The Federal Reserve Banks are developing the FedNow Service to facilitate nationwide reach of 24/7/365 instant payment services by financial institutions - regardless of size or geographic location. A few organizations have now successfully connected and delivered test messages over a pilot version of the FedNow Service, which remains on course to launch in 2023. In total, the FedNow Pilot Program now numbers more than 120 organizations, including Square Financial Services.

Making Payments Faster and Modernizing the Payment System: While perhaps relevant in some countries, this rationale looks increasingly inapt in the United States, where a real-time payment system grows in use, consumers happily pay each other with Zelle or Venmo, and PayPal and Square thrive. Thus, Federal Reserve Governor Waller has observed, "What problem would a CBDC solve? Alternatively, what market failure or inefficiency demands this specific intervention? After careful consideration, I am not convinced as of yet that a CBDC would solve any existing problem that is not being addressed more promptly and efficiently by other initiatives."