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Comment by huhtenberg | Hacker News Reader

These are "electronic" credit cards, they've been around for years and they are flat so not to be usable for offline processing (that's when they take an imprint, you sign it, they take the imprint to the bank and it settles in a week).

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Except that you can still use just the CC#, Name, and Expiry to authorize a purchase (both online and offline). I've done this at craft shows and such with vendors that didn't have mobile CC reader/app.

Hence why Square was invented...

> "for offline processing"

Agree, SUPER clever idea. I'm wondering how this would work to make purchases _online_. I know, I know. I'd use my real card. But it strikes me as ironic that the big idea for this digital card is that I don't have to carry my 'analog' cards around. Unless I want to make a digital purchase. Then I need my analog card.

Wouldn't you have the image of the card in your phone anyway? So, your analog card would still be in the drawer at home, just as before.

The lcd displays the CC# and the security code, all the info you would need to buy online. Don't even need to open the app! https://twitter.com/coin/statuses/401939329506746368

That's not how I read that tweet: just that it shows your name, signature and CVV. The video on their website appears to confirm that. Unless you've memorized your CC#s, you'll still have to pull out the real card when purchasing online... unless you can see the full photograph of the card in the mobile app. Which is still annoying, but at least better.

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