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Bitpay Now Supports Binance's Stablecoin For Global Payments

Binance and Bitpay have partnered to enable consumers and merchants to access Binance stablecoins.

Bitpay Now Supports Binance’s Stablecoin For Global Payments

Bitpay and Binance, the largest crypto exchange in terms of trading volume, have partnered to drive adoption of Binance stablecoin BUSD. Through such a partnership, Bitpay aims to enable its customers and merchants around the globe to accept Binance stablecoin as a form of online payment. Bitpay businesses and merchants can purchase Binance stablecoin through global exchanges listing the stablecoin and the Binance exchange.

Binance’s Stablecoin Targets Global Consumers and Merchants

The stablecoin is now available to over 2 million Bitpay’s customers and merchants across the world. The support for the stablecoin would also be rolled out for Bitpay card. The stablecoin payment opens a new door for global businesses, which require the stability of the dollar and blockchain payments’ efficiency and security. Bitpay helps merchants globally to send and obtain international payments cheaper and faster compared to traditional bank wires. Furthermore, its cross-border business-to-business invoicing platform also is accurate, with minimized fraud risk, and fast bank settlement using stablecoins.

Bitpay CEO, Stephen Pair, said that the partnership with Binance is more than supporting another stablecoin. It is about making cross border payments easy and simple for both businesses by leveraging the global influence of Binance Exchange.

On the other hand, Changpeng Zhao, CEO and founder of Binance stated: “We are honored to partner with Bitpay, one of the earliest and most reputable crypto payment service providers in our industry.” He mentioned that partnership with Bitpay would enable businesses and merchants across the globe to accept Binance stablecoin, approved by the NYDFS (New York State Department of Financial Services).

The recent partnership has been made because of the rising demand of the Binance stablecoin. The support of Binance stablecoin will see the asset class joining other stablecoins like USDC by Coinbase, the Gemini Dollar, and Paxos as other main payment options. The demand for stablecoins and crypto payment is on the rise, a phenomenon that has made the popularity of Bitpay increase. Binance stablecoin is backed by traditional currency, and this protects users against the volatility associated with cryptocurrency. Apart from stablecoins, users have the option of making payments using Bitcoin and other leading cryptos.

It Is the Season of Giving! Binance Charity Is Giving Back

As part of the partnership, Bitpay is set to process all donations being channeled through the Binance Charity Foundation to public charities. Binance charity is an exchange initiative focuses on supporting donations using blockchain. The timing is right particularly during the COVID-19 crisis that will see more blockchain-based companies donate to assist the victims.

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Facebook Launches Fintech Product Group F2 to Run Payments Across All its Apps

Facebook has expanded its fintech horizons and announced the launch of a new product group dedicated to payments purposes.

Introducing Facebook Financial

The new group, called Facebook Financial, or F2 by the internal team behind it, will direct all Facebook payments projects and regroup all of the platform’s ventures under one umbrella. The fintech project includes Facebook Pay, which is the social media company’s universal payment system. Facebook plans to incorporate it inside all of its apps.

Facebook implements payments project

Facebook Financial will be run by Facebook cryptocurrency Libra’s co-creator, David Marcus. In speaking about his company’s move on payments projects to Bloomberg, Marcus said, “We have a lot of commerce stuff going on across Facebook. It felt like it was the right thing to do to rationalize the strategy at a company level around all things payments.”

Facebook is seeking to improve its commerce and payments within the company, and across all apps that it owns, which include Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has publicly announced that he planning on integrating all of Facebook’s messaging services. The belief is that by making a payment system available across all apps, Facebook’s advertising will grow to be indispensable, which consequently will boost the amount of time that Facebook users spend on Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Facebook.

Rebranding of Libra’s crypto wallet

Libra co-creator Marcus appears to be the perfect person to direct the new payments project launched by Facebook, as he has been working for Facebook since 2014 and was formerly the president of PayPal Holdings Inc. The Facebook veteran has been hard at work in making Libra a cryptocurrency that can be used for cross border payments purposes.

With Facebook Financial, Facebook’s previous fintech ventures will all be integrated under one entity. Marcus will be managing the Novi wallet, which is simply a rebranding of Libra’s digital wallet Calibra- and he will be working on implementing a payment system on the WhatsApp messaging platform.

Fintech ventures by the bulk

Facebook has been trying to market WhatsApp payments services in India and Brazil. The company has been actively trying to branch out and integrate into those countries’ commercial market, but due to regulations, WhatsApp payments projects in India and Brazil have not yet been implemented.

Facebook CEO Zuckerberg is anticipating what its company’s new fintech venture. He said:

“As payments grow across Messenger and WhatsApp, and as we’re able to roll that out in more places, I think that that will only grow as a trend.”

It has been a busy year for Facebook, with Zuckerberg testifying recently in front of US Congress during an antitrust hearing. His company has been receiving backlash in relation to regulatory issues revolving around its native digital currency Libra. As reported by Blockchain.News, Libra was initially set to launch as a permissionless digital currency that was widely accessible to all. However, due to regulatory mishaps, the project has not been pursued nor approved, as Swiss Financial Markets Supervisory Authority (FINMA) regulators did not back the project, following a payment system license registration filed by Libra.

Marcus, who has been working on Libra for quite some time, appears to have just the expertise Facebook is looking for to not only navigate financial services policies, but to launch Facebook’s new F2 project off the ground.

JPMorgan Partners with DBS Group and Temasek to Develop Blockchain-Powered Trade Platform

Leading American bank JPMorgan has joined hands with Singapore-based investment company Temasek and DBS Group Holdings to create a blockchain-enabled foreign exchange settlement, trade, and payment platform for seamless cross-border transactions.

Leveraging blockchain technology to curb trade frictions

The company behind the new blockchain-powered platform will be called Partior. It will utilize blockchain technology to streamline cross-border currency settlements, trade, and payments by minimizing current latency and frictions.

As per the announcement:

“Partior is expected to develop wholesale payment rails based on digitized commercial bank money to enable “atomic” — or instantaneous — settlement of payments for various types of financial transactions, according to the statement. That would help banks overcome challenges presented by the current standard sequential method of processing global payments.”

Even in the digital era, cross-border payments are at times cumbersome and slow, which is a challenge the blockchain-enabled platform intends to solve.

According to Sopnendu Mohanty, the chief fintech officer at the Monetary Authority of Singapore:

“The launch of Partior is a global watershed moment for digital currencies, marking a move from pilots and experimentations toward commercialization and live adoption.”

In the future, the blockchain-powered platform is expected to be designed to complement the ongoing central bank digital currency (CBDC) initiatives.

JPMorgan is continuously being involved in the crypto/blockchain space. For instance, the top American bank established an investment “basket” linked to eleven crypto-focused companies like Nvidia, Square, and MicroStrategy last month.

The debt instrument will enable investors to have direct exposure to a basket of more firms, such as PayPal, Advanced Micro Devices, Taiwan Semiconductor Company, Intercontinental Exchange, CME Group, Overstock.com, and Silvergate Capital.

This new financial product is expected to allow institutional investors to gain exposure to the cryptocurrency market without actually holding digital assets directly.

Visa Announces $100 Million Fund for Generative AI in Commerce and Payments

On October 2, 2023, Visa Inc., a global leader in payment solutions, announced a $100 million fund dedicated to generative artificial intelligence (AI). The fund is designed to invest in startups and established businesses that are at the forefront of developing generative AI technologies and applications, particularly those that have potential applications in commerce and payments.

Visa Ventures, the corporate investment division of Visa, will be responsible for overseeing the fund’s investment activities. Established in 2007, Visa Ventures has a history of backing innovative projects in the payment and commerce sectors. David Rolf, Head of Visa Ventures, expressed enthusiasm about the initiative, stating, “Generative AI has the potential to be one of the most transformative technologies of our time. We are excited to expand our focus to invest in some of the most innovative and disruptive venture-backed startups in the fields of generative AI, commerce, and payments.”

The Capabilities of Generative AI

Generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence that can produce a wide array of content, from text and images to audio and synthetic data. The technology has already shown its capabilities through major AI chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard, which can generate text that closely resembles human writing. This opens up new avenues for how AI can be utilized in various sectors, including commerce and payments.

Visa’s Long-standing Commitment to AI

Visa has been a pioneer in the adoption of artificial intelligence technologies. As early as 1993, the company implemented AI-based systems for risk and fraud management. In 2022, Visa Advanced Authorization, the company’s real-time fraud monitoring system, was credited with preventing approximately $27 billion in fraudulent activities. Last year, Visa also launched VisaNet +AI, a suite of AI-based services aimed at helping financial institutions tackle challenges related to daily settlement operations.

Beyond its investments in AI, Visa has also been exploring other technological frontiers. The company has shown a positive stance on the incorporation of blockchain technology, particularly Bitcoin, into payment systems. Jack Forestell, Chief Product and Strategy Officer at Visa, believes that generative AI holds significant promise in reshaping the financial landscape.

The $100 million fund is a significant step in Visa’s broader strategy to stay ahead in the rapidly evolving technological landscape. It not only reinforces the company’s leadership in AI but also signals its intent to be at the forefront of future innovations that could redefine commerce and payments.