All posts tagged: payments

Wave Cash App’s Magic Wand to Pay for Stuff

Wave Cash App’s Magic Wand to Pay for Stuff

Published by skeptic

Have you ever wanted to wave a magic wand at something and make it yours? Well, now you can, so long as you have enough money in your debit account to pay for it. Cash App, the digital payments service operated by Block, has offered its users the ability to use free physical cards since 2017. Now, anyone with a Cash App card can pay $25 to turn that card into a pearlescent, sparkly magic wand. Anywhere you can use tap-to-pay with your phone or card, you’ll be able to buy something with a tap of the wand instead. The wand is a whimsical way to introduce Cash App Tags, the company’s new hardware product. Tags are NFC-enabled physical devices that will eventually come in an array of shapes and sizes. They don’t have to connect via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. To link one to a Cash App account, you can just hold the device to the back of a phone, and it will link the wand to the account. (You’ll need to register a Cash …

Partiful Is Putting Ticket Payments on Its Platform

Partiful Is Putting Ticket Payments on Its Platform

Published by skeptic

“Partiful will not make money. There is no pitch at scale,” Partiful once posted via tweet in 2023, adding, “Investors gave us money to help u party, and that is what we are here to do. Enjoy it babes.” In a call with WIRED, Murthy said the tweet was always meant to be a joke. “It’s kind of funny how many people took it literally, and now it’s followed us around everywhere, and it’s become a meme,” Murthy said. “But it is nice to say that Partiful is monetizing now.” Last Call Courtesy of Partiful Partiful has done well partly due to its ability to channel a kind of public whimsy and weirdness people are looking to partake in. Just a cursory glance through a list of events in the Bay Area shows events like “Open Paint Night,” “Capture the Flag,” and “Bean-Up.” (The description reads, “Do you love beans?” 42 people say they are going at the time of writing.) The service has its detractors, but it has proved very popular for people looking …

As influencers rise in politics, some call for tighter regulations on payments

As influencers rise in politics, some call for tighter regulations on payments

Published by Sam Flores

WASHINGTON — In the 2024 election, hundreds of social media influencers were credentialed for the first time to attend the Democratic and Republican conventions. They have been invited to holiday parties in the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion, to political rallies in Texas and to events at the White House by both the Biden and Trump administrations. The role of influencers is surging as candidates and groups across the political spectrum see their social media feeds and personas as a pathway to younger audiences and harder-to-reach groups of voters. “You have that sense of authenticity, like a friend is talking to you,” said Emma Briant, a professor at Notre Dame University’s Lucy Family Institute for Data & Society who studies propaganda. That’s exactly what campaigns are hoping to harness when they partner with influencers, she said. But the nature of that partnership has come into question in California’s hotly contested gubernatorial race after it emerged that a number of content creators — some with millions of followers, others with only a handful — had taken payments from the campaign …

Magyar to visit Brussels next week to discuss unfreezing funds for Hungary – POLITICO

Magyar to visit Brussels next week to discuss unfreezing funds for Hungary – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

The money had been withheld over Budapest’s breaches of EU law under Viktor Orbán, who had governed the country for 16 consecutive years until losing last month’s general election. The €10.4 billion is part of a post-pandemic recovery fund and only a fraction of the money Hungary is seeking to unfreeze. But with a looming deadline, securing full access to that tranche has become the new government’s top priority. Magyar’s incoming administration has until Aug. 31 to formally request the money, while the Commission in Brussels has a deadline of Dec. 31 to make the payments. The country’s foreign minister stressed that Hungary was already working on a set of so-called “super milestones” and reforms that were needed to get access to the money. “Those are reinstating rule of law criteria. And that’s ensuring that the money is spent transparently, absolutely free of corruption,” she said. “And it’s important to emphasize here that that was our electoral mandate. We were running on a platform. … So these super milestones are 100 percent coinciding with what …

Reeves allies unleash on Miliband in battle for Britain’s Treasury – POLITICO

Reeves allies unleash on Miliband in battle for Britain’s Treasury – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

The MP stressed that given both Burnham and the other main leadership contender, Wes Streeting, have signed up to Reeves’ fiscal rules it “doesn’t leave much margin for significant change anyway.” “The bond markets kind of make her bomb-proof,” another Labour MP argued, praising the incumbent chancellor’s record for steadying the economy in turbulent times. “The big clash between Rachel and Ed is over the North Sea,” this person added, referring to the Jackdaw and Rosebank oil and gas fields whose licenses have been stymied by legal challenges. Reeves is seen as being in favor of their expansion, while Miliband puts more emphasis on the climate trade-offs. “So there’s a big fault line there. No wonder he wants her out of the way.” Another backbencher said they believed Miliband — who has made no public comment on whether he would want the job and remains in Starmer’s cabinet — would prevent “any meaningful welfare reform.” “Reverting back to a 2010-15 economic policy hymn-sheet” — the years when Miliband led the Labour Party to electoral defeat …

General Catalyst just led a M bet on India’s travel payments market

General Catalyst just led a $63M bet on India’s travel payments market

Published by skeptic

Scapia, an Indian startup that combines travel booking with co-branded credit cards and mobile payments, has raised $63 million in a funding round led by General Catalyst, with existing investors Peak XV Partners and Z47 also participating. The deal comes despite a broader slowdown in fintech dealmaking. The all-equity round values assigns the startup a post-money valuation of more than $500 million, according to a source familiar with the matter, more than doubling its valuation from around $200 million in April 2025. The four-year-old outfit has raised $126 million to date from investors. That General Catalyst, one of the most prominent U.S. venture firms, is leading the round suggests that India’s travel-focused fintech market is drawing serious attention well beyond its home region. The funding comes as investors globally grow more selective in fintech bets after years of aggressive funding. In India, fintech funding remained largely flat in Q1 2026, while the number of deals fell by more than half from a year earlier as investors concentrated capital into fewer, larger deals, per a recent …

Britain launches coordinated taskforce targeting illegal gambling payments advertising and operators

Britain launches coordinated taskforce targeting illegal gambling payments advertising and operators

Published by skeptic

The British government has laid out how a new Illegal Gambling Taskforce will operate as ministers step up pressure on unlicensed betting businesses targeting UK customers. Officials said the group will bring together regulators, payment companies, technology platforms, law enforcement agencies, trade bodies and gambling industry representatives. It will focus on disrupting financial transactions connected to illegal operators, limiting online advertising tied to unlicensed gambling, and improving coordination between organizations already involved in enforcement work. “The taskforce aims to identify solutions to the issues identified by the taskforce and its sub-groups in relation to the facilitation and promotion of illegal gambling, particularly online,” the government said in the published terms of reference. The taskforce will be jointly led by the Minister for Museums, Heritage and Gambling and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s director of sport and gambling. While industry figures and companies will participate, the government said their identities will remain private. “Names of specific organisations and individuals that are members will not be published,” the document states.  Officials plan to run the …

Vance says Trump administration is withholding .3 billion in Medicaid payments to California

Vance says Trump administration is withholding $1.3 billion in Medicaid payments to California

Published by Sam Flores

IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. U.S. Taiwan policies ‘unchanged’ after Trump-Xi meeting, Rubio says 03:03 China warns Taiwan tensions could jeopardize U.S. relationship 08:13 President Trump visits Temple of Heaven following historic U.S.-China summit 29:42 Trump’s invite of top CEOs a ‘posturing’ from the U.S. on making a China deal 01:43 Trump says U.S. and China have a ‘fantastic relationship’ during summit 02:11 ‘We should be partners, not rivals’: Chinese President Xi Jinping opens bilateral talks 01:20 Honor guard and school children greet Trump and Xi at Beijing arrival ceremony 01:34 Trump shakes hands with Xi at start of historic U.S.-China summit 03:02 Retired Chinese senior colonel joins Tom Llamas for conversation about high-stakes Beijing summit 05:35 Gunshots fired in Philippines Senate standoff 02:08 Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang speaks with Meet the Press (1987) 28:25 Trump arrives in China for high-stakes summit 02:44 Inside China’s push for more marriages and children 02:38 Former Republican running for governor as Democrat because Trump is ‘not for Georgia’ …