Fat wallets begone: Coin combines your payment plastic into a single smart card
The future of currency, it seems, is digital. Almost every technology company imaginable is trying to replace our plastic credit and debit cards. Typical solutions involve smartphones loaded with NFC chips and apps likeGoogle Wallet and Isis. But a new start-up thinks it has a better solution: a digital, swipe-able card called Coin that consolidates all of your accounts onto a single piece of plastic.
How it works
Unlike your average plastic payment method, Coin is a Bluetooth-powered electronic device about the size of a normal credit card. Coin can store information for up to eight of your credit cards simultaneously, while a button lets you toggle through your stored cards. A display shows the name, last four digits, and the three-digit security code of the card currently selected.
Once you've decided on the card you want to pay with, the magnetic stripe in the back of Coin supplies the data associated with that particular card. Then you just swipe it as you would with any other credit or debit card.
You can use Coin to store details for virtually any card that has a magnetic strip, including as gift cards, loyalty cards, and membership cards. You can even use Coin in an ATM, says Coin—the company of the same name behind the device.
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