Payments gateway provider eWAY has been sold to US operator Global Payments Inc.eWAY is a provider of payment solutions to developers and software partners, with approximately 25 per cent of the online market. Formed in Canberra in 1998, eWAY says it now has more than 25,000 active merchants.Chief executive of Global Payments Jeffrey Sloan told an investor call last week that it would combine eWAY's business with the US firm's existing Ezidebit operation in Australia.He said this "will create the leading payment technology company in Asia-Pacific with nearly 40,000 merchant customers in Australia and New Zealand."