Sergei Solonin, general director and co-owner of Qiwi, a leading, NASDAQ-listed Russian payment operator, announced that his company plans to issue a Russian crypto-currency, called the BitRuble, in 2016. Qiwi intends to use either the Blockchain technology, which is the foundation for the Bitcoin, or the Bitshares financial platform, which is a sort of decentralized crypto-currency …
Earlier this month Sberbank, Russia’s national savings bank, and Uber announced that they signed a Memorandum of Understanding “to explore the co-development of financial technology with global potential.” For example, Uber could use Sberbank’s sophisticated mobile payment technologies to improve the ease with which new Uber users verify their account and pay securely. “Paying for your ride electronically …
Sberbank and Uber agree financial technology partnership Read More
Over the past few weeks Russian National Payment Card System (NPCS) reached agreements with American Express, Mastercard and Japan’s JCB about the issuance of co-badged cards. Announced in June at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, the agreement with Mastercard came as the first international co-badged card project for Russia’s young national payment system. Similar agreements were announced in early July with …
Last month Yandex and its subsidiary Yandex.Money released two studies on the Russian e-payment industry. Even though cash on delivery still dominates where physical goods are concerned, Russians are now fully aware of the main available electronic payment methods, according to Yandex.Money, which teams up every spring with TNS to conduct its research. Approximately three quarters of surveyed …
Almost half of Russians now use electronic payment methods Read More
In a cross-border market that is still growing fast, reaching around $4 billion in 2014 for physical goods, the Russian payment issue is to be considered carefully by foreign online retailers. So far, not all of them have adapted their approach to the local specificities in the field of payments — which certainly stands as an obstacle to attracting more Russian …
Cross-border e-commerce: Adapting payment options to Russian online consumers Read More
Over the past few weeks, AliExpress has multiplied initiatives to strengthen its leadership on the Russian e-commerce scene. The Chinese giant has teamed up with Russian online bank Tinkoff Bank to launch a co-branded loyalty program. Associated with MasterCard credit and debit cards, this program is the first of its kind in the world, said …
On April 1 Visa and MasterCard joined Russia’s newly-created National Card Payment System, which was launched in response to US sanctions against Moscow and can be considered the first step towards the creation of an autonomous financial system in Russia. “The national system has already been introduced, quickly and at a little cost, and it has fully …
Visa and MasterCard join Russia’s National Card Payment System Read More
Earlier this month Net Element, a NASDAQ-listed provider of mobile payment and value-added transactional service and solutions in Russia and in the United States, announced the acquisition of Russian Internet payment service provider (IPSP) PayOnline. The deal amounted to some $8 million, reported online tech portal CNews.ru, referring to SEC documents. The closing is still …
Dr. Victor Dostov is one of the leading experts and managers in Russian retail payment sectors. He has served as the President of the Russian Electronic Money Association since 2009. Considering his extensive track record and experience in pioneering digital payments in Russia, CoinTelegraph could not pass up the opportunity to ask Victor some questions on Bitcoin in …
Earlier this month SBT Venture Capital, the venture arm of Russia’s national savings bank Sberbank, led a $6.5 million investment round for Mobeewave, a Canadian startup that develops fast and secure NFC mobile payment acceptance services. Business angels also participated in the round, but their identity has not been disclosed. Founded in 2012, Montreal-based Mobeewave presents itself as …
Life.Sreda, a Russian fund investing in financial and mobile technologies, has acquired iboxPro, a leading Asian mobile point-of-sale service, and intends to merge it with its Russian portfolio company LifePay. The details of the transaction have not been disclosed, but an unnamed source told business daily Kommersant that it amounted to “up to $10 million.”
QIWI Venture, the investment arm of Russian electronic payment giant QIWI Group, has launched a new acceleration program, Universe 2.0. Like its predecessor, the program is intended to facilitate the quick launch of pilot projects which are looking to work in partnership with the company. QIWI hopes the accelerator will attract both major, established companies and …
