Offline card payments should be possible no later than 1 July 2026
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Re: Offline card payments should be possible no later than 1 July 2026
#2> The online function shall apply to physical payment cards and accompanying PIN code when purchasing essential goods such as food, medicine and fuel.
Is this a typo where they meant to say “the offline function”?
If I’m reading this right, the goal is to allow food, fuel, and medicine purchases with card + PIN in offline mode.
Seems like a reasonable goal. I wonder what the technical details will look like. Will there be a periodically updated list of cancelled cards/accounts distributed to endpoints? Even a hashed list of all cards cancelled before their expiration date within a country is a reasonable amount of data for modern storage systems.
Or would they simply rely on the ability to track down account owners by their originally registered contact info in the event that someone gets an invalid transaction through during an offline period?
Re: Offline card payments should be possible no later than 1 July 2026
#3offline key signing and broadcasting later should be a simple thing
although heavily misunderstood, this is built into cryptocurrencies since day 1 (many critics have long thought crypto requires power and internet access, many proponents also don't know otherwise)
with card networks learning from competition and functionally being public-only keys, this should be even simpler to implement
Re: Offline card payments should be possible no later than 1 July 2026
#4offline key signing and broadcasting later should be a simple thing although heavily misunderstood, this is built into cryptocurrencies since day 1 (many critics have long thought crypto requires power and internet access, many proponents also don't know otherwise) with card networks learning from competition and functionally being public-only keys, this should be even simpler to implement
Yes, but the merchant has to have a way to check for double-spending, or otherwise verify that the signed txn they have been given represents money that can be "taken to the bank".
Checking the signature on some blob that says "this be money" is not enough.
Re: Offline card payments should be possible no later than 1 July 2026
#5Some context might be useful here. I spent some time living Sweden not too long ago and Swedes practically don't use cash. It's usually not said out loud, but cash is often considered to be dirty and criminal, to the point that most don't have any at all. Digital payments are very convenient and deeply integrated, so long as you have a local ID which allows you use the local payment system Swish etc.
This worked nicely until the tensions in Europe lead to more cyberattacks rolling in and suddenly you have people not being able to buy food, medicine, and so forth. Not too long after, there was a government advisory urging people to keep some cash reserves in case a larger cyberattack happens, but cultural habits at large are hard to change. This is of course a coarse simplification of the context, but might help understand this incentive a bit better.
Re: Offline card payments should be possible no later than 1 July 2026
#61yr timeline is ambitious if it means fully deployed.
Clearly the right thing for Sweden and others to do. Also worrying that even 3yrs into the Russian invasion, bordering countries are urgently increasing their preparedness for future conflicts.
Re: Offline card payments should be possible no later than 1 July 2026
#7It's a check, they have invented checks.
Re: Offline card payments should be possible no later than 1 July 2026
#8The idea of there being some "government approved" list of things people can buy with this is horrifying and exactly why cash should continue to exist.
Re: Offline card payments should be possible no later than 1 July 2026
#9It's not about paying by cash but paying by card offline. How is this going to be implemented I wonder.
On planes they often accept credit cards even when there's no internet. I assume this is a trust in-credit-based system because they don't accept debit cards, i.e. if you are worth being trusted with a card you can have your sandwich now and we will take care of the bank processing once we are on the ground. So maybe this will be like we trust you enough with basic goods that once we get a connection things will be sorted out situation?
Re: Offline card payments should be possible no later than 1 July 2026
#10> The online function shall apply to physical payment cards and accompanying PIN code when purchasing essential goods such as food, medicine and fuel. Is this a typo where they meant to say “the offline function”? If I’m reading this right, the goal is to allow food, fuel, and medicine purchases with card + PIN in offline mode. Seems like a reasonable goal. I wonder what the technical details will look like. Will the…
> I wonder what the technical details will look like
It’s already a thing, the EMVCo standard predates ubiquitous internet connectivity. Mass transit systems typically use it, airlines used to for in-flight purchases before the advent of reliable WiFi.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMV#Offline_data_authenticat...
It is somewhat common to maintain a denylist of known fraudulent cards, but as you note the main mitigation is on the bank to track the card down. One of the key things you need to figure out with an offline payment system - and what I imagine is needed here - is a consensus on who has the liability for offline transactions and what the dollar limits are.