Business Technology News: PayPal Opens Bitcoin And Crypto Payments To US Merchants
This Week in Business Technology News
Business Technology News #1 – PayPal opens bitcoin and crypto payments to US merchants.
PayPal has launched a new feature called 'Pay with Crypto', allowing U.S. merchants to accept payments in over 100 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin. For the first year, merchants pay a promotional fee of $0.99 per transaction, then 1.5 percent thereafter. Customers pay with crypto via wallets like Coinbase or MetaMask. PayPal converts the crypto into its stablecoin PYUSD, then into U.S. dollars for the merchant This move follows the launch of PayPal World – a global partnership connecting major digital wallets. PayPal president and CEO Alex Chriss said, 'These innovations don't just simplify payments – they drive merchant growth, expand consumer choice, and reduce costs.' (Source: Bitcoin Magazine)
Why this is important for your business:
Can we agree that cryptocurrency is becoming a real currency? It's been around now for years and has grown not only in popularity but stability. The President has his own meme coin for goodness sake! Where is this heading? For me, it's obvious. More consumers will be using crypto in the not-too-distant future for their daily transactions in lieu of options in order to avoid fees. And more merchants will encourage the use for this reason. PayPal, a respected brand in the financial services space, is jumping ahead of this. It's a big step forward.
Business Technology News #2 – HubSpot launches the first CRM connector for Anthropic's Claude.
HubSpot has officially launched its first CRM connector for Anthropic's Claude, bringing real-time customer context into the AI assistant to supercharge business workflows. Teams can ask questions in plain language about their CRM data and Claude can generate tailored answers/summaries based on each team's unique context in HubSpot. For example, marketing teams can ask Claude to locate a contact who opened an email campaign but didn't click through. Sales teams can request a summary of active deals by name and amount. Visualizations like charts and graphs can be generated for further analysis. Users only see CRM data they're authorized to access. The CRM connector is available to all HubSpot customers with a paid Claude subscription. (Source: MarTech Cube)
Why this is important for your business:
Make no mistake: this is a reporting tool. And that's a good thing. Enabling users to do more natural language queries of their data and get quick, intelligent responses has long been an unreachable goal for many CRM administrators. For now at least, nothing is being done with this data other than displaying it on demand for users. I'm hoping as integrations like these evolve, more agentic AI options will appear.
Business Technology News #3 – Amazon pulls out of Google Shopping ads.
Amazon has made a dramatic global retreat from Google Shopping ad auctions, ending its participation across 20 international domains. This sudden move is shaking up the digital advertising landscape. In just days, Amazon went from appearing in 30 percent of Shopping auctions to zero – affecting millions of impressions. Experts call the shift 'colossal,' likening it to Amazon's pandemic-era ad pullback. Many of speculated on what's behind this decision suggesting Amazon is shifting toward its own ecosystem, or this was a strategic pause after Prime Day. It remains to be seen if this is temporary or a long-term strategy shift, but Amazon's disappearance is reshaping ad dynamics – giving competitors a rare chance to shine. (Source: Search Engine Land)
Why this is important for your business:
I'm not so surprised. Amazon is an e-commerce search giant on its own. Does it really need Google? When I search for products I usually go right to Amazon. And even if I find a product on Google I see if Amazon carries it. I imagine many consumers do the same. I'm betting Amazon looked at the ROI – given this kind of behavior – and determined it best to cut their participating with Google. I wouldn't be too concerned if I was an Amazon merchant.
Business Technology News #4 – How Trump's AI plan could reshape the future of small business.
President Trump's newly unveiled AI Action Plan aims to supercharge U.S. innovation by cutting red tape and accelerating AI development – but it's not just for Big Tech. Small businesses could see major ripple effects. Deregulation means more AI tools hitting the market – voice assistants, automated lead follow-ups, and social media content generators could become more accessible to small firms. With fewer barriers, mom-and-pop shops might afford AI tools that were once reserved for enterprise giants. However fewer rules mean more risks and small businesses must vet tools carefully for security, reliability, and ethics. Trump's action plan is a significant opportunity for startups who offer AI solutions like chatbots and marketing automation. To stay ahead, small businesses should train their teams of basic AI literacy and AI tools that are tailored to their industry. (Source: Times Square Chronicles)
Why this is important for your business:
One other thing: until this legislation appeared many states were taking it upon themselves to regulate the use of AI and my expectation is that activity will also decline. On the one hand, various rules from all over place would create more complications for businesses using AI. On the other hand, AI is scary. But – being in the space myself – I never felt confident that government regulation would do much to stop its growth so I'm in agreement that we might as well lean into it.
Business Technology News #5 – Anthropic tests AI running a real business with bizarre results.
Anthropic gave its AI model – Claude (nicknamed 'Claudius') – full control of a real-world vending business and the results were both fascinating and hilariously chaotic. A small shop was set up with a with a fridge, baskets, and an iPad for checkout. Instructed to operate as a business owner, Claudius handled inventory, pricing, customer service, and supplier negotiations. Human staff acted as physical proxies, restocking based on Claudius' instructions. The results were mixed. There were inventory missteps and a discount disaster where Claudius gave 25 percent off to Anthropic employees – nearly all its customers. Claudius also hallucinated a fictitious employee. On the positive side, the AI was able to find niche suppliers quickly, it created a 'custom concierge' service and resisted unethical requests. Anthropic's takeaway: Despite losing money, the experiment showed AI's potential in business roles – with major caveats. Anthropic believes AI middle managers could be viable with better tools and safeguards. (Source: AI News)
Why this is important for your business:
This is like letting a high school kid running a business. They're going to make stupid mistakes. But that high school kid – like its AI counterpart – will ultimately get older and more experienced. And when that happens they're better suited to do many of the tasks they couldn't do before. It's inevitable.
Each week I round up five business technology news stories and explain why they're important for your business. If you have any interesting stories, please post to my X account @genemarks.
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