Not all merchant accounts are created equal. When shopping for a merchant account, many tend to overlook the differences between the two very different merchant account types; the traditional model and the aggregator model. The traditional model works as one might expect. A merchant contacts their MSP, and opens a merchant account. This MSP will […]

From Californian wineries to bars in Beijing, 2013 was widely considered a banner year for bitcoin, as business owners around the world began to take advantage of the technology to cut costs and woo new and influential consumers. Unsurprisingly, expectations were high for 2014, and so far, it’s delivered with major brands such as Lord […]

In the first installment of our merchant survey, we uncovered that the majority – 59% – of merchants are accepting bitcoin to better support the bitcoin ecosystem. However, the bigger takeaway from this statistic is that the main driver of bitcoin adoption is not its cost-cutting benefits when compared to traditional financial tools. While bitcoin […]

ClearGate has taken many steps to reduce the PCI burden for both VAR’s and Merchants with our Hosted solution, however, we still recommend that network admins at all levels take steps to ensure continued data security.  While the infrastructure we have in place allows for card data to make its way to our gateway securely, […]

The US Federal Exchange Commission (FEC) has determined that political campaigns and political action committees (PACs) may accept bitcoin as a form of in-kind donation under current federal election laws. The FEC previously delayed a decision on a request for clarification from Make Your Laws (MYL) – an organisation that facilitates political contributions – which […]

If your local politician starts soliciting donations in Bitcoins, don’t be surprised: the US Federal Election Commission just approved the cryptocurrency for political contributions. Now, politicians and political action committees (PACs) can accept Bitcoin, so long as donors list their names, addresses, occupations and confirm that they own the coins they’re sending over. Recipients can’t […]

Friday another Bitcoin milestone was reached, as it is the first day that Internet retailer Overstock.com (Nasdaq: OSTK) started accepting the digital currency as payment. If it seems puzzling that more and more merchants are taking Bitcoin seriously, you need only consider who uses Bitcoin. Two studies of who uses Bitcoin done earlier this year […]

ClearGate is pleased to announce they have finalized an agreement with the ISA as a preferred vendor for payment processing to the ISA’s membership. To kick off this new relationship, ClearGate attended the ISA’s 2012 Product Show & Conference in San Antonio from April 21 – 24.