Dynamics Card 2.0 MultiAccount

The worst part about getting your credit card declined? Reaching back into your wallet to find one that works. Embarrassing! The Dynamics Card 2.0 MultiAccount feature solves that by putting two different accounts on the same piece of plastic.

Card 2.0, shown off today for the first time, features a programmable magnetic stripe that can handle apps like MultiAccount or Hidden, which conceals the number on the front of your card and protects it with a PIN number. After a period of non-use, your number disappears again and the Electronic Stripe erases any recent transaction information.

MultiAccount™: The device includes two buttons on the face of a card. Next to each button is a printed account number and a light source. A user can select an account by pressing one of the buttons. The card visually indicates the selection by turning ON the light source associated with the selected account. Additionally, the magnetic-stripe information associated with the selected account is written to the Electronic Stripe™. The card can then be swiped at any magnetic stripe reader.

Hidden™: The device includes five buttons on the face of a card and a paper-thin flexible display. The display hides a portion of a cardholder’s payment card number. To turn the device ON, a user must enter a personal unlocking code into the card. If the user enters in the correct unlocking code, the card will then visually display the user’s payment card number so that the user can read the number for online transactions. The Electronic Stripe™ is then populated with the correct magnetic information so that the card can also be used with magnetic stripe readers. After a period of time, the display turns OFF and the Electronic Stripe™ erases itself – thus removing all critical payment information from the surface of the card. If the card is lost or stolen, the card is essentially useless.

These are neat tricks, but it’s hard to say if and when we’ll ever see them in a mass production stage. What Dynamics is showing off is a concept that the big credit card purveyors may or may not embrace. And whether or not they’re willing to sink considerable tech money into a system that’s worked just fine for the last thirty years or is an open question. Then again, more accounts on the same card means more chances to spend, spend, spend!

Via Gizmodo