weave

My primary card is EMV and recently it was declined at my local Wal-Mart with a "ICC detected" error according to the cashier -- so I had to insert the card into the chip reader to complete transaction.

This is just going to happen more and more so if I had cloned it into a COIN card then tried to use that I would have been out of luck.

... which is how EMV is supposed to work. That magstripe is there still but if someone clones a card and tries to use it, it makes it much more difficult to actually use the thing.

kebosabi

I think a lot of card startups got shafted with EMV. Remember several years ago about the talk of Dynamics' Credit Card 2.0 that won best of show at CES?

This was supposed to be the next big thing in credit cards. It was so innovative that even Citi signed onto it as their new Citi 2G card.

But what they failed to realize were that people didn't care about blinking lights or being able to switch credit cards with one card, they cared about global interoperability and security. EMV was totally off their radar and it ended up as a dud.

In 2012, Citi quietly pulled the plug out of their Citi 2G program, it never really got out pilot mode.

Dynamics is desperately trying to revive their product by partnering with UMB Bank and trying to sell Dynamics ePlate, but I foresee that this thing too, will end up DOA because of the lack of EMV.

beachminter

I'm not an expert in EMV but it's my understanding that adding it to hardware like Coin isn't possible. Also, not going to pay for a product upfront that may or may not ship in the summer. The product seems like a security nightmare.

jacobsta811

RE: EMV
Probably not possible for a third party like Coin to do it without your bank, but I'd bet it is possible if the card company itself created the card - say the chase ultimate card that has all of your current chase cards on it. Might require a few years for components to get even smaller since the chip eats some of the space on the card.

AllieKat

No, but something similar is possible by doing what Google Wallet does. It ends up running at a loss for the company providing it, but the benefit (for Google) is in collecting people's purchase data.

AllieKat

My prediction, that by the time this was released it'd be useless at Walmart (at the least) has proved true. All Sam's Clubs and most Walmarts are EMV-enabled.

tmiw

Of course, I preordered this months ago before I knew about the whole EMV thing (probably wouldn't have if I knew).

Assuming it's released within a month or two, it'll likely be good for at least another couple of years. The EMV rollout outside of the big-box retailers is going a lot slower than expected, and I don't expect nearly enough smaller businesses to adopt it before October 2015.

AllieKat

Okay, so let's say by EOY, it doesn't work at Walmart, Sam's Club, Target and at least one of the big EMV-ready-but-not-enabled merchants like Best Buy or Barnes and Noble.

Now, let's add the places that (CORRECTLY) refuse to accept Coin because it is a counterfeit card.

Okay, it'll still work at MOST places, but it won't work at ENOUGH places that it won't thin your wallet at all. Just add another card to carry.

kingrat

EMV enabled and EMV ONLY are two different things.. Stop trying to sound like Fox news and stick to facts not opinions based on B@#%@%^

My Wal-mart still have box style tv's hanging on the walls

but at least where I live we have 4 kates and they always work

AllieKat

No, they're not different. Once EMV is enabled an EMV card (or its cloned stripe) can not be swiped.

kebosabi

No, it's not Faux News, it's based on true experiences right here on FT by FTers.

1. Many people in the US have started getting EMV cards now
2. Walmart/Sam's Club has activated their EMV terminals
3. When one tries to swipe their EMV card at Walmart/Sam's Club, it now prompts them to insert chip to complete the transaction

4. Now, if you have an EMV card
5. And you transfer the EMV card's info onto Coin
6. What will happen at Walmart/Sam's Club terminals when one tries to use Coin?

Such a concern should be worthy of being listed on Coin's FAQ, but there is nothing about this.

tmiw

A lot of places don't seem to look at the card at all before swiping, or else let you swipe the card yourself.

In any case, people will probably get EMV cards over time unless they specifically request one (usually international travelers) or if they apply for a new one. A lot of people will probably have no problems using Coin for a while. And there's still use as a vehicle for storing loyalty and gift cards, if nothing else.

takeshi74

The point was that EMV-enabled doesn't mean that magstripe-only (non-EMV) cards cannot be used with the terminal. As such, magstripe-only cards will work just fine at Walmart. EMV-only, however, does mean that magstripe only cards cannot be used with the terminal. There is a difference.

AllieKat

Fair enough, but that definition doesn't address the problem - mine did. Coin is still useless if you can't clone your EMV cards on to it and use them. Who cares if you can put the occasional magstripe card on it? Out of 9 credit cards in my wallet, that's 2. The 2 cards I use the least (Capital One and Discover).

sdsearch

Neither of those is necesarily the issue.

The issue is an EMV card that was transferred to Coin and then you try to use it at an EMV-enabled terminal. If you try to swipe an EMV card at an EMV-enabled terminal, it tells you to stop swiiping and insert the card (chip-end-first) instead. So won't an EMV card transferred to Coin cause that to happen to COinat an EMV-enabled terminal, and since Coin can't be inserted EMV-style, it'll fail at an EMV-enabled terminal?

Thus while EMV cards also have a swipe strip, that swipe strip cannot be used EMV-enabled terminals (other than to prompt you to insert). Which implies the Coin will only work with non-EMV cards (while they still exist) at EMV-enabled terminals, even though Coin should work with all card at EMV-disabled (or EMV-not-supported) terminals (while they still exist).