News

Security & Fraud
IRS Seizes $3.5B in Crypto in FY 2021
November 19, 2021

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) seized $3.5 billion in cryptocurrencies during the fiscal year 2021, accounting for 93% of the assets seized during the year. Get the Full Story Complete the form to unlock this article and enjoy unlimited free access to all PYMNTS content...

Retail
Study: Nearly Half of US Consumers Are Already Holiday Shopping
November 19, 2021

Santa has yet to ride down 34th Street in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the turkey has yet to be carved, but nearly 50% of consumers say they’ve already started making holiday gift purchases amid inventory shortages and rising prices. Get the Full Story...

International
Buy2Sell Expanding B2B in Vietnam with $28M Investment
November 19, 2021

Vietnamese B2B eCommerce platform Buy2Sell on Friday (Nov. 19) announced its sales in the first half of the year have tripled year-over-year to $24.5 million, led by food, cosmetics, home appliances and other fast-moving consumer goods.  Get the Full Story Complete the form to unlock...

Investments
Indian Startup Mensa Brands Becomes Unicorn in Six Months
November 19, 2021

The founder of Indian direct-to-consumer (D2C) brand aggregator Mensa Brands on Thursday (Nov. 19) told CNBC that it has become a unicorn — a private company with a valuation of at least $1 billion — and is already profitable after closing a $135 million Series...

B2B Payments
Missing, Inaccurate Procurement Data Costs B2B Firms $600B a Year
November 19, 2021

The widespread shift to remote work is fundamentally changing the procurement process. Historically, businesses have managed B2B payments in centralized offices, where employees could easily exchange paper documents to authorize business expenditures. Today, that is no longer practical — or even feasible. Get the Full...

Payment Methods
This Week in Payments: Merchants Consider Crypto, Consumers Return to Stores and Fraudsters Target Shoppers
November 19, 2021

It was another big week for cryptocurrency — with news about regulation, crypto-native wallets and a huge new potential for expanded merchant acceptance of crypto. Get the Full Story Complete the form to unlock this article and enjoy unlimited free access to all PYMNTS content...

Retail
Big-Box Stores Better Equipped to Handle Supply Chain Bottleneck
November 19, 2021

Small retailers across the U.S. are having trouble overcoming the supply chain snafus of the past several months, while the nation’s biggest companies — including Walmart, Home Depot, Lowe’s and Target — are finding solutions to work around them, according to a Financial Times report...

Delivery
Grubhub, Yandex to Bring Robot Delivery to University of Arizona
November 19, 2021

Food ordering and delivery platform Grubhub is rolling out its services to the University of Arizona using Yandex Self-Driving Group’s delivery robots — also known as rovers — following a similar launch at Ohio State University in September, according to a press release. Get the...

Biometrics
authID.ai Grabs Biometric ID Authentication Patent  
November 19, 2021

Biometric identity authentication platform authID.ai will get a patent Tuesday (Nov. 23) from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a method that uses various attributes of a person, securely linked to a Primary Account Number (PAN) to authenticate the person’s identity.  Get the Full...