Kenya Eyes Taxes on Crypto, Digital Wallets

A full audit of cryptocurrency giant Binance could be a long time coming. That’s according to Leon Foong, head of the world’s largest crypto exchange’s Asia-Pacific operations. He told Bloomberg News that while the company wants to hire an auditor, big accountants are still getting a handle on the crypto sector.

Indian banks and retailers have reportedly begun accepting contactless payments made with digital rupees. The move is part of the Reserve Bank of India’s retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot project, TechCrunch reported. Reliance Retail is the first merchant to take part in the pilot, the report said,...

The entire crypto industry should strive for the level of transparency seen in DeFi, Chainalysis Chief Product Officer Pratima Arora writes in the new PYMNTS eBook, “2023 Payments New Year’s Resolutions.”. There is no doubt that 2022 was a tough year across the crypto industry, what I believe...

The United Nations says North Korea stole a record amount of cryptocurrency assets last year. As Reuters reported Tuesday (Feb. 7), a confidential UN report says that North Korea targeted the networks of foreign aerospace and defense companies. The report claims North Korea used “increasingly sophisticated cyber techniques both to...

The way people pay for things is changing as the nature of money itself transforms. Fearing they may one day be left behind as digital, crypto and other currencies not backed by national governments continue encroaching on the use of physical, native fiat, the central banks of over 100 countries around the world have been undertaking a variety of investigative programs meant to research the technical feasibility of launching their own sovereign, virtual currencies backed by a federal banking system.

As the new year got underway in China, hopes appeared to be running high that an easing of tensions with the United States could unfold in the months ahead.

China's Foreign Ministry said the craft was a lost civilian balloon, the same explanation it gave for a suspected spy balloon that drifted over the US.

The old-fashioned check looms as a 2023 flashpoint in the battle vs. the fraudsters. Criminals steal checks from mailboxes. Enter the search term “check washing” into any search engine and headlines have massed over the past several weeks, citing businesses and banks that have been scammed. In September,...

Partech has closed its second Africa fund at 245 million euros (about $262 million). Partech Africa II is designed to support the next generation of entrepreneurs across the continent, and the fund closed above its target fund size, the venture capital firm said in a Tuesday (Feb. 7) announcement. “We...

Regulated decentralized systems will be key to an improved outlook for the cryptocurrency industry, Airswift CEO Dr. Yan Zhang writes in the new PYMNTS eBook, “2023 Payments New Year’s Resolutions.”. The cryptocurrency industry, which is resilient and undergoing a self-healing process, will enjoy a much better outlook in...

Open banking can help small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in more ways than one. In fact, from payment gateways to automatic invoicing software, a variety of Europe-based startups are using the technology to better cater to the needs of the SMB market. Payments Automation. Managing and tracking payments can be...

Continental nearshoring is driving a broad shift in both global trade and friction-free B2B payments. Supply-chain disruptions, prolonged “zero COVID” shutdowns in China, and soaring shipping rates, alongside widespread geopolitical uncertainty caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, are combining to fuel a nearshoring trend as companies look to strategically diversify their operations in the hopes of avoiding overreliance on a single market or one that is hemispheres away.

The time is ripe for financial institutions to explore what cryptocurrency offerings their customers want. That’s despite 2022’s bear market, Jeff Billingham, director of strategic initiatives at blockchain intelligence platform Chainalysis, told PYMNTS. “There’s a sort of flight to quality whenever we have these crypto winters or downturns,...

Pinterest may tout itself as the positive, politics-free visual discovery platform, but that upbeat vibe was lost on analysts Monday who felt its turn-around wasn't happening fast enough. This, as the San Francisco-based social media company said its Q4 earnings reflected gains in monthly active users, mobile users, Gen Z...

New York FinTech Fierce has raised $10 million for what it calls an “all-in-one” financial app. The company, co-founded by former Gemini Chief Technology Officer Rob Cornish, announced the app and the financing Wednesday (Feb. 8), saying the funding would help it expand its team and acquire more customers.

The European Union’s new electronic identification regulation is being criticized on multiple fronts. Designed to supersede the 2014 electronic identification and trust services (eIDAS) regulation, the European Commission proposed a revised eIDAS (eIDAS 2) in 2021 with the goal to give internet users more control over their data. It...

Visa is reportedly exploring plans to let customers convert crypto assets into fiat currencies. Speaking at the StarkWare Sessions 2023 conference in Tel Aviv, Cuy Sheffield, head of Visa’s crypto operations, said the company has “been testing how to actually accept settlement payments from issuers in USDC starting on Ethereum and paying out in USDC on Ethereum,” per a report by Cointelegraph.

Mobily has expanded its new mobile payment service, Mobily Pay. The Saudi Arabian telecom service provider has expanded Mobily Pay services in the county via a partnership with Swedish technology company Ericsson, according to a Monday (Feb. 6) press release. Ericsson will “continuously evolve and enhance” the Mobily Pay platform...

It’s a renaissance for non-institutional market participation, and Robinhood wants to capitalize on that environment. The commission-free trading app told investors during its fourth quarter 2022 earnings call Wednesday (Feb. 8) that by targeting customers affected by macroeconomic headwinds with strategic value-add solutions, as well as through broader platform evolutions, it has been able to improve retail audience engagements.

Digital platforms are continuing to revolutionize the remittances market, and Western Union is taking notice. The 172-year-old financial services company told investors during its fourth quarter earnings call Tuesday (Feb. 7) that it sees remittance volumes remaining resilient in 2023, and growing in line with a macro backdrop that it expects to be similar to last year’s.