Maybe more difficult for the NSA/FBI, but sounds like a scammer's dream. If these "minitowers" become inexpensive, performing a man-in-the-middle attack should be way more easy.
Would be interesting to know security details around LTE, or are they as closed (and probably fragile) as GSM once was?
You have some core principles which make sense in a specific context. You have a book based on these principles but with a good dose of word salad to make it look more powerful. You have preachers hammering it into your head. And you have common people getting brainwashed by something that originally was a good idea, but has been perverted into something that hopefully doesn't damage more than it does good.
I have two cards: One debit (combined BankAxept and Visa - yes, it is already perfectly possible to have multiple cards on one chip, and it's quite common) and one credit card. All other things I need once a year I never carry around, because the only times I need them it is planned for.
Now the super bonus with Coin is that not only can it store up to eight cards on its magnetic track, but you can change which cards using bluetooth. Which means you have to upload all your cards, manage them with Yet Another App and upload them to the card which seems to require a battery. I don't think this will ever pan out, first simply because it lacks usability. It's too cumbersome to have to deal with this, and most people only have a couple of cards they use on a regular basis.
Second, it's not uncommon for the payment terminal to default to one of the cards (this is configurable, so depends on whomever set up the terminal), meaning you can't necessarily switch seamlessly between whichever credit card gives the most kickback in a given store without using The App.
Third, as others have noted, chip is the norm here in Europe and I can't remember the last time I used the magstripe (many years ago, at least). A magstripe is simple technology, not encrypted and readable by any USB dongle you can get from eBay for $5 - a chip is not. You have a whole stack of encryption layers, proprietary protocols etc. Coin would have to make their own IC which would need to communicate with a bunch of different protocols, and the only way to do this would be as a member of the Chapel of Trinity - if they can pay up and are accepted, which seems unlikely. Add to that extremely thorough testing, certifications etc.. and the business case starts to look pretty slim.
But hey, the idea's nice.
Disclaimer: I've worked with integrating payment terminals to POS systems (which is actually pretty low level. And trust me, even as a high priest with a "manual", it ain't pretty:))
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Maybe more difficult for the NSA/FBI, but sounds like a scammer's dream. If these "minitowers" become inexpensive, performing a man-in-the-middle attack should be way more easy. Would be interesting to know security details around LTE, or are they as closed (and probably fragile) as GSM once was?
You have some core principles which make sense in a specific context. You have a book based on these principles but with a good dose of word salad to make it look more powerful. You have preachers hammering it into your head. And you have common people getting brainwashed by something that originally was a good idea, but has been perverted into something that hopefully doesn't damage more than it does good.
Oh, and then there's the Enterprise.
Now what could we possibly have done in such a short time, should it have been heading directly towards us?
I have two cards: One debit (combined BankAxept and Visa - yes, it is already perfectly possible to have multiple cards on one chip, and it's quite common) and one credit card. All other things I need once a year I never carry around, because the only times I need them it is planned for.
Now the super bonus with Coin is that not only can it store up to eight cards on its magnetic track, but you can change which cards using bluetooth. Which means you have to upload all your cards, manage them with Yet Another App and upload them to the card which seems to require a battery. I don't think this will ever pan out, first simply because it lacks usability. It's too cumbersome to have to deal with this, and most people only have a couple of cards they use on a regular basis.
Second, it's not uncommon for the payment terminal to default to one of the cards (this is configurable, so depends on whomever set up the terminal), meaning you can't necessarily switch seamlessly between whichever credit card gives the most kickback in a given store without using The App.
Third, as others have noted, chip is the norm here in Europe and I can't remember the last time I used the magstripe (many years ago, at least). A magstripe is simple technology, not encrypted and readable by any USB dongle you can get from eBay for $5 - a chip is not. You have a whole stack of encryption layers, proprietary protocols etc. Coin would have to make their own IC which would need to communicate with a bunch of different protocols, and the only way to do this would be as a member of the Chapel of Trinity - if they can pay up and are accepted, which seems unlikely. Add to that extremely thorough testing, certifications etc.. and the business case starts to look pretty slim.
But hey, the idea's nice.
Disclaimer: I've worked with integrating payment terminals to POS systems (which is actually pretty low level. And trust me, even as a high priest with a "manual", it ain't pretty :))