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Sprint reveals first self-charging digital payment card

Sprint reveals first self-charging digital payment card

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It can download different card profiles and modify its magnetic strip

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Sprint, partnering with Dynamics Inc., has come up with a battery-powered payment card. The card functions as a debit, credit, prepaid, multi-currency, or loyalty card, depending on the user’s preference.

The card is the same size and shape as a normal credit card, but it has almost 200 internal parts including a cellphone chip and antenna, a battery and organic recharging chip for self-charging, a programmable magnetic strip, EMV chip, and contactless chip. Card profiles can be downloaded onto the card, and the card’s magnetic strip, EMV, and contactless chip can be programmed with the new data. The card has a 65,000-pixel display and UI, so a user can switch between different cards and screens.

The card is called a Wallet Card and Sprint promises that it has several perks a regular credit card doesn’t have. Since the Wallet Card is a digital card, banks can distribute the card anywhere at any time, and users can activate it at once. In the same vein, the card can be replaced by a courier within hours.

Messages can be sent to the Wallet Card directly to tell a user about a transaction, to receive coupons, or to check if a purchase is suspicious and fraudulent. In the event a purchase is suspicious, a user can click “not me” to set a fraud alert and get a new card number issued.

If a data breach happens, the bank can instantly delete the account number and replace it with a new card and account number. Usually, banks react pretty quickly to data breaches, so it’s unclear exactly how much faster Sprint’s card would be.

Although the card was announced today, it’s up to the partnered banks — Emirates NBD, Japan’s Sumitomo, Canada’s CIBC, and India’s IndusInd — when the card will actually become commercially available. A Dynamics spokesperson said the card would be issued to bank customers hopefully later this year.