In this week’s news, we saw more rules and breaks for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans in a second stimulus bill, a suit against Ripple Labs and new data on key checkout features. The Weekender is here to catch you up.
News
Ripple Sued By Investor Over SEC Troubles
Investor Tetragon Financial Group sued Ripple Labs after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said digital tokens were improperly sold.
Stimulus Round Two: Smaller ‘Second Draw’ PPP Loans Come With More Rules And Breaks
Among the biggest parts of the now-inked second stimulus bill is $284 billion to shore up small business via a restarted and revamped PPP that will make qualification requirements stricter but relax taxation and eligible expense rules.
Highs And Lows Of 2020 Could Be 2021’s Dress Rehearsal For Bitcoin And Cryptos
2020 ended up being a banner year for digital currencies. As we start the clock on 2021, many individuals, places and trends bear watching because it’s not as if everything stops at the end of December.
Kroger, CVS, Walmart Ready For Their Role As COVID Vaccinators
In the concluding weeks of last year, we learned that distribution of COVID-19 vaccines will entail a mass retail mobilization. The question now: With how much “warp speed” can all this transition from the logistical phase to the field at scale?
Framing 2021: Six Trendlines That Will Define Payments And The Connected Economy
PYMNTS explores an organizing structure for how innovation in payments, commerce and the wider connected economy will play out this year and will influence changes in the future.
Trackers And Reports
Key Checkout Features Separate Best From The Rest In eCommerce
In a crowded online field of merchants, PYMNTS explores the features that are proving particularly useful in helping merchants turn browsing shoppers into paying customers.
B2B Payments 2021: Assessing The Gaps And Digital Opportunities
A number of companies aim to grow, but expansion can come with growing pains. PYMNTS explores the main concerns of business leaders about their business-to-business (B2B) payment operations.
NEW DATA: It’s Personal: QSR Consumers Expect Customized Loyalty Programs
Loyalty and rewards programs has surfaced as one of the most effective tools that can enable eateries to bolster revenues while also satisfying their diners’ desire to order from their residences if they wish. PYMNTS explores which kinds of loyalty and rewards systems these diners want and how they want to access them.
Fun, Cool And Otherwise Interesting
China’s CBDC ‘Dress Rehearsal’ Sets Stage for Other Central Banks
For cryptocurrencies, as goes China, so will go to the globe? China, as is well-known, is in the middle of experimental efforts connected with its digital yuan — providing a roadmap and competitive blueprint, in a way, for other countries in the midst of their own central bank digital currency launches.
Get Ready For The ‘Bring It To Me’ Economy
The year 2021 and beyond has turned into the “bring it to me” economy, where time is the new highly valued currency — so valuable, in fact, that individuals and companies are willing to pay money to get more of it.
Trump Executive Order On WeChat, Alipay And Others Catch Consumers In The Middle
Outgoing President Donald J. Trump inked an executive order that prohibits transactions with eight Chinese mobile programs such as WeChat Pay and Ant Group’s Alipay.
SoFi-Social Capital Merger Will Fuel Growth Of One-Stop-Shop Financial Supermarket
SoFi, the digital FinTech upstart, recently announced that it was merging with publicly traded Social Capital, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), in a $8.6 billion arrangement.
Big Tech Likely To See Pressure From Biden Administration
Out of all the chaos that was engulfed politics, and particularly, the nation’s capital these last few days, it bears sifting through the headlines and tumult to see what’s to come. If there is a near-certainty coming to pass, it would be that Big Tech is likely to experience some pressure on the Hill and throughout the legal landscape.
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