03.08.18 Your morning briefing

The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the Web:

Anti-gun protest targets Visa
Financial services companies have felt pressure to distance themselves from the gun industry since the Parkland, Fla. high school shooting.

That movement is coming to Visa’s offices in Foster City, Calif., on Thursday. The protesters will demand the credit card company block sales of assault weapons.

Liberal group Daily Kos, violence-against-women survivor’s group UltraViolet and progressive group the Courage Campaign are among the organizers of the rally, which will also pressure Mastercard and other payment companies to discontinue supporting gun sales.

Bloomberg News

Cannabis wallet blooms
Legal cannabis payment options have been slow to develop, though the market’s getting a boost from Singlepoint, which is launching its SingleSeed bitcoin payments portal.

The portal has been in development for years and has operated in beta for the past few months. It held off on launching mostly because the consumer adoption was not enough to warrant a full rollout.

But demand has increased, and SingleSeed will begin accepting clients who will get the chance to provide feedback on the payment system before a more formal national rollout, according to a release from SingleSeed.

Clarity for bitcoin law?
There’s still inconsistencies in cryptocurrency’s legal framework that have contributed to market volatility, although a court ruling could shed some light on the technology’s regulatory status.

U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein ruled bitcoins can be treated as commodities by the Commodity Futures Trading Commision, which means money transmitter rules apply to ICOs.

The ruling stems from a legal action by the CFTC against Coin Drop Markets, which New York regulators have accused of false customer advice.

Google chat
India’s mobile revolution has already attracted Google, which is expanding its presence by adding chat to the Tez mobile money app.

Tez uses India’s standard payment interface and supports transfers between mobile users.

In about six months it’s attracted 15 million users, leading the search giant to add the messaging feature, reports Finextra.

From the Web

Here’s what happens when a business gets rid of cash
Yahoo Finance | Wed Mar 7, 2018 – Across the country, chiefly in cities, a growing number of businesses are electing to go cashless for a number of reasons. According to Jesse Dorogusker, head of hardware at Square (SQ), which handles the payments for more than two million small businesses, cashless has the beginnings of a trend as more and more businesses decide that the pros of going cashless outweigh the cons.

Banking platform solarisBank closes €56.6M Series B from BBVA, Visa, Lakestar, and others
TechCrunch | Wed Mar 7, 2018 – SolarisBank, the Berlin-based “banking platform” co-founded by fintech company builder Finleap, appears to be on quite a roll. The company, which now claims nearly 60 corporate clients who offer various financial services powered by solarisBank, has closed €56.6 million in Series B funding in a round that includes a number of new strategic and financial investors.

The biggest reason smaller retailers can’t catch Amazon
Yahoo Finance | Thu Mar 8, 2018 – Thanks to PayPal, Google Checkout, Square, and — ahem — Amazon, smaller retailers can offer users some of the same features and functions that make Prime so alluring. The pre-filled out address and credit card information enables one- or two-click shopping and partnerships with recognizable public tech companies get consumers to trust smaller websites that do not have any preceding reputation.

More from PaymentsSource

It’s not just banks — fintechs also need to upgrade for the API economy
The many fintech startups that burst on the scene to compete with Western Union or MoneyGram are morphing into something else — white label providers for companies running on dated infrastructure.

Data: How secure are cryptocurrency wallets?
As both the volume and value of digital currencies increase, so will inevitable attempts to commit fraud and theft. In this nascent stage, what is protecting cryptocurrency buyers and sellers?

FDIC fines The Bancorp Bank $2M for prepaid card fees
The major prepaid card issuer agreed to the penalty to settle allegations that it had charged higher fees than what was disclosed to customers.

Mastercard aligns its physical and digital operations, invests in venture
Mastercard’s relentless push to streamline payments with digital technology is affecting the structure of its entire organization.