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Comment by lmg643 | Hacker News Reader

I think Coin is going to be wildly successful.

I was looking at my wallet the other day, and wondering why i can't slim it down even further to carry one digital card instead of multiple. i even thought it would make a good startup. and here we are.

the only drawback in my mind's eye regarding coin as a business is that there will be no reason to have "swipes" anymore if you can just scan a smartphone, as with the starbucks card.

however, the widespread use of scan technology is years away, whereas the swipe is ubiquitous now.

ergo, IMHO, coin will be a success if they can execute on the product.

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But how many of the cards in your wallet could be replaced by Coin? For me it's maybe three. If it can't replace nearly all of them it seems pretty pointless to me - I'm still going to be carrying my wallet, it'll just have two fewer cards in it.

Yay? In any case, it does seem odd to build a business around something that is virtually guaranteed to be extinct in a few years time.

What about bars? A lot of bars I go to hold onto your card until you tab out. I'd hate to keep getting notifications about losing my card every time I'm out on the town. When you go back up to the bar, they ask what your name is to tab out. I didn't see anything on the Coin to do that. I also wouldn't want the bartender to press the button and change to a business account or something similar.

I'm not being a hater, this is just an occurrence where this might not work well. I still think it's an awesome idea though, and I'd like to get one.

Wow! Is that common in the US? I've never seen that here in EU. And I go to bars A LOT!

I'm pretty sure every bar in the US does it. That said I go to bars all the time and rarely open a tab.

Isn't that actually an amazing feature though? Low energy bluetooth can give you a decent range (and some range detection). Wouldn't it be great to tell it to notify you only when you leave a larger radius. Unless you're in a GIANT bar, it could actually help keep you from leaving your card behind accidentally.

Yeah I guess part of it is a good feature, depending on if it lets you do this. But that's still in cahoots with the other "bugs" if you will stopping it from actually being useful in this scenario.

I've been to a bar recently where they didn't have to hold my card to keep a tab open. So much more convenient!

We are all deeply moved by the future of bar tabs not holding credit cards :)

In all seriousness, most bars hold a CC and ID for a tab.

I don't think I've ever been in a bar that held my ID, just my CC.

Yeah they always go both ways here - I guess too many people run off without signing in some bars.

No, that's the point... they held a tab by swiping my card up front, and then didn't need it to close out. They still could have charged it if I ran off.

It's probably like a gas station authorizes your card for a certain amount before pumping, but then actually charges the specific amount you pumped at the end.

Very good point.

Add another item to the list of problems.

My problem is that I tend to wear out card before I get a replacement. For example, my debit card currently requires 3-4 swipes to get it to work. I'd probably keep a backup card in my wallet if I decided to get Coin, just in case, but really like this idea.

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