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NewsBriefs

This article contains excerpts from news stories recently posted under 2021 holiday spend, especially with Black Friday and
Breaking Industry News on our homepage. For links to these and other Cyber Monday deals beginning as early as October and
full news stories, please visit www.greensheet.com/breakingnews.php. November.
Square rebranding as Block
Payments giant Square revealed it changed its corporate
name to Block, effective Dec. 10, 2021. The move follows on
the heels of Facebook's decision to rename itself Meta. The
renaming trend in tech began back in 2015, when Google
renamed itself Alphabet. The name changes are said to be
a way to better represent what the firms do. But it remains
to be seen if any will gain traction with consumers, who,
for example, still use the names Google and Facebook.

"The change to Block acknowledges the company's
Holiday commerce trifecta growth," Square said in a press release. "Block is an
brings hope, hype, caution overarching ecosystem of many businesses united by their
purpose of economic empowerment, and serves many
As retail analysts crunch incoming data from 2021 Black people – individuals, artists, fans, developers and sellers."
Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday,
reports indicate digital commerce may be up by more Class action threatens Priority ISOs
than 10 percent from last year, according to Alon Livneh,
content writer and podcaster at Riskified. A class action lawsuit filed Nov. 23, 2021, could impact a
broad network of sub-ISOs and merchant level salespeople
Describing 2021 as a watershed year for global ecommerce, associated with Priority Payment Systems LLC and Priority
Livneh offered hopeful ecommerce guidance in Tis (Still) Technology Holdings Inc. In the complaint, a large class
the Season to Be Jolly: Holiday Season Prep for a Disrupted of merchants, represented by the law firm Webb, Klase &
eCommerce Market. The report predicted ecommerce, Lemond LLC, accuses Priority representatives of enrolling
especially digital gift cards, would be a primary holiday customers under false pretenses and subsequently
shopping channel for consumers and fraudsters alike. inflating contracted fees.

Mastercard hardens SaaS billing rules Plaintiffs further assert that Priority ISOs used Priority's
standard merchant application to sign up new customers,
Mastercard updated its guidelines for direct marketing, many of whom were not aware that they were entering
continuity and subscription merchants classified as MCC into an agreement with Priority and Wells Fargo Bank N.A.
5968 in Mastercard's merchant category code list. Injunctive relief sought by plaintiffs includes refunded
fees and rescinded contracts.
Revised rules require "high-risk negative option billing
merchants" to be transparent and responsive with Visa debuts crypto advisory service
customers enrolled in free trials and subscription services,
according to Mastercard's Security Rules and Procedures – Visa launched its Global Crypto Advisory Practice to help
Merchant Edition, published Feb. 9, 2021, and a subsequent clients and partners “advance their crypto journey.” Visa
bulletin. works with more than 60 crypto platforms, which coupled
with its global network of consultants and product experts,
Mastercard representatives noted that consumers who positions it well to help financial institutions evaluate
elect to try a free sample may not realize or remember that strategies and opportunities in the crypto market, the
recurring billing begins when a trial period ends. company said.
NRF: Digital options stretch holiday shopping “We’ve seen a material shift in our clients’ mindset in the
last year, from a desire to explore and experiment with
The National Retail Federation reported that 2021 Black crypto, to actually building a strategy and product road
Friday sales exceeded expectations, with 179.8 million map,” said Carl Rutstein, global head, Visa Consulting
shoppers making in-store and online purchases over and Analytics.
the holiday weekend. The NRF expects these increases
to continue, based on data culled from the association's A survey of 6,000 financial decision makers conducted
October and November surveys, NRF analysts stated. by Visa found 18 percent would be likely or very likely to
switch their primary bank to one that offers crypto-related
NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay acknowledged soft products in the next year.
openings made it difficult for retail analysts to measure

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