Block, the company formerly known as Square, faces damning accusations, as short seller Hindenburg Research said the company was its latest short position. In a March 23 report Hindenburg alleged Block plays fast and loose with anti-money laundering rules, resulting in rampant criminal activity on the network. It also claimed the company "wildly overstates" its cash app user base, calling into question the company's performance. It also alleged that Block takes advantage of small businesses that are generally underserved by banks and payments services providers.

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New research from Adobe Analytics reveals that online purchases of groceries and home furnishings are growing at a rapid clip, and BNPL is a key driver of this trend. BNPL adoption has really taken off since the pandemic, which shifted a lot of shopping activity to the online channel.

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Intergiro, a global banking-as-a-service (BaaS) provider based in Sweden, launched a tech-first, issuing and acquiring platform designed to offer a turnkey approach to financial services. Intergiro CEO Nick Root discussed the company's journey with The Green Sheet. Following are excerpts from the interview.

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Fintech Meetup organizers welcomed more than 3,000 banking, payments and fintech professionals to the Las Vegas Aria Resort and Casino on March 19, 2023, for three days of presentations, demos, table talks and one-on-one meetings. This followed two years of hosting virtual meetings.

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In an ongoing effort to protect consumers from getting stuck in endless billing cycles after cancelling subscriptions, the Federal Trade Commission proposed amending the Negative Option Rule, which was originally introduced in 1973. New provisions unveiled March 23, 2023, would make opting out as easy as opting into services, according to FTC Chair Lina M. Khan.

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A federal appeals court upheld a legal settlement requiring Mastercard and Visa to pay out $5.6 billion, or more, to 12 million-plus retailers. In doing so, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals swatted away arguments that the class action should not have been granted because of confusion over who deserved compensation and that way too much money had been awarded to the retailers' legal team.

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A group of tech entrepreneurs founded etika in 2014 because they wanted to make fairer finance accessible to more people globally.

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It's official: beginning in July, every federally insured financial institution in the country will have access to the real-time payment network FedNow. The Federal Reserve heralded the launch of its first new payment network since the ACH on March 15.

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A new study, published March 9, 2023, by NICE Actimize, identified a 92 percent hike in fraud attacks between 2021 and 2022. Consistent with other industry data, findings were based on a $110 trillion trove of anonymized data from online and offline payments channels.

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Following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank on March 10, 2023, financial and tech communities are applauding swift measures by UK and U.S. regulators to avert an international banking crisis.

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A new report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau revealed that consumers using buy now, pay later (BNPL) schemes are heavy users of other forms of credit—like credit cards and payday loans—and are more likely to exhibit signs of financial distress than non-users.

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Despite reporting to the contrary, Visa remains committed to the cryptocurrency market, according to Cuy Sheffield, Visa's chief crypto honcho. And Visa, it appears, is not alone. Reuters reported on Feb. 28, citing unnamed sources, that both Visa and Mastercard have put the brakes on plans to forge new partnerships with crypto firms. And several other news outlets picked up the story and ran with it.

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ValleyFinTechPay, the Arizona chapter of BayPay Forum, held its first meeting at Deloitte's Tempe offices on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023. Lanny Byers, president and board member of ValleyFinTechPay, shared insights on the newly formed organization and Arizona's growing fintech community with The Green Sheet. Following are interview highlights.

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Mobile World Congress 2023, held Feb. 27 to March 2, 2023 in Barcelona and hosted by GSMA, was widely praised by attendees, exhibitors and sponsors for original content spanning all aspects of global telecommunications. The world's largest connectivity event drew thousands of enthusiasts for four days of networking, exhibits, keynotes and vibrant panel discussions.

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Congratulatory announcements and press releases are rippling across the payments ecosystem following the induction of the ETA's Forty Under 40 payments industry leaders. Chosen by the Electronic Transactions Association and Discover Global Network for their contributions to a variety of sectors, the new class of fast-tracked leaders were commended by ETA and Discover for their innovative contributions to payments technology.

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