We hope everyone?s new year is off to a great start! We know you?re busy, so we?ve gathered up some of this week?s biggest payments-related stories. Check out these important headlines to discover what?s happening in the world of bitcoin processing, payment processing and merchant services!

Google brings its different payment platforms together under the Google Pay brand

Google is combining all of its different payment services, including Android Pay and Google Wallet, into one unified service, called Google Pay. Over time, this should make buying and paying through Google easier for consumers ? if you?ve saved your payment information in your Google account, you don?t have to worry which app to use to access that information, because it?s all under Google Pay.

Alipay reveals nationwide user habits for 2017

New data from Alipay reveals that 82% of the transactions on its platform in 2017 were made via mobile payments, mostly through smart phones.

Goldman Sachs says ?the bar looks high? for bitcoin to thrive as real money

Bitcoin?s application as a form of real money is likely easier said than done, according to a new report from Goldman Sachs. In a report exploring the cryptocurrency as money in the classic sense, the firm said that while bitcoin could hypothetically thrive as we see the dollar, yen or euro, it would likely face a whole host of fundamental challenges.