Main events of this week in payments from Monoup
Payment industry never gets tired, and our new format of news will help you catch up with main events weekly. If you don't have time to gather information piece by piece from all news magazines or stalker companies’ corporate websites — this is for you.
Short digests with the main news and brief analysis of events changing financial industry in this collection. Every Friday on Mono Talks.
Visa and Mastercard failed to prevent child abuse content payments at OnlyFans
International payment systems are under the scrutiny of FinCEN and are suspected of aiding in the distribution of illegal 18+ material involving minors. The investigation alleges that both payment systems were aware of what was happening on OnlyFans portal and still processed payments, thereby covering the usage of their capabilities to violate the law.
So, what actually happened?
It was later revealed that OnlyFans portal had been visited for several years in a row by a certain "informant" who checked the content on website for inappropriate material. Of course, he found it there. Throughout 2021-2023, this whistleblower tried to reach out to Visa and Mastercard to force them to disconnect OnlyFans from processing. He even compiled a packet of evidence and provided it to the payment systems.
When the payment systems did not react as expected, complaint reached FinCEN (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network) and took a different direction. Now it is believed that such a reaction from Visa and Mastercard indicates their direct assistance to the illegal activities of the portal's users. Both Visa and Mastercard have commented on this, but both claim they know nothing about it and that their security systems are working fine. Visa asserts that it monitors merchants and in 2023 further strengthened its control measures for high-risk industries, including 18+ content, dating services, and gambling. Mastercard also believes in the robustness of its AML system and considers such cases to be excluded, denying any connections.
OnlyFans itself stated that it does not tolerate inappropriate content involving minors on its portal and blocks accounts that distribute it, even sending information to the authorities. Nevertheless, the investigations are ongoing, and the whistleblower is seriously intent on proving his case. Government agencies are already involved, and the outcome will likely be clearer much later.
Coinbase got VASP license in Argentina
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has taken a step into the promising Latin American market. The crypto exchange has received a Virtual Asset Service Provider license in Argentina, sparking a series of discussions.
This decision clearly looks very promising, as Argentines are positively disposed towards cryptocurrency. Almost 80% of the population is interested in cryptocurrency and believes it will help protect their savings from inflation. The local currency's exchange rate constantly fluctuates, forcing even businesses to conduct transactions in US dollars. A significant portion of the population is also willing to receive their salaries in cryptocurrency.
The license will allow Coinbase to provide all cryptocurrency-related services needed by the population: purchasing, exchanging, storing, making payments, and more.
Noda launches no-code solution for gaming streamers
Noda payment system has shown significant activity in recent months. Recently, there was an announcement about the launch of Pay&Go by the company, in an attempt to compete with Trustly and its Pay'n’Play. Today, open banking provider has turned its attention to streamers and bloggers.
Content creators are not falling behind the main clients of this payment system — gambling operators, which likely sparked interest in them as potential merchants. Payment solution offered to content creators is a no-code payment page. Thus, anyone with an account in Noda system can create a customized payment page and receive payments directly during streams. Artificial intelligence technology is used here to help users create their page.
Based on the given parameters, bot implements payment page with necessary fields and functions, even a QR code, and it will be immediately active for use. By placing it on their stream, one can receive payments directly to the balance in Noda payment system. This is very useful not only for gaming streamers but also for small businesses or freelancers who do not have a development team. Such categories of entrepreneurs are usually underserved by payment systems, as those are focused on large projects and do not want to deal with micro-businesses. However, in the context of iGaming and gaming products, they cannot be called such small businesses, as earnings of popular streamers can reach hundreds of thousands of dollars. Taking this hot audience is a great decision for Noda.
X (formerly Twitter) actively pushes its electronic wallet
Elon Musk is not giving up on attempts to repeat or even surpass the success of PayPal and is actively turning X from a social network into a multifunctional platform.
First, as part of X's functionality, an electronic wallet will appear, allowing funds transfers to other payment methods. The first partner of the new fintech is Visa payment system, which recently signed a cooperation agreement. X Money Account (as the wallet will be called) plans to use Visa technologies for transfers.
The electronic wallet has already received appropriate licenses in 41 US states and plans a full product release very soon.
That's the news! Stay tuned for more financial industry news with Monoup. Follow our Telegram channel and keep up with the latest expert articles. Stay connected!
