San Francisco startup Coin has launched a successful crowdfunding campaign to introduce a credit-card-sized device that scans all your credit cards and can be used in-store as a proxy swipe for any of your credit card data, without having to carry any of them.
The company had planned a pre-order campaign that would top out at $50,000, at $50 a piece pre-order price.
They blew past that goal in 40 minutes today, a testament to the desire for folks to leave their plastic at home.
The device itself is as thin as a regular credit card, enable it to fit inside credit card machines and features a raised button and a small LCD so you can see which credit card you have summoned up.
To use the card you select a payment type with the button and just swipe. The Coin card “mimics” a regular credit or gift card.
The Coin card reads your credit cards with a Square-like credit-card reader, and holds up to eight cards. The device uses low-power Bluetooth to connect to your iOS device and warn you when you’ve left the device behind, say in a restaurant after drinking too much.
Lainie Liberti is a recovering branding expert, who’s career once focused on creating campaigns for green – eco business, non-profits and conscious business. Dazzling clients with her high-energy designs for over 18 years, Lainie lent her artistic talents to businesses that matter. But that was then.
In 2008, after the economy took a turn, Lainie decided to be the change (instead of a victim) and began the process of “lifestyle redesign,” a joint decision between both her and her 11-year-old son, Miro. They sold or gave away all of of their possessions in 2009 and began a life of travel, service, and exploration. Lainie and her son Miro began their open-ended adventure backpacking through Central and South America. They are slow traveling around the globe allowing inspiration to be their compass. The pair is most interested in exploring different cultures, contributing by serving, and connecting with humanity as ‘global citizens.’
Today Lainie considers herself a digital nomad who is living a location independent life. She and her son write and podcast their experiences from the road at Raising Miro on the Road of Life.
