Today in the Connected Economy: Crypto.com, Worldpay Partner on Global Expansion

Today in the connected economy, Crypto.com works with Worldpay to offer merchant acquiring services to help Crypto.org’s global expansion plans, and Flywire and Ascensus collaborate to make payments from 529 college savings plans easier. Plus, Stripe builds a payments tool for flights application programming interface (API) service Duffel, and sticky.io President and CEO Brian Bogosian talks about the importance of flexibility in retail subscriptions.

Crypto.com Partners With Worldpay on Global Expansion of Crypto.org Chain

Global payment processing platform Worldpay from FIS is working with cryptocurrency platform Crypto.com to be a global validator and operator for the Crypto.org Chain, a public blockchain for transactions between people and businesses. Worldpay will also offer global merchant acquiring services that will supplement Crypto.com’s global expansion plans.

Flywire, Ascensus Partner on College Savings Plans

Payments platform Flywire and savings facilitator Ascensus have teamed up to digitize and streamline payments from 529 college savings plans to American colleges and universities. The partnership lets families saving for college with a 529 plan through the Ascensus platform leverage Flywire to disburse funds to pay tuition-related expenses, sent to the school directly from their account.

Duffel, Stripe Partner on Flight Payments Processing

Flights API service Duffel has launched payments solution Duffel Payments, letting travel businesses accept customer payments online by integrating with the Duffel API, which allows these businesses to earn money by selling flights. The Duffel Payments platform was built through a partnership with payment service provider Stripe and requires no upfront capital or down payment for Duffel Payments users.

Experimentation, Personalization and New Features Fuel Subscription Optimism

Retail subscriptions help consumers learn about products they’ve never tried — or even heard of. That discoverability is among the core attractions of subscription commerce. Coupled with a greater focus on adding value, it’s fueling the momentum of this eCommerce segment. With consumers “buying things that they want versus things that they need, and looking for ways to get additional value, have more choice, [and experiment] with new things,” sticky.io President and CEO Brian Bogosian said merchants need to demonstrate some carpe diem spirit as “flexibility of billing ends up becoming an important component to the success of online commerce and subscriptions.”

Global Rewards Taps Into FinTech Galileo’s Platform

B2B payments company Global Rewards and FinTech Galileo have joined forces to offer Global Rewards clients access to Galileo’s cloud-based technology platform and APIs. Global Rewards said it picked Galileo for its platform’s flexibility, reliability and scalability. “Just as the pandemic fueled an accelerated shift of consumers embracing more digital payments, COVID-19 has helped businesses see the necessity of reducing manual, paper-based processes in favor of digital solutions that save time and money,” the Lakewood, New Jersey-based company said.

Payments Firm Deluxe Integrates With Q2 Holdings

Payments and business technology provider Deluxe said it is integrating its offerings with digital banking firm Q2 Holdings. The integration will see Deluxe provide human resources and payroll solutions in Q2’s Partner Marketplace Program, “enabling financial institutions to seamlessly provide these solutions to their clients, while generating recurring revenue and increasing customer retention.” Deluxe said the Q2 Partner Marketplace will allow financial service companies the ability to offer applications to their consumer and small business clients, including automation tools for payroll, tax payments, hiring and onboarding, time management and benefits administration.