A 42-year-old Burundi-born man is set to face court in Perth for allegedly failing to comply with his...

Burundi-born man charged with alleged visa breach | The Canberra Times | Canberra, ACT

A﻿n immigration detainee has been charged after allegedly failing to meet his <strong>visa</strong>-mandated curfew.

Perth news: Detainee charged after allegedly failing to meet visa-mandated curfew

Untethered to an employer. Living the dream (almost). Here are 16 countries offering digital nomad <strong>visas</strong>, which are perfect for freelancers working remotely,

16 Countries With Digital Nomad Visas For Freelancers In 2024

Get the most recent info and news about Visa on HackerNoon, where 10k+ technologists publish stories for 4M+ monthly readers.

Visa Inc. operates as a payments technology company worldwide. The company operates VisaNet, a transaction processing network that enables authorization, clearing, and settlement of payment transactions. It also offers credit, debit, and prepaid card products; tap to pay, tokenization, click to pay; Visa Direct, a real-time payments network; Visa B2B Connect, a multilateral B2B cross-border payments network; Visa Treasury as a Service, a cross-border consumer payments business; and Visa DPS that provides a range of value added services, including fraud mitigation, dispute management, data analytics, campaign management, a suite of digital solutions, and contact center services. Further, the; company provides Cybersource, a payment management platform; and risk and identity solutions, such as Visa Advanced Authorization, Visa Secure, Visa Advanced Identity Score, and Visa Consumer Authentication Service; and Visa Consulting and Analytics, a payments consulting advisory services. It provides its services under the Visa, Visa Electron, Interlink, VPAY, and PLUS brands. The company serves consumers, merchants, financial institutions, and government entities. Visa Inc. was founded in 1958 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

Visa

Redefining Financial Freedom: Instant Crypto to Fiat Conversion Now a Swipe Away with Innovative Visa Cards Cryptocurrency off-ramp and on-ramp or the efficient and practical conversion of cryptocurrencies into fiat money, is a persistent difficulty in the quickly expanding ecosystem of digital currencies. This difficulty arises because cryptocurrencies are inherently decentralised, whereas conventional fiat currencies are managed by centralised financial institutions. Cryptocurrencies, by design, provide users with financial sovereignty and borderless transactions, which can create hurdles when integrating with traditional banking systems. A 2019 by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) emphasized these challenges, noting that the volatility of cryptocurrencies, their susceptibility to cyber attacks, and regulatory concerns can lead to difficulties in cryptocurrency-to-fiat conversion. report Furthermore, the lack of wide-scale acceptance of cryptocurrencies as a medium of exchange often leaves users with no choice but to convert their digital assets back into fiat. to a 2020 study published by the University of Cambridge, about 15% of crypto asset service providers support direct transfers from cryptocurrencies to fiat currencies. The remaining providers require an additional intermediary, usually a bank, further complicating the process. According In response to these challenges, financial technology companies are introducing innovative solutions to bridge the gap between crypto and fiat, such as the Visa cards recently announced by the cryptocurrency exchange Lama. Unleashing Financial Flexibility: Lama's New Visa Cards Transform Bitcoin into Real-World Buying Power In an unprecedented move that promises to alter the crypto-fiat landscape, Lama, the regulated cryptocurrency exchange, has unveiled Visa cards for its users. This revolutionary feature comes with a myriad of benefits, including an instant conversion of cryptocurrency to fiat, and the much-anticipated 2% Bitcoin cashback. With this breakthrough, Lama is set to drastically simplify and enrich the crypto experience for its users. : Vested Interest Disclosure The author is an independent contributor publishing via our . Be it through direct compensation, media partnerships, or networking, the author has a vested interest in the company/ies mentioned in this story. HackerNoon has reviewed the report for quality, but the claims herein belong to the author. #DY brand-as-author program Crypto Convenience at Its Best: Instant Conversion and Cashback with New Visa Cards Lama has been dedicated to its founding vision since its foundation in 2022: to bridge the gap between conventional banking and the emerging worlds of cryptocurrency trading and decentralised finance. The launch of Lama-branded Visa cards is evidence of this dedication and a giant leap towards the eventual realisation of frictionless crypto-fiat transactions. These Visa cards not only let cardholders use their cryptocurrency at any merchant that accepts Visa, but they also provide them a bonus of up to 2% in Bitcoin cashback on all purchases. This development increases the visibility and practicality of bitcoin, allowing its users to fully engage in the global economy. According to Brigham Santos, Head of Operations at Lama, "the Lama Visa card is an essential tool for anyone looking to make the most of their crypto assets." Turn Crypto into Cash Instantly: Lama’s New Visa Cards Lama has created three tiers of Visa card programmes, bronze, silver, and gold, to meet the varying demands of his customers. The Bronze card is an entrance point into the world of hassle-free crypto spending, since it is free and can only be used for purchases made online. With the Silver plan, you may get three digital cards, a plastic one, and 1% Bitcoin cashback for €9.99 per month. Last but not least, the €19.99/month Gold plan provides customers with a real card, 2% Bitcoin reward, and support for up to five virtual cards. Lama's inclusion in Visa's crypto card programme, which features 50 prominent crypto platforms, is a reflection of the platform's trustworthy exchange services and rigorous compliance standards. Lama's Visa card will make exchanging cash for cryptocurrencies much more convenient for daily use. Users may now take advantage of owning digital assets with the confidence that their money can be converted promptly for use in regular transactions. Security First By partnering with Ledger, Lama uses institutional-grade custody service technology to keep its consumers' data secure. Lama's PCI DSS compliance accreditation provides consumers with the assurance they need to confidently and easily convert between money and cryptocurrency. Lama's revolutionary Visa cards will transform the way we think about and utilise cryptocurrencies by erasing the boundaries between digital assets and traditional financial services. Incredibly straightforward and fruitful crypto-to-fiat exchanges are already a reality. Don’t forget to like and share the story! Image: . Shubham Dhage

Cryptocurrency Becomes More Accessible with Lama's Innovative Visa Cards

Las criptomonedas se vuelven más accesibles con las innovadoras tarjetas Visa de Lama

La crypto-monnaie devient plus accessible avec les cartes Visa innovantes de Lama

लामा के इनोवेटिव वीज़ा कार्ड के साथ क्रिप्टोकरेंसी अधिक सुलभ हो गई है

ラマの革新的なVisaカードで仮想通貨がよりアクセスしやすくなる

Criptomoeda se torna mais acessível com os inovadores cartões Visa da Lama

Tiền điện tử trở nên dễ tiếp cận hơn với Thẻ Visa sáng tạo của Lama

通过 Lama 的创新 Visa 卡，加密货币变得更容易获得

Despite a tumultuous year in 2022, the crypto industry grew in an unparalleled way compared to other industries at the nascent stage of development, with no signs of slowing down as we enter 2023. In this era of a radical transformation of traditional finance, it seems to be the only natural development that credit and debit cards are the next set of products to come to the market, providing users a way to convert crypto to fiat. Visa itself issued its predictions for the new year, and “soon governments, central banks, traditional financial institutions, and fintech will continue to focus on programmable currency and payments, whether CBDCs or stablecoins or other tokenized fiat currencies.” state With big-name brands such as Crypto.com, Revolut, CoinBase and Binance relying on Visa to settle crypto and fiat payments, it is suspected that 2023 will see even more service providers integrating debit card solutions into their DeFi, crypto, dApp, and related companies. Yang Lan of says, Fiat24 as a Swiss company that is licensed and regulated, we extend every crypto wallet with account and payment services, enabling clients to both manage their fiat and crypto assets in our dApp, as well as to make transactions using both assets. It is only a logical next step for us to offer our clients access to a Visa card (available both as a physical card and digital to be used on Apple and Google Pay). We have seen the demand from more and more crypto players to find easy and cheap off-ramp solutions, and Fiat24 works seamlessly with any crypto wallet, meaning that everyone with a wallet can start spending their tokens in everyday life. And we think that is pretty cool. With more than using cryptocurrency globally and an expected global adoption growth rate of 10% by 2030 for Bitcoin ( ) alone, there is no denying that cryptocurrency is quickly moving toward mainstream acceptance. 320 million people BTC All the related innovations that we have witnessed continue to usher in dramatic changes in the financial industry, not least of all in the way we borrow, access, make payments and manage our assets. As more and more people join the crypto revolution, they want the freedom and flexibility to use crypto to make everyday purchases. Visa crypto-linked cards are helping consumers make use of their crypto when transacting at Visa-accepting merchants around the world. It is likely that 2023 WILL be the year that we see Crypto Visa and other payment, spending, and gateway services gain further momentum - and hopefully accompanied by a turnaround in the crypto market as well! Also published here.

The Emergence of Crypto Visa in 2023

A few years back in 2012, a new card network was launched in India as an alternative to Visa and MasterCard. It was named , which sounds like a combination of Indian currency ' ' and the verb ' '. Within just ten years, it became the biggest competitor in the Indian card market and captured in 2020. It became such a severe threat that Visa about the dominance of RuPay to the US Government. RuPay Rupee to pay 60% of the whole market share complained In 2022, when a majority of the population is using RuPay, completely dominating over Visa and MasterCard, a curiosity arises about the whole process. How did RuPay become so powerful in just a few years? The current article tries to discuss the same. Situation Before RuPay Visa and MasterCard were dominating in the Indian card markets before RuPay. However, they were only concerned with a small percentage of the Indian population, the upper class. Back in the day, they had support for only 55 banks in India, most of which were corporate or private banks. Until recently, the majority of India's population was unaware of such amenities, and even if they were, they couldn't afford them. RBI had mentioned in its 2009-12 about - a domestic card initiative. Then took over from that, renamed it RuPay, and started working on a domestic payment card that would act as an alternative for MasterCard and Visa. It was launched in March 2012 for public usage. vision paper India Card NPCI Before Diving Deep Let's understand a few terms and the working of a traditional card payment system. When you swipe a card in the EPOS system, many things happen in the background, and many parties participate in the process. Involved Parties Three main parties that take part in the transaction are: The bank where the customer has their account. It issues debit cards to its users and holds their funds. Issuing Bank : The bank that funds at the end of the transaction. It is the bank where merchants have their accounts. Acquiring Bank : acquires The card network company acts as an essential intermediary between the whole transaction. The big bulls in the business are VISA, MasterCard and RuPay. Card Networks : Transaction Process The transaction starts when the customer enters the correct password. Then the card network takes charge of the process, which can be summarized in three steps: The card company checks the status of the customer's account. If it is not blocked, empty or suspicious, authorization is considered successful. Authorization : Funds are captured from the customer's bank account, and the merchant is notified through the EPOS system. The deal between customer and merchant is considered done here, but the acquiring bank still has not received funds. Capture : Settlement is the process of transferring money from an issuing bank account to an acquiring bank account. Settlement usually occurs once a business day. At the end of the process, the merchant finally receives the money. Settlement : Merchant Discount Rate However, there is a catch. The merchant does not receive the total amount sent by the customer. During the payment, involved parties take a few percentages. This fee is known as the or . MDR is to blame if you are refused card payments in small businesses. MDR is determined by the type of card used. A debit card is charged 0.9%, and a credit card is charged anywhere from 1% to 3% of the total amount. Merchant Discount Rate MDR If a payment gateway like Stripe, Bill desk, or Razorpay is involved, it charges a small percentage. This charge is called a , usually 0.5% of the overall amount. Payment Service Provider Fee Simply put, when a customer buys something for 10,000 and pays with a card, the merchant will only receive 9,650 rupees. Implementation of RuPay Indian Government and NPCI saw major gaps in this system. The system was not wholly flawed but had major drawbacks and areas of improvement. A large population of India works in an uncategorized sector. They are daily wagers, day to day workers and vendors. Most of them can't even afford a bank account for multiple reasons: minimum balance constraint, complexity in the process of withdrawals and credit, to name a few. As per a , a total of 557 million Indian population was unbanked in 2011. report Even though VISA and MasterCard have a duopoly in card payments, they were partnered with only 55 banks in India. Most of them are private or corporate banks. There was no support for other banks whatsoever. NPCI leveraged these disadvantages and started working precisely on them. NPCI, RBI and the Indian government started zero-balance bank accounts for people who can't afford to put much money in banks. Until 2015, the Indian unbanked population was halved to 223million compared to 2011. People from the bottom of the pyramid were getting into finance and banking and benefiting from it. RuPay's MDR Policy When RuPay was launched, it had a fixed MDR of 90 Indian paise regardless of the amount to be transacted. It was a huge factor considering how much Visa and MasterCard used to charge. It became possible for everyone to accept card-based payments. A few years back, in late 2019, the finance minister announced the Zero-MDR policy for RuPay. That means no extra charge will be deducted from the transaction. Since then, More merchants have been encouraged to use it along with the existing UPI system with a Zero-MDR policy. Contribution of Indian Government The Indian government itself promotes RuPay. The government successfully encouraged the Indian population to have an active bank account through RuPay and other government schemes. This laid the groundwork for Indian citizens' financial inclusion and created a pipeline for the government to efficiently distribute schemes and services to people who would otherwise have had such opportunities. In just a few years, NPCI announced four more cards under RuPay. It gives you instant access to your bank account anywhere in India. And it has personal accident death protection and disability coverage for the customer. PMJDY Debit Card : A customer can perform multiple withdrawals and credits to cost-effectively manage the working capital limit. Mudra Card : It offers a cash withdrawal facility, and its transaction cost is also meagre. It was exclusively designed for farmers having a particular account. PunGrain Card : Again focusing on the farmers, Kisan card is a need-based timely credit system. Kisan Card : What Lies Next After being the largest in Indian markets, RuPay is now expanding internationally. RuPay has entered global markets in 2014 itself. RuPay has issued over 64 million cards until 2019. These cards are accepted by 1.8 million ATMs and 41 million merchants in 190 countries around the globe. Singapore, UAE and Japan are a few countries showing massive interest in adapting RuPay. Despite all of this, RuPay has not shown its presence in a few other markets. Even though it has acquired the most significant share in the Indian debit card market, it still falls far behind in the credit card market. It holds only around 20% of the Indian market, and Visa and MasterCard dominate credit cards. Farewell I came across this topic while researching the digital payment revolution in India for last month and became immediately interested in learning more. Let me know if you found this interesting or have any suggestions or improvements. I am most active on , , and . I also maintain a where I talk about web development, programming and general experience. my article Twitter LinkedIn Showwcase personal blog Happy swiping! 📇

RuPay: The Indian Card Payment Alternative Rivals Visa and Mastercard

Photo by on Unsplash. Yash Bindra “Know Your Customer,” or ‘KYC,’ is derived from corporate-speak found in typical financial regulations that can hit a nerve in the crypto and wider blockchain ecosystem. While cryptocurrencies are taking a much more mainstream role in finance -- with companies like Visa opening crypto positions -- many early adopters are rigorously private people who want an alternative to centralized data collection systems. But as the debates continue in the crypto space, the real issue that the average user faces is online risk — fraud, account takeover attacks (ATOs), stolen credentials, and stolen identities. The Poly Network incident, for instance, resulted in the theft of . Even Coinbase, one of the oldest players in this space, has had at least one hack resulting in the theft of assets from . $600 million in crypto assets thousands of customers People cannot wait for a civil debate to finish. Consumers need immediate solutions. Having a way for them to secure their digital identities and prove who they are is essential. Many crypto companies have already implemented KYC in response to these issues. Crypto exchanges including require varying levels of user or identity verification to activate accounts and conduct trades. Gemini, Kraken and Bitstamp While not all exchanges require KYC information, the trend is increasingly heading in that direction across the crypto industry especially when companies like Binance are made examples by regulators. As this trend continues, the more pragmatic question is not but to properly implement some form of user identity verification in a responsible way. if how Companies that inform their customers about how data is collected, used, and stored transparently will build trust with users. With all of this said, there are still several myths out there surrounding KYC that are barriers to a more productive conversation. It's important for both companies and individuals to tackle concerns about privacy, facial recognition, and increased inconvenience (friction) that are associated with identity verification and KYC. KYCis an Invasion of Privacy One of the most common customer complaints about KYC is that they represent an invasion of privacy. In reality, it is the same process as a physical bank requesting official ID and proof of address documents to open an account. This helps businesses to verify users' identities and prevent fraud. When it comes to KYC, businesses only need to gather enough data to verify a customer's identity and many cases businesses would rather not store this data because of the growing liability and costs of securing it. Instead, many will use and third-party identity verification providers. utilize privacy-enhancing technologies While outsourcing to third-party service providers for KYC may seem like a risk, it's actually a good way to preserve users' privacy. With a third-party KYC solution, personal information is separated from the databases of the company a consumer is doing business with. The identity verification provider also doesn't know what users are verifying their identities for and has no other data points, such as usage behaviour within the service. This separation provides consumers with a degree of privacy and next-generation identity verification services that provide online KYC are focused only on this type of service. It's also worth noting that other identity verification solutions are far more invasive than KYC. Single Sign On (SSO), for instance, allows a single provider to see all of the applications a user is signing into. The most popular SSO solutions, like Facebook and Google, have used this to gather data on users' activities while using those applications because these business models are based on advertising, and not identity verification. SSO can also carry if credentials are ever compromised. Overall, KYC offers more privacy and security while eliminating the concern of excessive data collection. significant security risks Companies and individuals need to get over the mindset that using a Facebook or Google SSO is a worthwhile convenience to give privacy away for and recognize that taking a photo of your ID and a video-selfie does not even require that trade-off. Facial Recognition Technology Is an Unnecessary Risk Understandably, many consumers increasingly distrust mass surveillance. For this reason, there's a very understandable resistance to solutions with facial recognition technology, which modern KYC solutions use. Facial recognition for identity verification is far less nefarious than most users think. While mass surveillance use of facial recognition is a very real concern, the use case for financial technology companies is quite different. In this context, the algorithms used for facial matching are put to the much narrower use of matching a user's face in a camera selfie to a submitted photo ID. This kind of biometric approach to KYC enhances security because it is difficult to fake biometrics, especially video, reducing the chances that a user's account can taken over. . report high levels of satisfaction with facial recognition authentication when doing business with FinTech companies More than 75 percent of Millennial consumers Forward-thinking crypto companies will take a note from companies like Apple, which uses Face ID for hands-free biometric authentication. Many neobanks already require customers to confirm transactions over a certain value, such as with a Fingerprint or Face ID. Quick biometric authentication takes a customer a few seconds and can stop a fraudster from transferring funds after stealing account credentials. Despite these facts, it's still extremely important for cryptocurrency companies to make responsible use of facial recognition. The more important question to ask — for businesses and individuals — is which companies are being used for facial recognition. For example, is a company using the for accuracy? Specialized providers are focused on performance and do not suffer from the same conflict of interest that platforms with businesses models that are based on selling user data and advertising have. top-ranked facial matching providers by NIST Safe Has to Be Hard A final myth about online safety is that more steps equals more safe. We are all familiar with overly complex, difficult security measures online. Security questions, for instance, seem reassuring until the answers are forgotten. Security questions stop legitimate users and are still just a text-based string for a hacker. In contrast, providing a video selfie is easy for an account owner to provide — providing a face match and proof they are not fake because they are moving — but difficult for a fraudster or bot to fake. In fact, most consumers already interact with KYC and online security systems every day without even realizing it. Online payment processors like Stripe and PayPal, for instance, offer secure transactions to remove both the hassle and inherent risk of entering credit card information for every payment for every online store. They add security through features that might include transaction authorizations or behavioral monitoring to detect anomalous activity. This is just one example of how using the latest technologies can improve security measures and convenience. In fact, safe KYC systems can be easy and convenient, improving the consumer experience. As facial recognition has improved, it becomes a more viable alternative to knowledge-based authentication methods (passwords), especially when account credentials can be given away with phishing attacks. Biometrics offer a convenient way for people to verify their identities, even when there is data theft. When implemented correctly, solutions designed to increase safety can enhance the consumer experience, rather than detract from it. The Path Forward for Consumers and Businesses With fraud on the rise, individuals need to be ever more mindful of how and to whom they give their personal information online. This means individuals need to educate them themselves on modern digital security and learning what technologies truly protect their privacy. With so many cryptocurrency companies on the market today, choosing a service provider that is transparent about why and how they collect your information is more important than going for the company that collects no information. Consumers must be careful to select one that looks out for both their security and privacy at the same time. On the business side of the equation, a shift from a reactive approach to a proactive one is needed. Reacting to changes in regulation is too late. Instead, it's important to begin thinking of secure and responsible ways to identify your customers without compromising their privacy and avoid being the type of company that ends up in the news for a scandal. If you're looking for ways to implement KYC in a customer-friendly way, . learn more about the identity verifications Passbase provides

Hey Crypto, Want Visa to Leave you Alone? KYC

Hello, everyone! My name is Maxim Bogun. I am a QA Automation Engineer at Wirex, a UK-based fintech company. We offer our clients the ability to use a debit card, linking it with cryptocurrency or traditional money, and paying for goods and services. So, the main part of my job  is to test the functionality related to the card transactions. For example, a user from France can add a Bitcoin account to a Wirex card, travel to Japan and pay with the card in a local subway, and the account will be debited with the equivalent of Yens in Bitcoins. So, let me tell you briefly what these transactions are, how they are performed, and how to automate the testing of financial transaction processing. Before we start, I'd like to highlight a bit of the terminology: Fiat currencies are traditional monies that exist in the real world and are generally accepted as a source of exchange, such as the dollar, euro, yen, etc. Such currencies have a central issuer, such as the state central bank. Cryptocurrencies are virtual currencies that, unlike traditional money, often have no central issuer and are based on a distributed ledger (blockchain) like Bitcoin, Ethereum, or a centralized ledger, for example, like Tether. stablecoins Visa and Mastercard are international payment systems that control 3/4 of all plastic cards in the world. A POS terminal is a device with an NFC chip at a store's checkout, which processes cashless payments made via a customer's card or a gadget. Acquirer (recipient) is a bank or other financial institution that makes mutual payments between sellers who accept cashless cards via POS terminals. The acquirer is the final recipient of the transaction. A few thousand years ago, financial transactions were much more straightforward - ancient people grew grain, someone went hunting. Then they conditionally exchanged meat for bread, and such a barter system of mutual settlements worked for a while. But what if the hunter no longer needed so much grain? Here, the fiat money comes into the spotlight. Fiat money is a universal means of exchange, which, thanks to the social contract, made it possible to disconnect buying and selling processes in time. In other words, with the invention of fiat money, people had the opportunity to sell their grain, put the money in their pockets, and spend it when needed instead of immediately and pointlessly exchanging grain for other goods. The production of fiat money, which is known as a national currency, is made by federal governments. Before the invention of plastic cards, the process of mutual payments was also quite simple. But the advent of payment systems, such as Visa and Mastercard, brought  more calculations than between two parties on the technical side in the transaction processing. Even though everything is effortless for the user, all they have to do is use their card to interact with the terminal and their money is immediately taken. Let's imagine an abstract fintech company that is the final recipient (acquirer) of a transaction. Let's see what happens when a user attaches a card to a POS terminal in a store. By the way, the same scheme is valid for transfers in any electronic payment system. As you can see, the transaction has a long way to go from the terminal to your servers and back. You may ask why there is an intermediary as a processing centre (Processor) and why you can't process messages from payment systems directly? The answer is a matter of practicality. The processor needs to get lots of licenses and certificates from Visa and Mastercard, have huge power capacities and backup data centres, and have a large staff of specially trained people to keep track of it all. It is much easier to put this "trouble" on someone else's shoulders and just be an acquirer. The acquirer must also be licensed by Visa and Mastercard and meet specific requirements, but all the complicated transaction processing work can be delegated to the processor. What does a money transfer look like in the real world? Any financial transaction must comply with the standard. All terminals, ATMs, banks, payment systems and processing centres organize their requests and responses into this format. ISO 8583 In short, it is a set of about a hundred fields, which in a form may look like this: deserialized Or like this in serialized: 02BC30323230FEFA44810EE0E48A0000000004020000313231313036343433313... In the original ISO message and all the documentation, these fields are called with numbers and letters, which look like this: conventionally, if 111.8 comes in, then DE39 should be 51. That's a fascinating story, trust me. Stages of Test Automation As you understand, only Neo from The Matrix would be able to test this manually, while an average person would take a week to analyze one of such requests and responses. That is where automation comes to the rescue. We at our team have divided it into several parts: Unit tests, which developers write Module and integration tests. These used to be written by developers without interaction with QA, but recently we've been trying to introduce a practice of grooming QA together with devs to think through the main cases, which helps developers when writing their tests End-to-end tests, in which QA write in a framework specifically designed for automation (which they develop themselves). We plan to cover major scenarios, but it's just physically impossible to cover everything. Each company can modify the transaction message in its own way, so there can be so many combinations of values of fields, some of which are optional. Also, companies often use the values at their own discretion, essentially changing the message as they want. How Transactions are Tested According to the scheme above, any transaction from Visa or Mastercard comes to us at the gateway from our processor. But in order to test, we want to send ourselves these incoming messages. So we need a simulator that can simulate any card transactions, "routing" them to our gateway as if they came from the processor that received them from the user. This allows us to write autotests for any scenarios. For example, if a user made a purchase in a store, then requested a refund, which was split into six parts, and then the store requested a refund on that refund. To test such a scenario we simply send ourselves this message chain and check if everything was handled correctly on our end. This process includes: Checking values from hundreds of fields (the ones where DE-39 should be 51) Checking the user's cash balances in our application at all stages, to a precision of 10 decimal places Verification of records in the user's transaction history Verification of all currencies involved in the conversion, if any Checking of all rates, which were used for conversion, accurate to one billionth of a penny Verification of the time taken by our system to process the transaction. Let’s look further at the transaction time. Each company must obtain their licenses to work with Visa and Mastercard, and Wirex is no exception. The speed and stability of money transfers is key to the reputation of payment systems, so there are requirements which company must meet. Visa and Mastercard constantly monitor all transactions. Firstly, any answer from our side to the payment system's request must come in a maximum of 2 seconds. Secondly, there must be a small percentage of rejected transactions because of our decision. That's why it is crucial to automate as many scenarios as possible and be sure that the system will respond to processing any of them quickly and correctly. Visa and Mastercard have strict requirements; if at any point the company does not meet them, the license is revoked. Automating fiat remittances testing As for automation, the entire QA backend is involved in developing the framework and writing autotests in our company. For example, I do it five days a week. We write them on .Net Core + NUnit. And on Fridays inside the Backend QA team, we do short sessions on sharing knowledge in automation, such as C# or new features of the product itself, which aren’t well known to those who have not participated in their testing. We do not create test cases for those tests related to transaction processing since it’s simply impossible to verify them "manually". Before each new task, tech-analysts or product owners update the specification in Jira, groom it, and then prepare tasks with a detailed description for developers. When the functionality is ready, it’s tested in a separate environment, and then the automation task is "raised" for QA, who writes the necessary autotests. After checking the pull-request with tests, new empty test cases are created in TestRail with names that match the names of tests in the code and status is set to Automated. We also perform obligatory regression testing to ensure that the new functionality does not affect the old logic. If any autotests suddenly stop working, the release is blocked until the reason is found. Next, QA gives approval, then the Head of QA approves, and only then does the release of new functionality happen. Features of creating autotests Autotests covering transaction logic for Visa and Mastercard are very similar. Sometimes it happens that the code is 95% identical. In the past, people just copied the code of a test, creating two classes and two separate tests with almost identical codes. As you understand, the amount of code grows considerably in that case, and when the time comes to change something, we have to fix two tests at once. We implemented an approach where all code for the test is written in a base class, while the tests themselves were declared in two other classes - one for Visa, the other for Mastercard, which were inherited from the base class. The base class itself has virtual properties that are overridden in the descendants. As a result, tests in most cases simply call the base class method, where all the logic was already implemented. Since Wirex is a global product, and each country has different regulatory requirements, this approach is especially useful when it is necessary to write tests for three different regions. Instead of copying code three times, we have just one method in the base class. As we have a microservice architecture, we decided to speed up our autotests for transaction checking by stopping any interactions with our public API. This approach allowed us to speed up the tests by almost half. In our tests, we now "go" directly to the internal API of those microservices responsible for card transactions and user accounts. And the public API is tested by other QAs in separate tests. Additionally, there's a feature that can have a negative impact on the stability of autotests. Because cryptocurrency rates, like BTC/USD, change rather quickly, it can often happen that there was one asset price at the beginning of the test, but by the end of the test, it had time to change. As a result, the test will fail with the error, saying that the customer's account balance does not match after the transactions. It turns out that the test is correct but becomes so-called "floating" (when the test result changes under the influence of an external factor). There are several options to handle this - you can use either cache rates or assign "lifetime" to each rate, so at the end of the test, we will check that the actual rate was used correctly, but it was changed just during the execution flow. As an option, you can implement a rate "freezing" functionality. You will likely want to implement this as a separate microservice, which will "live" only in a test environment so that there is no chance it will be released to Production, but this is a slippery slope. So, I tried to give a brief overview of the transaction structure from Visa and Mastercard, the testing approaches we use, and some of the pitfalls we faced when writing the autotests. Thanks to everyone who has read to the end.

How to Test Transactions From Visa and Mastercard in a Fintech App 

Offered by several online banks, the various Visa cards available on the market have something to seduce their holders. With 44.8 million Visa cards in circulation in France or 6.36 billion transactions for 289.6 billion euros in spending per year, the Visa card is the leader in payments in France. Many online banks have partnered with this network to offer their customers a free for life, choose from the range of their choice. What are the advantages of this benchmark bank card? best card Visa Secure and streamline transactions Online purchase, dematerialized transaction, technological evolution is transforming our lifestyles and our consumption strategies The Visa group develops innovative products intended to make our daily lives easier. . When you make purchases on the Internet, the password verification service protects you against the risk of fraudulent use of your bank card on the Internet. Another technological innovation, for purchases of less than 20 euros, it is now possible to benefit from Already used by 44% of cardholders this device allows you to purchase without having to insert your card into the payment terminal or dial your code. Verified BY Visa the NFC (Near Field Communication) contactless system . Visa , Facilitate trips abroad No need to carry large sums of cash during your trip. Accepted by millions of merchants around the world for its users , with free payments . , the Visa card makes it easier to travel abroad in the European zone Paying for your trip with your payment card allows you to benefit from medical assistance anywhere in the world. Injured or sick, the cardholder and their family have the medical costs and their repatriation covered. Basic guarantees are more extensive for holders of prestige cards. Benefit from exclusive advantages Silver, gold, or black card: each color has its exclusive advantages. cards make life easier for cardholders thanks to and Premium assistance insurance guarantees concierge services. There are 6.2 million cardholders, 70,000 cardholders, 200,000 cardholders ). And the growth of these high-end cards that promise their users a la carte services is very dynamic. Visa Premier Platinum Infinite (Source Visa Europe By paying for their purchases with these super sesames, buyers benefit from very extensive coverage: from breakage or theft of ski equipment in the mountains to theft, loss or damage to luggage for an airplane flight, etc. The most prestigious cards also offer services modeled on those of a luxury hotel concierge. They can help you organize a last-minute weekend, find the last table in your favorite restaurant, find a plumber in the middle of the night, etc. , the slogan for launching the card has what to appeal to the most demanding consumers. "The only limit will be your imagination" Visa Infinite Whatever its range, your card should be used with caution, especially during your remote transactions. Follow the precautions, especially the confidentiality, that your establishment will tell you. And do not forget that while the regulations may seem less rigorous than that of checks, the cardholder commits to the terms of his agreement, in particular as regards the authorized overdraft. Its ease of use should not obscure the risks inherent in this means of payment. What Are the Advantages of the Visa Card? The Visa Classic card is the most widely marketed bank card in France. It is found in most French wallets and it allows you to spend money almost anywhere. Why such a success? What are the advantages of the Visa Classic card? The Visa Classic card is marketed by almost all banks. This is the basic card that can be obtained from the age of 18. It allows you to withdraw money, pay online or at merchants as well as use contactless payment up to € 50. It is available in immediate or deferred debit (deferred debit may be slightly more expensive). But there are other advantages of the and Visa Classic card: Visa Provisioning Service : the Visa network allows you to pay and withdraw money in the world. A card that can be used anywhere thanks to the Visa network anywhere to cover hospital expenses as well as repatriation if the client is injured or ill while abroad. To obtain more guarantees, however, you will need to take out a Visa Premier card. Medical assistance included: : traditional banks market the Visa Classic card from € 35 to € 40 per year. Thanks to online banking, it is even possible to get it for free. Death/disability insurance an affordable price

What are the Advantages of the Visa Card?

The race is on for using blockchain-based solutions for accelerating payments. In a world of finance where speed is the main competitive factor determining the appeal and loyalty of millions of users, every little edge comes in handy for increasing capitalization and prominence in the global arena. Visa and MasterCard are vying for supremacy with the likes of PayPal, constantly looking for advantages and new technologies to bolster their performance. The advent of blockchain heralded the start of a new race and all of the main market players rushed off to start developing and integrating solutions based on the new technology. And while the transactional volumes of the giants are growing, so is interest towards blockchain as a viable add-on to existing infrastructures, whose successful merger may well prove to be the decisive factor in winning the processing acceleration race. The latest statistics The general statistics show that the volume of transactions carried out by all of the main payment providers is growing. A recent by Statista shows that the number of purchase transactions worldwide in 2019 topped the 400 billion mark. The distribution by brand demonstrates a clear advantage for Visa, which has surpassed the 185 billion mark. It is followed by MasterCard at 131 billion. American Express closes the trio with 8.8 billion transactions in 2019. review The statistics also showed a clear preference among those polled in using online transactions for making payments. The numbers indicate that 44% of respondents prefer credit card payments, 32% prefer debit cards, and 14% opt for PayPal. Given that transaction volumes are growing year-on-year, it is clear that the popularity of online payments will increase along with it. The recent news coming from the main financial gateway providers is indicating that the adoption of blockchain-based transaction acceleration solutions is being leveraged as a powerful instrument for winning the race. The lay of the land PayPal is being seen as the main serious contender for the title of the most versatile payment instrument of the future. The statistics of the gateway that its volume of transactions has been steadily growing. Q2 of 2020 has seen an increase in transactions to as much as 225 billion, up from 190 in Q1. show The impact of the coronavirus on the volume of transactions cannot be downplayed, as the pandemic has in an explosive growth of online payments. It has also led to a corresponding increase in demand for digital payment facilitating services. The results were instant as almost 50% of all global shopping was redirected online and became considerably easier than offline shopping, encouraging shoppers to buy more from the convenience of their homes. resulted Such an increase in payments also led to heightened demand for cryptocurrencies. Statistics from indicated that the number of venues accepting cryptocurrencies has grown by 6.8% since the beginning of 2020. At the same time, MasterCard has seen its revenues drop to $3.34 billion, down 19% from last year. Visa was just as affected, its revenues dropping by 4% as a result of the pandemic. Coinmap.org Such negative dynamics have not left the mainstays indifferent as both are engaged in integrating cryptocurrency payment solutions and blockchain-based technologies into their traditional infrastructures. MasterCard is ahead of the race, promoting its Accelerate card program among exchanges and payment services. But Visa is not intent on being left behind the curve either and is even engaged in shaping cryptocurrency regulation by participating in the World Economic Forum, pushing recommendations to central banks to ensure the adoption of more crypto-friendly laws, and introducing proprietary instruments. Adoption underway Meanwhile, emerging companies are offering their own solutions for helping shoppers make use of crypto facilities. The Paxful P2P Bitcoin exchange platform is gaining momentum in the adoption race by offering Google Pay transactions for buying Bitcoin. Such a move made it possible for customers around the world to make use of debit and credit cards for buying cryptocurrencies and making purchases through Google Pay and Visa. Other companies making headway include – a cryptocurrency payment processing service that offers its business clients solutions for accepting cryptocurrencies at record low commissions. The company has already established its presence on the market as one of the largest providers of POS solutions for accepting cryptocurrencies for retailers. Over 50,000 Cyclebit mPOS terminals are currently in use by more than 10,000 businesses. Cyclebit Cyclebit’s flagship product – Cycle Online is precisely called upon to facilitate the transition of retailers into the new online payments environment. The innovative solution is tailored for e-commerce clients and allows them to accept cryptocurrency payments globally and receive funds in local currencies. The software gives users the opportunity to pay using BTC, BCH, LTC, ETH and other cryptocurrencies with no volatility risk. The tap2go application from CycleBit further enhances the UX in the e-commerce sector by turning any Android smartphone with an NFC module into a terminal for receiving contactless payments through Google Pay, Apple Pay and Samsung Pay. Considering that contactless payments from mobile devices account for more than 80% of all non-cash payments in Russia alone, the prospects for the adoption of such solutions seem broad. Considering that contactless payments are becoming an integral part of the modern world in 2020, Cyclebit quickly adapted to the changing market conditions under the influence of the pandemic, becoming one of the first companies to offer retailers multiple online payment solutions. “2019 was certainly a transformative year for cryptocurrencies and 2020 is certain to make the market grow even further. Cryptocurrencies are expected to become stronger as they operate globally at a time when most nations have closed their borders and are facing the dire consequences of the impact left behind by the Covid-19 crisis,” as stated by Daniel Bessmert, CEO of Cyclebit Group. Among the other market players eyeing the emerging payments revolution is CoinPayments, a  cryptocurrency payments processor, which has recently a strategic partnership with Shopify. Their cooperation is set to allow vendors to accept payments in over 1800 cryptocurrencies supported by CoinPayments. Adoption is already becoming a worldwide phenomenon as Slovenia has surpassed the 1,000 mark of locations accepting cryptocurrencies as means of payment. announced Next-gen payment solutions focusing on UX The need for a greater focus on the user experience is of top priority for payment provider services to ensure a smoother transition and adoption process for a blockchain-based infrastructure. Making cryptocurrencies more accessible and understandable for average users is now the main task beckoning before the main market players, pushing technical issues to the background.

Crypto Weekly #7: Visa, MasterCard, and PayPal Bet On Bitcoin Adoption

Although cryptocurrencies have been around for more than ten years and Bitcoin was first introduced in 2009, there is still a lot of skepticism around the crypto industry. Despite the market’s annual capitalization growth, many institutions in traditional finance do not recognize the role of digital assets in the global economy. However, this paradigm is starting to change. As you can see in the chart below, the number of blockchain wallet users worldwide has grown significantly since 2016. Moreover, the global economic crisis and high inflation of the fiat currencies in 2020 have forced people to look for new financial tools and strategies. Thus, the number of blockchain wallet users has reached 50.71 million. Source: statista.com In addition, hundreds of platforms for crypto trading have been founded. Such European exchanges as Coinbase, EXMO, and Kraken have millions of active users and million-dollar monthly trading volumes. No doubt that the interest in digital assets is growing. We are experiencing governments of major countries such as the UK and USA enforcing laws to regulate the crypto market. Many trustworthy exchanges including mentioned above Coinbase, Kraken, and EXMO are aiming to comply with the regulatory standards. The same goes for titans of the traditional finance industry. The crypto media is bursting with news on such companies as PayPal, Visa, and Western Union actively exploring and investing in the crypto market. Crypto vs. Fiat To understand the reasons why more and more finance giants are actively investing in the blockchain technologies, we need first to determine the key differences between fiat and crypto. Decentralization As the illustration above indicates, one of the main differences between cryptocurrency and a fiat asset is decentralization. Fiat currencies are issued by the government of a particular state and are often regulated by the central banks. The crypto assets are decentralized and cannot be controlled by any organization in the world. Emission Another key factor is emission. We have already established that the state’s central bank issues fiat currencies. It means that the state can print an unlimited amount of fiat currencies based on the economic situation. Emission of Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency, is, on the other hand, strictly limited. Currently, 18 out of 21 million coins have been mined, and by 2036 more than 99.2% of all Bitcoins will be discovered. Consequently, the inflation rate of the cryptocurrencies is generally low. As for the fiat assets, high inflation is a regular issue. Capitalization Although the crypto market is not even close to the fiat market’s volumes, the numbers don’t lie: the industry is growing. Besides the growth of the crypto wallets users, the total capitalization of the crypto market is increasing. Source: coinmarketcap.com As the chart above shows, since 2014, the total crypto market capitalization has grown to 250 billion dollars. Of course, these numbers are incomparable to the capitalization of fiat currencies. For instance, the USD capitalization alone is higher than the total cap of the crypto market. Source: fiatmarketcap.com Volatility One of the main reasons cryptocurrencies face so much criticism is volatility. Many argue that Bitcoin and other altcoins cannot be considered a stable investment because of the price fluctuations. Source: charts.woobull.com Although Bitcoin’s volatility index is higher than that of such fiat currencies like USD and EUR, the chart shows that emerging currencies and oil also have high volatility. There is no doubt that crypto technologies changed traditional finance’s perception and is becoming an important part of the global economy. Increasing capitalization and the public’s interest in cryptocurrencies force many finance companies to invest in blockchain technologies and enter the crypto market. Blockchain — a technology of the future We have already shown that more and more attention is brought to the crypto industry in general. On the example of major financial companies, including Visa, PayPal, and Western Union, we will illustrate the integration of cryptocurrencies in the global financial life. Visa Visa was one of the first international corporations that began investing in the crypto industry. In 2018 Visa offered product developer positions for the crypto department. It became clear that big finance companies are starting to take the crypto industry more seriously. The same year the first crypto debit cards began to appear. The two good examples are MCO Visa Card by Crypto.com and Flexible Crypterium Card. The former cannot be bought with money. To get an MCO card, the company offers to lock from 50 to 50.000 MCO tokens. This debit crypto card can be very beneficial for Crypto.com users as they can receive cashback and special bonuses. Source: crypto.com As for the Crypterium Card, it became the number one cryptocurrency card. People from all over the world (178 countries) can order Crypterium card to pay with cryptocurrencies in everyday life. It is important to note that the main currency of Crypterium and MCO Visa Cards is the US dollar. All cryptocurrencies are being converted into USD at the moment of purchase. It is a live example of how crypto assets integrate into the global financial system. Source: crypterium.com This tendency of partnering with blockchain platforms to issue crypto debit cards is continuing now. For instance, in 2020, Visa partnered with a FinCEN-registered crypto exchange CoinZoom and a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform Eidoo. However, Visa’s involvement with the crypto market did not limit to partnerships with promising blockchain projects. In May 2020, USPTO (U.S. Patent and Trademark Office) announced that Visa corporation applied to develop a digital currency using the blockchain technologies. It will include such central banks’ assets as the US dollar, euro, pound, and yen. The centralized computer receiving requests containing the serial number and denomination of physical currency will be used for this technology. According to the USPTO , “the central entity computer causes removal of the physical currency from circulation in a fiat currency system.” The main goal of this digital asset is to replace cash transactions. We are looking forward to seeing if this patent by Visa will revolutionize the finance system. filing PayPal Many may be surprised to see PayPal in our list as this payment system did not support the blockchain technologies and was quite skeptical of crypto wallet users. However, the dynamics are changing. The company’s first involvement in the crypto industry goes back to 2014. Although there was a lot of skepticism surrounding the emerging world of blockchain, in September of that year, PayPal entered into a partnership with major crypto platforms: Coinbase, BitPay, GoCoin. Nevertheless, starting in 2018, the corporation made several investments in the blockchain projects. For instance, PayPal became an investor for Cambridge Blockchain that aimed to give users more control over their crypto assets. The payment system also became one of the founders of the Swiss blockchain project The Libra Technologies. However, in 2019 the company officially withdrew from the association focusing on developing its own projects. Even more attention to PayPal’s plans on crypto was brought in the summer of 2020. According to the anonymous sources of Coindesk, the payment giant is planning to list Bitcoin on its platform, meaning that more than 300 million users will be able to buy and sell Bitcoin directly via PayPal without third parties. The crypto community has also noticed that the payment system has opened several positions for blockchain developers. According to , one of the job offers for Crypto Engineer included this description: Cointelegraph ”The person will be responsible for “new initiatives for PayPal global with a focus on agility, time-to-market, and innovation. The role includes designing, developing, and maintaining key crypto products/features targeted towards availability, performance, and scalability of PayPal services.” As it turns out, the rumors surrounding PayPal’s plans to explore the crypto world were true. According to the to the European Commission in March, the company is taking “unilateral and tangible steps to further develop its capabilities in this area.” letter The entire crypto community is looking forward to seeing what PayPal is going to offer in the near future. Western Union There is not much history between Western Union and blockchain technology. However, it may change soon. In June 2020, the information on the possible takeover of MoneyGram by Western Union has been circulating in the media. It is believed that the payment giant has already made an offer. How is it related to cryptocurrencies? First of all, MoneyGram uses blockchain for fiat transfers. In addition to this, MoneyGram is the partner of Ripple, one of the most popular crypto platforms with their own coin. Taking this into account, this merger can be the beginning of Western Union’s relationship with the cryptocurrencies. Although neither party has confirmed the rumors, the experts argue that the takeover is likely to happen. Mastercard Mastercard also belongs to the finance companies that are quite skeptical about cryptocurrencies and their role in the financial system. For example, in one of the interviews, Mark Barnett, President of Mastercard Europe, revealed that he doubts that blockchain and cryptocurrency can change the existing payment system. On the other hand, he believes that this technology can be used in other industries: “I think it [blockchain] can most likely be used in digital identification - for example, to identify a person or for valuable commodities trading,” stated Barnett. He also added that it would be an overstatement to say that Mastercard is working with blockchain. Nevertheless, it was recently announced that Bitpay would partner with Mastercard to issue a prepaid crypto card after the contract with Visa expires in December 2020. To conclude Although cryptocurrencies emerged only ten years ago, their popularity is rising quickly. The number of crypto wallet users and the total cap of the market are growing each year. Such attention from the public forces traditional finance corporations to recognize the importance of blockchain technologies despite the skepticism. The integration of cryptocurrencies in the largest payment systems has already began. Such companies as Visa, PayPal, and Western Union are actively exploring the crypto market and investing in blockchain development technology. Although these are just baby steps, it is an undeniable proof that the dynamic is changing. Even the traditional finance representatives are starting to acknowledge the role of cryptocurrencies in the financial system. There is no doubt that we will see more interesting partnerships between crypto platforms and finance giants in the future. Disclaimer: This material is not sponsored by any organization mentioned in the article.

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