PYMNTS-MonitorEdge-May-2024

Meme Stocks, Loyalty Programs And Crypto Debit Cards Top This Week’s News

Meme Stocks, Loyalty Programs And Crypto Debit Cards Top This Week’s News

The next bumper crop of meme names could be tied to … well, names. Also, new insights have emerged on loyalty programs in addition to cryptocurrency debit cards. The Weekender is here to catch you up.

News

Psst … Here Are The Meme Stocks Of Tomorrow

The next bumper crop of meme stocks might be possibly tied to … well, names. Stock symbols that spell out a verb, a noun, a theme, sparking your memory and familiarity, so that they’ll draw the next round of hot hands.

Alibaba Pushes Into Growing Livestreaming Trend

Alibaba moved farther ahead into the quickly growing world of eCommerce livestreaming with the rollout of a new cloud-based product created for digital shopping. The tool will enable eCommerce players to design and roll out their own livestream shopping experiences for their sites or apps, to be hosted on Alibaba’s cloud.

Banks Compete To Meet Rising Demands Of Younger Consumers

Younger bank clients tend to value user experience when it comes to online banking. To that end, some polls find that it ranks second behind low fees as their leading priority. And approximately 38 percent of all digital bank users rank their user experience as the most important factor when choosing a financial institution (FI).

Apple Developer Conference Unveils Digital ID, Privacy, Wallet Updates

Many updates and announcements came out of AppleWorldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) this week, such as the debut of a digital identity card inside of the Apple Wallet.

Goldman Sachs Teams With Visa To Streamline Cross-Border Payments For Clients

Goldman Sachs and Visa unveiled a strategic partnership this week, which will streamline cross-border payments flows for Goldman’s transaction banking clients.

Trackers And Reports

NEW DATA: Bank-Powered Loyalty Programs Could Help US Main Street Businesses Win 139M Customers 

Loyalty programs could be the key to closing the app between people’s interest in shopping with local businesses and their doing so in practice.

Issuers Use Crypto-Enabled Debit Cards To Reach New Consumers, Markets 

Consumers’ interest in digital currency has been increasing during the last couple of years, yet uptake throughout nations and merchant networks had been slow. PYMNTS explores how providing crypto payment acceptance can help retailers built loyalty with clients and how harnessing digital currency debit cards could help crypto firms expand their reach.

NEW DATA: 79 Pct Of Lenders Prioritize Digital ID Security Ahead Of Acquiring New Customers

Cybercrime is becoming worse as hackers plan attacks on a huge scale to steal usernames and passwords. This unfortunate reality means that organizations such as banks, credit unions, peer-to-peer (P2P) lenders and auto dealers that use digital services must focus on strengthening user identity verification and authentication measures. 

Fun, Cool And Otherwise Interesting

Marqeta IPO Casts Spotlight On Interchange Fees, Reliance On Square

Marqeta’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) expound upon the dual-edged nature of its growth engines – where risk and reward are connected, pinned to interchange fees and one huge, important customer.

Stitch Fix CEO: We Are Purpose-Built For Apparel Retail’s Digital Pivot

“Apparel retail is at a pivotal point, with market share moving online at a record pace and consumers seeking more highly personalized and authentic experiences,” Stitch Fix Founder and CEO Katrina Lake told investors on the company’s earnings call. “Stitch Fix is purpose-built to address this evolution with our unique multi-touchpoint model.”

CLEAR S-1 Shows Biometrics’ Pivot Beyond The Travel Industry

Biometrics are set to make the jump beyond airports and to serve as a passport to different kinds of places where large groups of people get together in the post-pandemic reopening. To that end, biometric security firm CLEAR filed its S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, setting the stage for an initial public offering (IPO).

El Salvador Could Become First Country To Accept Bitcoin Like Cash

El Salvador is considering laws that would make bitcoin as broadly accepted as the hard cash that represents the satisfactory payment of any monetary obligation.

Restaurants Grapple With WFH Stickiness In Post-COVID Future

Work-from-home (WFH) is here to stay. With this dramatic shift in how and where people are spending their days, eateries are at a crossroads. To that end, these hurdles can be a challenge or an opportunity, depending on how well eateries can adjust.

PYMNTS-MonitorEdge-May-2024