PayPal is going to buy the startup behind Wal-Mart's Apple Pay competitor for $280 million

Paydiant Paydiant powers payments for many different apps.

PayPal is going to buy the Massachusetts mobile-wallet startup Paydiant for $280 million, Re/code's Jason Del Rey reports.

Paydiant licenses its technology to retailers and banks to allow them to add payments, loyalty, and coupon capabilities to their own apps.

Notably, it partners with MCX, a consortium of retailers including Wal-Mart, 7-Eleven, Best Buy, and Target that plans to release a mobile wallet called CurrentC this year.

Paydiant-powered CurrentC will be MCX's competitor to Apple Pay and Google Wallet. PayPal's acquisition of Paydiant most likely will not affect that partnership, Re/code reports.

With this acquisition, PayPal shows it has not given up on brick-and-mortar payments.

Bill Ready, head of the merchant division of PayPal, told Del Rey that PayPal was confident "merchants and major retailers are going to want to control their own destiny in terms of what they accept."

Through Paydiant, PayPal will now have easy access to work with those retailers.

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