Crypto-Linked Cards, Membership Programs, Real-Time Payments Top This Week’s News

This week, we saw news of Visa’s expanding ecosystem for crypto-linked cards, and Walmart hiring a new executive to run its Walmart+ membership program. Also, new insights have emerged on real-time payments. The Weekender is here to catch you up.

News

Visa Expands Ecosystem For Crypto-Linked Cards As Spending Tops $1B

Visa announced that it has struck deals with over 50 digital currency platforms and exchanges to let end-users spend cryptocurrencies at 70 million merchants throughout the world by the way of crypto-linked cards.

Walmart Poaches Amex Exec To Head Walmart+

Walmart has hired an executive away from American Express to operate its Walmart+ membership program.

Google, Twitter And Facebook Eye Leaving Hong Kong If Data Laws Pass

Google, Twitter and Facebook might quit providing services in Hong Kong in the event that authorities go ahead with planned modifications to data-protection rules.

Wise IPO Maps The Digital Transformation Of X-Border Money Movement

Wise, which was previously known as TransferWise, debuted on the London Stock Exchange this week.

Wish Gains Dutch Central Bank Payments License, Eyes EU

The Dutch Central Bank has provided a payment services license to ContextLogic B.V., which runs as a Dutch subsidiary of ContextLogic Inc., and does business as the online shopping platform Wish.

Trackers And Reports

Report: FBI Says Online Cookies Hold Keys To Preventing Financial Crimes

More companies and individuals are tapping into digital channels first and foremost, and so are scammers. To that end, cybercriminals are coming armed with a larger and larger variety of tools and technologies to skim money and personal information away from digital platforms, and a number of financial institutions (FIs) may still not have the tools needed to distinguish between legitimate clients and scammers.

A representative from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) previously told PYMNTS that it is essential for FIs to revamp their financial crime prevention strategies to respond to these shifts and incorporate technologies that let them make that distinction.

Real-Time Payments Help Underbanked Consumers Find Financial Relief

The millions of unbanked households in America encounter a vicious negative feedback loop, as lacking traditional loan services and other financial tools make them opt for predatory high-fee options such as payday lenders, driving them further into poverty.

While equipping these families with bank accounts is the ideal solution for the longer haul, real-time payments might go a long way toward alleviating their everyday concerns.

Report: Data Breaches Are Imminent Threat To Telemedicine’s Future

California-based Forward Health, a preventative primary care upstart that brings together doctors and advanced medical technology, is focusing on safeguarding biometric information and sensitive data from digital criminals. PYMNTS explores the measures that healthcare entities can implement to prevent breaches.

Fun, Cool And Otherwise Interesting

The ‘Third Wave’ Of Self-Serve Checkout Turns Grocery Stores Into Omnichannel Hubs

As brick-and-mortar grocery stores aim to catch up with the eCommerce innovations of the last 16 months, self-checkout is on the rise. Whether it takes the form of computer vision-powered “Just Walk Out” payment systems or self-service kiosks, merchants are aiming to provide shoppers with a faster and more frictionless checkout experience.

Circle SPAC: $25B Of USDC Mkt Cap In Circulation, CAGR At 6,100 Percent

Circle, the FinTech behind the USD Coin, said this week that it would go public by merging with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Concord Acquisition Corp.

EV Charging Station Rift Could Be Auto Industry’s Next Big Pothole

As is the case with any big pothole you don’t see until it’s too late, a similarly hidden rut may be hiding from the auto sector in the form of a dormant battle over electric vehicle charging station standardization.

Digital Wallets To Get A Boost From Interchange Fee Reduction

A delay is in place, but once it happens, the revamped interchange fees set by Visa could go a long way toward making a new wave for digital commerce, where payments are more and more conducted by the way of digital wallets.

Big Tech’s Big China Trouble Makes Investors See Red

China is looking to strengthen its oversight of homegrown companies that are going public on U.S. exchanges or wish to do so.