paypal
Latest
Major credit card companies launch a one-click checkout button
If you're shopping on Cinemark, Movember or Rakuten any time soon, you might see a new click-to-pay button at checkout. American Express, Discover, Mastercard and Visa have teamed up to create the new option for fast, secure online purchases. Their vision is to have one standard checkout button across all online retail websites, similar to the PayPal experience.
Venmo will launch its first credit card in 2020
Today, Venmo announced that it's launching a credit card in partnership with Synchrony. The card should be ready in the second half of 2020, and users will be able to apply for, use and manage it through the Venmo app. Cardholders will get real-time, granular alerts and be able to easily split and share purchases.
eBay, Visa and Mastercard pull out of Facebook's Libra cryptocurrency
Stripe and eBay have followed PayPal in backing out of Facebook's cryptocurrency, Libra. They confirmed to the Financial Times that they would pull their support, while Mastercard and Visa have also dropped out.
Facebook's Libra cryptocurrency loses backing from PayPal
A few days after the Wall Street Journal suggested that some companies announced as initial backers for Facebook's cyptocurrency were reconsidering support, PayPal has announced it will end its participation in the Libra Association. Founding members invest $10 million to fund the association, and as CNBC notes, it's unclear what happens to that money if participants pull out of the agreement. PayPal: PayPal has made the decision to forgo further participation in the Libra Association at this time and to continue to focus on advancing our existing mission and business priorities as we strive to democratize access to financial services for underserved populations. We remain supportive of Libra's aspirations and look forward to continued dialogue on ways to work together in the future. Facebook has been a longstanding and valued strategic partner to PayPal, and we will continue to partner with and support Facebook in various capacities. There's no word from other high-profile backers like Mastercard and Visa, while Facebook exec -- and former president of PayPal -- David Marcus previously tweeted that the "official 1st wave of Libra Association members will be formalized in the weeks to come." Meanwhile, lawmakers are pressing for CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify about the matter. We'll see who remains a backer -- the initial list of 28 names can be seen below -- by then. Mastercard, PayPal, PayU (Naspers' fintech arm), Stripe, Visa, Booking Holdings, eBay, Facebook/Calibra, Farfetch, Lyft, Mercado Pago, Spotify AB, Uber Technologies, Inc., Iliad, Vodafone Group, Anchorage, Bison Trails, Coinbase, Inc., Xapo Holdings Limited, Andreessen Horowitz, Breakthrough Initiatives, Ribbit Capital, Thrive Capital, Union Square Ventures, Creative Destruction Lab, Kiva,Mercy Corps, Women's World Banking.
How to sell the Brooklyn Bridge in the 21st century
Scammers, fraudsters, and confidence men have existed since we invented commerce. If there's a system of valuation in place, there are angles to be worked and Brooklyn Bridges to be sold. The rise of social media and our always-connected lifestyles have only compounded the problem, giving unscrupulous hucksters access to virtually every mark the world over. But social platforms taking action to put an end to these fraudulent financial assaults.
Pepsi's loyalty program puts cash in your Venmo account
Do you wish soft drink makers would stop using point systems for reward programs and simply give you cold, hard cash? You're about to get your wish... in a manner of speaking. Pepsi is launching a PepCoin loyalty program that rewards you for buying both a single-serve beverage and a Frito-Lay snack by sending money to PayPal and Venmo accounts. If you scan enough codes on bottles and bags, you'll receive a little bit of cash. You'll have to earn $2 before it goes to your account, but this is real spending money -- you can use it to pay your share of last night's pizza.
How to pay for things securely
We are essentially a cashless society. With the rise of debit cards in the late 1980s early '90s, fewer and fewer of us use paper money to pay for things. Throw in online shopping and single-retailer payment apps like the one from Starbucks, and ATMs seem almost quaint.
Hitting the Books: How big tech might monopolize AI
Welcome to Hitting the Books. With less than one in five Americans reading just for fun these days, we've done the hard work for you by scouring the internet for the most interesting, thought provoking books on science and technology we can find and delivering an easily digestible nugget of their stories.
Venmo can instantly transfer money to your bank account
Venmo's instant transfers are no longer limited to sending money to debit cards. The PayPal-owned service now permits transferring money immediately to linked bank accounts. It still incurs the same 1 percent fee with a minimum 25-cent transfer cost and a maximum $10 outlay. If you can tolerate that, though, it might just save your hide if you're running low on funds or just want assurances that money is sitting in your bank account.
Facebook's Calibra cryptocurrency wallet launches in 2020
After months of rumors and speculation, Facebook is finally making its cryptocurrency efforts official. This is Calibra, a digital wallet that will use a new cryptocurrency called Libra. Calibra, which is now a subsidiary of Facebook, is designed to "provide financial services that will enable people to access and participate in the Libra network," a blockchain technology developed by Facebook that's getting support from MasterCard, Visa, PayPal, eBay, Uber, Lyft and Spotify, among others. Facebook says it plans to launch Calibra in 2020, and the service will be available in Messenger and WhatsApp, as well as in a standalone app.
WSJ: Facebook's cryptocurrency finds backing from PayPal and Uber
Facebook has secured some pretty big backers for Project Libra, according to The Wall Street Journal. PayPal, Uber, Visa and Mastercard are reportedly investing around $10 million each in the social network's cryptocurrency. Other investors include Stripe and Booking.com. By agreeing to put money into the initiative, they've become part of a consortium created to govern the digital coin. It's not yet clear, however, if Facebook has already managed to raise the $1 billion it was hoping to in order to fund the coin's creation.
PayPal and GoFundMe cut off donations to militia detaining migrants
Crowdfunding and payment companies are no strangers to cutting off access to organizations that violate their policies, but their latest move could be more contentious than usual. PayPal and GoFundMe have confirmed to BuzzFeed News that they've shut down fundraising campaigns for the United Constitutional Patriots, a right-wing militia group in New Mexico that has been detaining migrants at the border with Mexico despite doubts about its legal authority. The sites claim that UCP has violated their policies barring support for hate or violence, in one case allegedly using funds to buy guns.
Facebook will scrap Messenger payments in the UK and France
Facebook will discontinue peer-to-peer Messenger payments in France and the UK on June 15th, the company told Engadget. "After evaluating how we give people the best experiences in Messenger, we made the decision to focus our efforts on experiences that people find most useful," Facebook said, adding that active users will be notified ahead of the changes.
Instagram will let you buy products without leaving the app
Instagram is moving a little deeper into commerce by allowing you to buy goods without leaving the app. The checkout feature will at first be a closed beta in the US with more than 20 brands involved, including Adidas, Nike, Zara, Kylie Cosmetics, Uniqlo, Burberry, H&M, Mac, Prada and Michael Kors. More brands will join in the coming months.
PayPal opens instant bank transfers in the US
PayPal made it possible for businesses to get paid instantly, but what if you're an individual who just wants funds in a hurry? You might be set after today. The payment service has launched an Instant Transfer option in the US that shuttles money directly to your bank account, not just your debit card. It'll carry a 1 percent transaction fee and isn't worth it in most cases, but it could be vital if you need to pay a bill and would rather wait seconds for your funds instead of hours or days.
Hiding in plain sight: The YouTubers' crowdfunding piracy
I never imagined I would be watching Kitchen Nightmares, starring the world-renowned chef Gordon Ramsay, in my downtime on YouTube. I knew of Ramsay and his ruthlessness from shows like Hell's Kitchen, but I had never heard of Kitchen Nightmares until a few weeks ago, when an episode popped up on YouTube's Trending section. Next thing you know, I'm hooked and watching full episodes of it on my phone instead of the usual sneaker videos. But aside from Ramsay's rants at owners of filthy restaurants, something else caught my attention -- these uploads weren't from Fox, which owns the rights to the show in the US. Instead, they were from an unofficial channel called "Kitchen Nightmares Hotel Hell and Hell's Kitchen." And as if that wasn't brazen enough, the owner explicitly asked viewers for donations to fund the uploading of copyrighted content.
The internet war on sex is here
During the Great Internet Sex War, that began in the United States during its Facebook Era, people were forced to stockpile their porn. Lube was bought by the drum and hidden in bunkers, alongside vibrators and air-gapped computers holding valuable troves of accurate, non judgemental sex information. Gimp suits were stored upright, oiled, and ready for doomsday's call. Explicit gifs became a black market commodity, and there were rumors of a Thunderdome ruled by cam girls. Every sexual identity, except the singular one deemed safe by the corporations, went into hiding. Fear prevented even the mere mention of sexual pleasure on the networks and in communications.
Venmo lost a lot of cash due to payment fraud
Venmo apparently had a good reason for disabling web payments and temporarily shutting off instant money transfers -- it was losing money hand over fist. The Wall Street Journal has obtained documents indicating that the PayPal-owned service took a 40 percent larger than expected operating loss ($40 million) in the first quarter of 2018, and payment fraud played a major factor in that financial blow. Where Venmo had expected dodgy transactions to represent 0.24 percent of its activity, the numbers shot up to 0.4 percent in March.
PayPal bans far-right Proud Boys and multiple anti-fascist groups
The far-right group Proud Boys has been hit with bans from Twitter and Facebook and now it will no longer be allowed to operate on PayPal. The Verge reports that PayPal will be cancelling both the Proud Boys account as well as that of its founder Gavin McInnes. At the same time, it's also continuing to take down accounts belonging to a number of anti-fascist groups, including Atlanta Antifa, Antifa Sacramento and the Anti-Fascist Network.
Dear tech: Stop doing business with Nazis
Kicking Nazis off tech companies' services is so easy, and such a simple thing to do. It is such a basic act of human decency, a trivial task that would stop PayPal, Stripe, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, GoDaddy and many more from being unquestionably complicit in the deadly rise of American Naziism. Stakes climb as we approach next week's elections. And yet.