Justin Bachman
Verified
(He/Him)
As seen in:
Industry Dive,
Payments Dive,
UOL Economia,
Brasil Online,
Medium,
MSN,
MSN India,
UOL,
Bloomberg Businessweek,
Bloomberg Markets Magazine,
Bloomberg News,
The Economic Times
and
Covers:
payments/business
Articles by Justin Bachman
Paze sets big targets after revamp
LAS VEGAS – Early Warning Services aims to make inroads with the largest U.S. merchants for its Paze wallet over the next three years after the company revamped its product strategy last year. Paze is trying to establish a two-sided network with consumers and merchants that embed the digital wallet into their checkout path, much like rival offerings from Apple Pay and PayPal Holdings.
Fiserv taps AI for retail rethink
Agentic commerce is forcing digital merchants to assess whether their technology infrastructure is suited to the coming era of shopping agents powered by artificial intelligence, a Fiserv executive said Tuesday. Payments involving AI agents introduce new variables into legacy systems that sellers are now considering, Adit Gadgil, Fiserv’s head of global e-commerce and technology for merchant services, said in an interview at a financial technology conference.
PayPal isn’t agile enough, CEO says
PayPal Holdings was slow to make decisions under its prior leadership, with too many management layers bogging down the pace of execution, Chief Executive Enrique Lores said Monday during a discussion at an industry conference.
Utah forms digital ID consortium
An article from Dive Brief The state is using its digital identity law as a model for having individuals, not governments, control their personal data, Utah’s chief privacy officer said. Published Oct. 19, 2026 States are working together to craft regulations related to digital identities. It's an important issue in payments because personal data is tied to transactions.
Visa, Mastercard urge court to approve fee settlement
Dive Brief: Visa and Mastercard contended in a court filing this week that merchants seeking to derail approval of a legal settlement over card swipe fees are recycling arguments they’ve made previously, and that the court has rejected. Some of the plaintiffs also have overestimated their prospects of winning at a trial, the card networks said.
Fiserv ‘reset’ bolsters case, litigants say
Dive Brief: Fiserv falsely portrayed customer demand and revenue growth to investors until an October 2025 organizational reset exposed the payment processor’s true financial state, shareholders suing the payments giant said in a Tuesday court filing.
Fiserv ‘reset’ bolsters case, litigants say
This story was originally published on Payments Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Payments Dive newsletter. Fiserv falsely portrayed customer demand and revenue growth to investors until an October 2025 organizational reset exposed the payment processor's true financial state, shareholders suing the payments giant said in a Tuesday court filing.
Visa-Mastercard payouts top $631M Original
Merchants have received about $631.7 million to date as part of a multi-billion dollar class-action lawsuit settlement with the card networks Visa and Mastercard, according to a court filing Friday. The damages disbursements have gone to 689,340 merchants so far, including $212.8 million from a second partial distribution that began last month, class administrator Epiq said in the filing with the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, New York.
Block envisions bitcoin for all
Block executive Miles Suter envisions a day when bitcoin is functional, everyday digital money used as easily as cards and cash for routine transactions. To get there, Suter – the head of bitcoin and stablecoin at Block – has set out to make payments between millions of American consumers and Square merchants happen in bitcoins.
Block envisions bitcoin for all
This story was originally published on Payments Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Payments Dive newsletter. Block executive Miles Suter envisions a day when bitcoin is functional, everyday digital money used as easily as cards and cash for routine transactions. To get there, Suter – the head of bitcoin and stablecoin at Block – has set out to make payments between millions of American consumers and Square merchants happen in bitcoins.
Stripe, FedEx team on SMB lending
An article from Dive Brief Merging operational and financial data will offer insights into smaller businesses and guide an effort to extend capital to them, the companies said. Published Oct. 7, 2026 Packages are lined up along a Manhattan street as a FedEx truck makes deliveries on December 6, 2021 in New York City. FedEx and Stripe are joining to launch a new smaller-business lending effort.
Stripe, FedEx team on SMB lending
This story was originally published on Payments Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Payments Dive newsletter. Stripe is partnering with global shipping giant FedEx to combine their data insights from logistics and financial infrastructure to create financing options for small businesses, the companies said Tuesday in a joint press release.
Fintechs press for Fed access
Financial technology firms, including Ramp and Stripe, are still pushing for access to Federal Reserve payment rails, aiming to see movement of a bill pending in Congress. Executives from both companies spoke at a conference last month in favor of gaining access to Federal Reserve payment systems, which include Fedwire Funds Service, FedNow Service and FedACH Services.
How Stripe, Zerohash alums are looking to speed international payments
Cross-border payments remain a pain point for many companies that find such money flows inefficient and costly. Latitude Global has built a cross-border payments infrastructure using stablecoin rails, considering this the fastest way for global businesses to send money beyond international borders. The company offers payment settlement in less than two minutes, Latitude CEO Cyril Mathew said in a recent interview.
Toast, Square jockey on POS discounts
Toast, Square and other point-of-sale hardware providers have resorted to sharp discounting in recent months, analysts say. Toast and Block-owned Square have led the price-cutting push, sparked by efforts to expand their locations, merchants’ upgrade needs and more expensive equipment, Robert W. Baird analysts said in a client note following their conversations last month at the Western States Acquirers Association conference in California.
How stablecoins speed int’l payments Original
Listen to the article 5 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Cross-border payments remain a pain point for many companies that find such money flows inefficient and costly. Latitude Global has built a cross-border payments infrastructure using stablecoin rails, considering this the fastest way for global businesses to send money beyond international borders. The company offers payment settlement in less than two minutes, Latitude CEO Cyril Mathew said in a Sept.
Senate passes Common Cents bill
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. The Common Cents Act, which gives merchants a legal framework for rounding to the nearest nickel amid a dearth of pennies, passed the Senate on Monday night and heads to President Donald Trump.
AI shopping agents need receipts
Audit trails tracking artificial intelligence agents’ actions on behalf of human consumers will be critical for agentic commerce to function and grow, financial technology executives said at a recent panel on agentic AI risks. Retail and payments players are trying to develop “a common dialogue” around AI payment protocols and how to assign liability for agentic transactions, said Raisa Sheynberg, Mastercard’s vice president of government affairs and policy.
Senate passes Common Cents bill
An article from Dive Brief The measure to provide merchants a cash rounding framework, and to formally phase out the penny, now heads to the White House. Published Sept. 29, 2026 A bill to give merchants a federal framework for how to round cash transactions, the Common Cents Act, passed the Senate on Monday with the legislation heading to President Donald Trump.
Stripe alums spark new payments plays
Former Stripe employees have left the digital payments processor to launch a bevy of fintech startups that have helped the sector keep expanding. The company has become a hotbed of entrepreneurship, particularly for those with ideas in fintech and, increasingly, new ways to integrate artificial intelligence into business tools.
Apple lawsuit becomes class action
Dive Brief: Apple faces a class action over the fees it charged for payments made via its devices after credit unions who sued the technology company won a federal court judge's approval last week to let the antitrust lawsuit proceed on behalf of similarly injured financial institutions. The card issuers contended in their 2022 lawsuit that Apple charged anticompetitive fees for each Apple Pay transaction due to its monopoly for payments made with Apple devices.
Senate passes Common Cents bill
Senate passes Common Cents bill Tue, September 29, 2026 at 10:35 AM EDT A bill to give merchants a federal framework for how to round cash transactions, the Common Cents Act, passed the Senate on Monday with the legislation heading to President Donald Trump. This story was originally published on Payments Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Payments Dive newsletter.
Apple lawsuit becomes class action
This story was originally published on Payments Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Payments Dive newsletter. Apple faces a class action over the fees it charged for payments made via its devices after credit unions who sued the technology company won a federal court judge's approval last week to let the antitrust lawsuit proceed on behalf of similarly injured financial institutions.
Stripe alums spark new payments plays
Former Stripe employees have left the digital payments processor to launch a bevy of fintech startups that have helped the sector keep expanding. The company has become a hotbed of entrepreneurship, particularly for those with ideas in financial technology and, increasingly, new ways to integrate artificial intelligence into business tools.
How digital IDs may battle fraud Original
An article from Dive Brief Americans are vulnerable to identification and payment frauds because the U.S. has been slow to adopt digital identification, two Congress members contend. Published Sept. 23, 2026 A Utah Department of Motor Vehicle employee shows a sample of a digital driver's license on a mobile phone at a Harmons Grocery store on August 4, 2021 in Salt Lake City.
Merchants call card-fee pact unconstitutional Original
Large merchants are sharpening one of their arguments against a class-action lawsuit settlement with Visa and Mastercard over card fees: the pact might be unconstitutional. In objecting to the proposed settlement with the two largest card networks, big merchants – including Walmart and Circle K Stores – argue that forcing their inclusion in the settlement class violates their due process rights under the Fifth and Fourteenth amendments.
Stripe’s wallet embraces AI bots Original
Stripe is maneuvering its digital wallet to capitalize on agentic commerce, joining recently with a trio of big artificial intelligence players to facilitate payments by their bots. Meta Platforms has added Stripe’s Link wallet to its new Muse personal agent, giving the personal assistant the ability to complete payment transactions on behalf of consumers, the parent of Instagram and Facebook said in a Sept. 8 press release.
Visa, Mastercard settle Grubhub case Original
An article from Dive Brief The final settlements in a federal lawsuit over credit card swipe fees, led by the food delivery company, came on the eve of a trial in Chicago. Published Sept. 16, 2026 A Grubhub bag on a delivery bike in New York City in November 2022. Getty Images Dive Brief: Visa and Mastercard have settled the last merchant lawsuits in an antitrust case over credit card swipe fees led by food-order service company Grubhub Holdings. A trial in the case was set to begin on Monday.
Trade groups knock BNPL rules Original
Dive Brief: The American Fintech Council and Financial Technology Association urged the New York State Department of Financial Services to reconsider its proposed rules for regulating buy now, pay later providers in letters to the agency Monday. The new proposed rules could curtail consumers’ access to safe, affordable credit, the AFC contended in a press release touting its letter.
Walmart slams card fee pact, again
This story was originally published on Payments Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Payments Dive newsletter.
Walmart slams card fee pact, again
Walmart and about 1,000 other merchants are asking a judge to reject final approval of a credit card fee settlement, arguing that it gives Visa, Mastercard and large banks “sweeping” immunity while offering merchants “temporary and meager relief.” The largest U.S. retailer renewed its battle Monday against the settlement, asking a federal court to reject it, while joining with Circle K and the National Association of Convenience Stores in asking U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan to allow them...
Klarna props up new Apple phones Original
Apple’s priciest iPhone to date, a $1,999 foldable model unveiled last week, also marks a test for Klarna Group’s new device leasing program with the technology giant. The companies debuted the lease option two months ago for four existing device categories – including phones and tablets – but Apple’s latest slate announced Wednesday carries heftier pricing.
Zip explores an EWA play Original
Zip, the Australian-based buy now, pay later provider, may offer an earned wage access service to further grow its U.S. business among cash-strapped consumers. The company would launch the new service in the first half of 2027, if it decides to move forward, Rory Herriman, Zip’s U.S. chief technology and operations officer, said last week in an interview. The company hasn’t previously offered earned wage access services.
Block seeks OCC bank charter
Block is seeking regulatory approval to operate a national trust bank, joining a copious list of fintechs seeking to become banks. The parent of Cash App and Square said Tuesday it will establish Builders Bank & Trust if granted approval by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Block’s bank would provide “custody and related fiduciary services, including for bitcoin and stablecoins,” the company said in a press release.
Block seeks OCC bank charter Original
Block is seeking regulatory approval to operate a national trust bank, joining a copious list of financial technology companies seeking to become banks. The parent of Cash App and Square said Tuesday it will establish Builders Bank & Trust if granted approval by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Block’s bank would provide “custody and related fiduciary services, including for bitcoin and stablecoins,” the company said in a press release.
Processor pays $12M to settle ‘sham’ merchant case Original
Humboldt Merchant Services, an independent sales organization that focuses on payment processing for gambling and adult entertainment, agreed Tuesday to pay $12 million to settle a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit alleging it handled payments for “sham merchant accounts.” Humboldt “processed payments for more than 1,000 merchants that were shell entities that served as fronts or pass-throughs for fraudulent companies engaged in unauthorized billing scams,” the Federal Trade Commission said in...
Nuvei pays $4.9M to settle FTC case Original
Dive Brief: Canadian payments processor Nuvei has agreed to pay $4.85 million to settle a Federal Trade Commission complaint last week that alleged the company maintained payment processing accounts “for merchants that Defendants knew or should have known were engaged in unlawful practices.” As part of the settlement filed Friday, Montreal-based Nuvei agreed “to screen and monitor its existing and prospective clients,” including those in “certain merchant categories such as outbound...
Ramp takes on AI expense
Spending on artificial intelligence has overtaken a larger share of corporate budgets as companies seek labor efficiencies and process improvements. As a result, tech players have piled into the field of providing AI gateways and routing for companies that want to monitor and optimize the tasks their employees send to AI model providers, such as Anthropic, DeepSeek, Google, Open AI and others.
Stripe taps new stablecoin executive
This story was originally published on Payments Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Payments Dive newsletter. Stripe has hired a new cryptocurrency executive, Drew Turchin, to lead its stablecoin cards business, he wrote in a social media post last week. Stablecoins have found roles as a payments and value-storage medium, Turchin wrote last week in a LinkedIn post, announcing his new role with Stripe.
ACI buys UK payments tech firm
This story was originally published on Payments Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Payments Dive newsletter. • ACI Worldwide has agreed to purchase Cranium Ventures, which makes cloud-based, card-processing payment tools, to help speed the expansion of ACI's own collection of card-payment technologies, launched in March. • ACI did not disclose terms of the deal Tuesday for Cranium Ventures, which was founded in 2018 and is based in Warwick, England.
How Affirm leverages 0% interest Original
Listen to the article 3 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. An inflation-pinched U.S. consumer is helping drive buy now, pay later demand at Affirm Holdings, especially for shorter loans without interest, according to a readout by the company on its latest financial results.
Visa delivers 6M documents to DOJ
This story was originally published on Payments Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Payments Dive newsletter. • Visa and the Department of Justice can have an additional three months to complete discovery in the government's debit card lawsuit against the card network, a federal magistrate judge ruled Friday. Magistrate Judge Sarah Cave moved an October deadline to Jan.
Is the nickel nearing a revamp? Original
The U.S. nickel may be heading for a makeover as Congress takes a fresh look at the coin’s expense. With the U.S. ending penny production last year, the House and Senate recently approved two versions of the Common Cents Act to provide a rounding framework for cash transactions in the absence of 1-cent coins.
Priority Tech buys IntelliPay for up to $15M Original
An article from Dive Brief The payments company is gaining a new government payments business with its deal for Utah-based IntelliPay. Published Aug. 26, 2026 Priority Technology Holdings is buying bill payment firm IntelliPay to move into government payments.
Building Block’s Square base Original
Dive Brief: Block has added 30,000 additional Square restaurant merchants to its local commerce network, called Neighborhoods, as it seeks to boost sales, the company said Tuesday in a press release. The program offers menus from Square merchants to Cash App mobile users for food and drink orders. Block declined to say how many merchants total are enrolled in the local network or its payment volume.
Stripe tips toward staying private Original
Stripe’s top executives observe a “growing advantage” of remaining a privately held company, they said in a letter to investors last week. This year marked the start of what Stripe executives called “a large inflection in long-run trends,” fueled by artificial intelligence, wrote John and Patrick Collison, the Irish brothers who co-founded Stripe in 2010 and still lead it. Being a private company offers “a growing advantage as we venture into the vicissitudes” of this era, they wrote on Wednesday.
Visa, DOJ lawyers clash ahead of trial
This story was originally published on Payments Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Payments Dive newsletter. Visa and Justice Department lawyers are battling over the pace of discovery in the government's antitrust lawsuit, accusing each other of unreasonable behavior as the litigation nears its two-year mark. With an Oct.
Stripe, OpenRouter finally strike a deal Original
Dive Brief: Stripe announced its acquisition Wednesday of OpenRouter, which corporate clients use to route their artificial intelligence work to about 400 AI models such as those from Anthropic, Google and OpenAI. OpenRouter also helps manage companies’ token usage expenses, an area of business spending that is becoming increasingly important as corporations expand their AI use.
Stripe acquisition may bolster its AI strategy
This story was originally published on Payments Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Payments Dive newsletter. Stripe would move squarely into the middle of how companies select and pay for artificial intelligence computing if it buys the artificial intelligence spend management firm OpenRouter.
Klarna’s growth hits speed bump
This story was originally published on Payments Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Payments Dive newsletter. Klarna Group reduced its financial outlook for 2026 on Tuesday, with the buy now, pay later provider citing weaker consumer spending in Germany, its largest market by merchandise volume. Part of the pullback stems from a $600 million financial hit due to changes in currency exchange rates.
Show More
loading
Actions
Get in touch with Justin
Contact Justin, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack