Abra CEO explains the benefits of a fully regulated bank for digital assets

Episode 107 of Season 4 of The Scoop was recorded live with The Block’s Frank Chaparro and Abra Co-Founder & CEO, Bill Barhydt. Listen below, and subscribe to The Scoop on Apple, Spoti...

Block reports $14.7 million net loss in Q3, $1.76 billion in bitcoin sales

Block Inc. reported a $14.7 million net loss in the third quarter and bitcoin sales volume of $1.76 billion in the third quarter. The net loss accounts for a $2 million impairment loss related t...

PayPal reports $6.85 billion in Q3 net revenue, beats Wall Street estimate

Digital payments firm PayPal reported net revenue of $6.85 billion for the third quarter of 2022. The Wall Street consensus was $6.82 billion, according to Factset. Net revenue rose 11% year-ove...

UBS AG unveils publicly traded digital bond that settles on blockchain

Investment bank UBS AG has introduced its new digital bond, which the bank says is the first-ever to be publicly traded and settled on both blockchain-based and traditional exchanges  The digita...

Tether stablecoins to expand to 24,000 ATMs in Brazil next month

Tether stablecoins will be available at more than 24,000 ATMs across Brazil starting Nov. 3, thanks to an integration with Brazilian payment solution startup SmartPay.  Brazil residents and visitors a...

Spanish telecom giant Telefonica enables crypto payments via Bit2Me: CoinDesk

Telefonica, the $19 billion Spanish telecom giant, is allowing the use of cryptocurrency for purchases on its Tu.com marketplace. The cryptocurrency payment integration for Tu.com comes as the result ...

Web3 finance platform Integral closes $8.5m round led by Electric Capital

Web3 finance platform Integral has closed an $8.5 million funding round led by Electric Capital.  Integral, which describes itself as a “real-time finance platform for web3 enterprises,” e...

BigCommerce inks crypto payments deals with BitPay, CoinPayments

BigCommerce, a Nasdaq-listed e-commerce software company, has linked up with two crypto-focused payment firms. BitPay and CoinPayments will “deliver cryptocurrency payment solutions to BigCommer...

JPMorgan seeking hire to push banking products onto metaverse, crypto companies

Wall Street megabank JPMorgan is looking to expand its reach in the crypto market, seeking a new business development specialist in its payments group to target new clients across Web3, the metaverse,...

Bolt backs off $1.5 billion Wyre deal: Axios

One-click checkout company Bolt backed out of a $1.5 billion dollar acquisition of crypto payment provider Wyre, Axios first reported. When it was announced, it was one of the largest non-SPAC crypto ...

JPMorgan hires former Microsoft exec for payments and blockchain role: CoinDesk 

A former Microsoft executive will join JPMorgan as a senior payments executive in the bank’s payments group, CoinDesk reported. Tahreem Kampton will focus on the future of payments, including the digi...

UBS, Wealthfront call off $1.4 billion deal

UBS nixed a $1.4 billion deal to buy robo-advisory firm Wealthfront, the companies said. UBS said the two companies mutually agreed to terminate their merger agreement, which they announced in January...

Brazil’s central bank picks Itaú DeFi project among new innovation proposals

Brazil’s central bank picked proposals for eight new projects to advance through its innovation lab, including a decentralized finance (DeFi) liquidity pool from Itaú Unibanco, the country’...

Argentina’s wine-making haven now accepts crypto as tax payment

Residents of Argentina’s wine-making mecca Mendoza can now pay taxes and fees using cryptocurrency. The government of the province of Mendoza — which includes the desert city of the same name an...

Plaid executive breaks down the future of digital finance

Episode 78 of Season 4 of The Scoop was recorded remotely with The Block’s Frank Chaparro and Plaid head of UK/EU Keith Grose. Listen below, and subscribe to The Scoop on Apple, Spotify, Google ...

Banks should notify Reserve Board before engaging in crypto activity 

The Federal Reserve Board released new information for banking organizations that want to engage in crypto-asset activities on Tuesday.  Board-supervised banks should notify the board before engaging ...

Checkout.com eyes new crypto payments products despite bear market

Checkout.com, the payments outfit that was valued at $40 billion in January, is exploring the launch of two new crypto products — doubling down on the sector even as it languishes in a bear market. Th...

Binance and Mastercard launch prepaid crypto-to-fiat card in Argentina

Binance has partnered with Mastercard to debut its Binance Card in Argentina, the cryptocurrency exchange announced on Thursday. The Binance Card converts cryptocurrencies to fiat currency “in r...

B2B blockchain payments firm Paystand buys Mexico’s Yaydoo: Axios

Paystand, a US blockchain-enabled B2B payments firm, bought Mexican accounts payable startup Yaydoo, Axios reported. No deal terms were disclosed. The companies did not immediately return requests for...

My Big Coin founder convicted of cryptocurrency fraud 

The founder of a defunct, Nevada-based cryptocurrency company, My Big Coin, was convicted of bilking investors out of more than $6 million by marketing and selling a fraudulent virtual currency that h...