Meet Coin (YC W13), a startup creating a universal credit card

This product is overly restricting it's market, I feel, since in Europe EMV (or "chip and PIN" as it's known in the UK) is ubiquitous. Payments worldwide are moving over to this system from magnetic strip cards, so I fear that this (useful) product has been invented too late once the tech it relies on is already speedily in decline!

I imagine, due to how the cryptography works, it might not be as simple to create a product like this for chipped cards.

Re: Meet Coin (YC W13), a startup creating a universal credit card

#6

Post by jqueryin » Thu, Nov 14, 2013, 5:35 PM UTC

This is potentially useful for the US market as chip/pin is very new to us and only recently rolled out via major banks this year (I literally just got my new Visa card with a chip). I can see how Europe is far ahead of the curve.

My initial questions/concerns are as follows:

Will this be usable in ATMs? I can't visibly tell if it's too wide to fit.

Is there any planned security functionality to lock the card via your paired mobile device? I'd like to be able to supply a password to unlock for a short period of time for usage.

Re: Meet Coin (YC W13), a startup creating a universal credit card

#7

Post by mikelbring » Thu, Nov 14, 2013, 5:36 PM UTC

sjtgraham wrote: post #2

Ships 2014, EMV liability shift 2015. So these are good for about a year or so.

What does that mean? EMV liability shift?

Re: Meet Coin (YC W13), a startup creating a universal credit card

#8

Post by michaelmior » Thu, Nov 14, 2013, 5:38 PM UTC

I think one of the hardest things about having one would be convincing retailers you're not trying to somehow scam them. Especially in the case of loyalty cards. Sure I CAN load my card onto the Coin, but what is a merchant going to do when I pass them something strange that looks nothing like their card?

Re: Meet Coin (YC W13), a startup creating a universal credit card

#9

Post by throwaway98604 » Thu, Nov 14, 2013, 5:38 PM UTC

I can actually see myself using this. There are times where certain stores have these promotions where I can buy a $30 gift card for $20, but I never bother doing it because I know that I will probably leave the gift card at home the time I come back. I also like the automatic locking feature as well when it loses the bluetooth connection with your phone.

Another benefit I see is that it doesn't actually have the credit/debit numbers printed on the card, so nobody could take a picture of your card and use it to fraudulently purchase things online.

This + Simple would be perfect.

Re: Meet Coin (YC W13), a startup creating a universal credit card

#10

Post by ryanbrunner » Thu, Nov 14, 2013, 5:38 PM UTC

mikelbring wrote: post #7

sjtgraham wrote: post #2

Ships 2014, EMV liability shift 2015. So these are good for about a year or so.

What does that mean? EMV liability shift?

It means that as of 2015, merchants in the US who accept magstripe (as opposed to chip and pin) are responsible for any fraud that occurs when the payment was made with magstripe.

Even if US retailers were accepting magstripe and taking on the risk, I doubt they would accept a sketchy-looking unlabelled card.