FaceCash, a mobile payment system launched by Palo Alto, CA-based Think Computer Corporation and profiled by Xconomy in February, said today that it has shut down operations in California and is refunding deposits made by California residents. The company says it determined that it would was unlikely to receive a license from the state to conduct money transmissions, thanks to provisions of a 2010 California law that imposes higher financial stability requirements on companies that move money within the United States. FaceCash said in a statement it can meet the law’s minimum $500,000 net worth requirement and the $750,000 aggregate surety bond requirement, but added that “the unfortunate reality is that the California Department of Financial Institutions (DFI) requires licensees to have far more than the dollar figures specified by the statute.” The company added, “We are incredibly sorry for the inconvenience and hope that we can remedy the situation soon.”
Author: Wade Roush
Between 2007 and 2014, I was a staff editor for Xconomy in Boston and San Francisco.
Since 2008 I've been writing a weekly opinion/review column called VOX: The Voice of Xperience. (From 2008 to 2013 the column was known as World Wide Wade.)
I've been writing about science and technology professionally since 1994. Before joining Xconomy in 2007, I was a staff member at MIT’s Technology Review from 2001 to 2006, serving as senior editor, San Francisco bureau chief, and executive editor of TechnologyReview.com. Before that, I was the Boston bureau reporter for Science, managing editor of supercomputing publications at NASA Ames Research Center, and Web editor at e-book pioneer NuvoMedia.
I have a B.A. in the history of science from Harvard College and a PhD in the history and social study of science and technology from MIT. I've published articles in Science, Technology Review, IEEE Spectrum, Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Technology and Culture, Alaska Airlines Magazine, and World Business, and I've been a guest of NPR, CNN, CNBC, NECN, WGBH and the PBS NewsHour. I'm a frequent conference participant and enjoy opportunities to moderate panel discussions and on-stage chats.
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