Crypto payments are becoming increasingly popular as Bitcoin (BTC) and other digital assets continue to go mainstream. This has become the case for both crypto holders and non-crypto owners who are primarily interested in the concept of using cryptocurrencies for payments. Recent data has found that 93% of crypto users surveyed would consider making purchases in crypto. The report further revealed that 59% of consumers who don’t hold crypto would be interested in using it to make purchases in the future. As such, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that major payment providers like Mastercard have been ramping up their …

Latin American stablecoin issuer Anclap is expanding its Stellar-based stablecoin network by launching a new stablecoin in Peru, Cointelegraph en Español reports. Pegged to Peru’s official fiat currency, the Peruvian sol (PEN), the new stablecoin is designed to enable instant transactions across Anclap’s network, including conversions to other fiat currencies as well as “any other digital asset,” the firm announced Saturday. Called the “digital sol,” the stablecoin is said to be 100% backed by local fiat currency and is available on the Stellar network to be integrated into any platform. According to the announcement, the digital sol is already available …

Coinbase will soon allow United States businesses to deposit employees’ paychecks directly into accounts at the cryptocurrency exchange. In a Monday blog post, Coinbase senior director of product Prakash Hariramani said the exchange would be offering direct deposits for workers who want to use their paychecks to purchase crypto with no transaction fees. Users can set up direct deposits through a supported payroll company on the Coinbase app, or through a company’s human resources department. Hariramani said users will have the option to deposit “as much or as little” of their paychecks as they want in the feature rolling out …

Amid the ongoing legal battle between Ripple and United States’ securities regulators, a former U.S. Treasurer and Ripple board member has voiced support for XRP. Former Treasurer Rosa Rios, who joined Ripple’s board of directors in May 2021, took to Twitter on Sunday to reiterate her confidence in XRP while criticizing other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC). Rios argued that jurisdictions like China are now cracking down on Bitcoin, as cryptocurrencies like BTC allegedly provide nothing more than a tool for speculation. Tagging Bitcoin, Ripple and its payment ecosystem, RippleNet, the former U.S. official wrote: “XRP’s primary purpose is facilitating …

A new stablecoin is arriving on the Cardano blockchain to provide a tool for decentralized finance (DeFi) operations and avoid transaction fees. Cardano’s payment gateway provider, Coti, will be the official issuer of Djed, a new DeFi-focused stablecoin for the Cardano network, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson and Coti CEO Shahaf Bar-Geffen announced Sunday at the Cardano Summit. The new stablecoin will be based on an algorithmic design using smart contracts to ensure price stability and providing an instrument for DeFi transactions. The stablecoin is designed for paying transaction fees on the Cardano network in order to avoid “volatile and exorbitant …

The rapid adoption of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) poses a major challenge for the traditional financial system, an executive at the Chinese central bank has warned. Wen Xinxiang, director of the payment and settlement department at the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), has expressed concerns over the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies and fiat-pegged stablecoins. Pointing to Bitcoin’s market value now surpassing $800 billion and the total stablecoin market capitalization exceeding $120 billion, Wen outlined major risks associated with the crypto market at a payment and settlement forum on Friday, the Shanghai Securities Journal reported. According to the official, one of …

Social media giant Twitter will be enabling cryptocurrency options to its tipping jar, allowing any user to pay through the platform. In a Thursday blog post, Twitter staff product manager Esther Crawford said the crypto tips feature would be available for all iOS users globally and the platform plans to roll out options for Android in the coming weeks. The crypto option will allow users to link third-party apps, including Cash App, Patreon, Venmo, Chipper, Bandcamp, Razorpay, GoFundMe, PicPay, and Wealthsimple Cash — depending on their region — to their Twitter bios and individual Tweets to receive funds. “We want …

A fully decentralized solution offers customers a simple and user-friendly way to make payments in any cryptocurrency, automatically routing token swaps through the least expensive decentralized exchange (DEX). The core DePay Payments widget is free and simple to integrate into DApps and websites, requiring a few lines of drop-in code. But it is the customer’s user experience that is at the heart of the decentralized finance project. An automated, two-click payment interface eliminates the need to send buyers off-site to a DEX to get the required cryptocurrency — a process that both requires some technical knowhow and adds to the …

PayPal has announced the release of a new app billed to be a one-stop-shop for all of the digital payment needs of the company’s customers. As previously reported by Cointelegraph, PayPal CEO Dan Schulman stated back in July that the company’s super app was ready for a rollout in the United States. According to a release issued on Tuesday, the new PayPal app will enable users to access all of the company’s digital financial products. The new app covers both crypto and non-crypto use cases with a wallet tab to manage cryptocurrency payments and high yield savings. Indeed, the PayPal …

Institutional interest for digital assets continues to grow rapidly, demonstrating that cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and nonfungible tokens (NFT) are here to stay. At the same time, traditional financial institutions are beginning to understand the dire need to properly support digital assets. For example, although payments giants such as Mastercard and Visa currently offer crypto-enabled credit and debit cards, these companies are also forming partnerships with crypto organizations to enable better security and trust for consumers transacting with digital currencies. Shedding light on the matter, Ajay Bhalla, president of cyber and intelligence at Mastercard, told Cointelegraph that Mastercard’s customers and other partners …

A new poll from Newsweek suggests that as many as 10.8 million Texans may support legislation that makes cryptocurrency legal in the next election. According to a Sept. 20 report, a Newsweek poll that surveyed more than 9,700 eligible voters across ten U.S. states suggested that 37% of Texas residents would vote in favor of a ballot measure to make crypto legal, while 42% said they would support crypto-friendly legislation similar to that in Wyoming. With a population of roughly 29 million people as of 2021, Texas could have more than 10 million residents supporting the adoption of cryptocurrencies. The …

AMC Entertainment will not only accept Bitcoin (BTC) payments for movie tickets by the end of 2022 but will also include other popular digital currencies in its crypto acceptance policy. Tweeting on Thursday, the company’s CEO, Adam Aron, announced plans for AMC to accept three other cryptocurrencies — Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). As previously reported by Cointelegraph, AMC initially unveiled plans to accept Bitcoin payments for online movie tickets before the end of the year. At the time, Aron said that moviegoers were eager to use crypto as payment means for tickets and concessions at AMC …