Display Card: Credit Card of the Future?

While we’re still not quite living in a world where NFC chips allow us to swipe our phones at convenience stores, and we don’t yet have microchips with all of our ID data implanted in us, many people will soon be experiencing an upgrade in the way their credit cards function.

Mastercard has introduced the display card, a hybrid credit card and security device, to customers in Singapore and parts of Europe. It functions just like a regular credit card, but it’s got a built-in touch sensitive keypad and LCD display to allow for password protection on large transactions. In order to use the display card, you’ll have to enter an authentication code to verify your right to use the card, cutting back on the potential for fraud or theft.

Mastercard hopes the display card will soon catch on globally and eventually provide “real time information such as available credit balance, loyalty or reward points, recent transactions, and other interactive information.”

Just last year, Visa showed off their CodeSure Matrix Display Card, implemented by the same company, Nagra ID Security. It’ll be interesting to see just how much these hybrid credit cards catch on in the years to come.

NID Security via CNET

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