Tangem will launch a self-custody payment card in conjunction with VISA, the financial services network that facilitates electronic transfers and operates in more than 200 countries.
According to Michael Butaev, head of the payments division at Tangem Wallet, the technology used is one that allows “creating a true self-custody card without having to trust your crypto assets to anyone else.” He said this in an AMA held by Visa and Tangem. Consequently, this card will work differently than conventional ones, which allow you to pay with the balance of your bank account, which is held externally.
Butaev says that this technology allows you to “be the sole owner of your assets.” He also comments:
In case some disaster happens, you shouldn’t be in the situation where you lose your money, where you lose access to your cryptocurrencies. This is designed to meet the high security standards that we set for ourselves, and it turns out that the card with its technology is like a bank in your pocket, so you can use it anywhere.
Michael Butaev, Head of Payments Division at Tangem Wallet.
As reported by CriptoNoticias, Tangem Wallet is a hardware wallet in the form of a card that comes in pairs or triads when purchased. These extra cards serve as a backup in case the main card is lost.
The backup cards are associated with each other in a manner that they all have access to the same account with the same funds. These physical wallets work without a seed (seedless); Instead, they use NFC technology and employ biometric authentication to enter.
How does the Tangem Pay VISA card work?
According to the executive, Tangem Pay will come with a multi-chain and multi-currency wallet, and with a built-in VISA application. Therefore, it is possible that these Pay cards can be requested with their proper backups in case of loss of the main wallet. Especially taking into account that it is a new product designed for new users, although it is inferred from what was said in the AMA that old ones will be able to connect their pre-existing wallet to the card.
The original idea is to give all the people who stored their funds in the crypto world the ability to connect the card with a Visa app inside, with a Tangem wallet inside, and make cryptocurrencies available around the world.
Michael Butaev, Head of Payments Division at Tangem Wallet.
Tangem Pay and its internal wallet are also likely to inherit the same infrastructure as the physical wallets, which operate using Polygon Technologies’ payment onramp.
An interesting feature of the Tangem card is that, according to Butaev, making a payment with it at a point of sale lasts as long as paying with a traditional debit card. The curious thing about this is that a payment with Tangem Pay must be confirmed on a blockchain, which takes longer, when a traditional card does not need it. “We must ensure that, in different scenarios, this card will support the transaction in a fluid way,” Butaev said.
The card interacts with the terminal and during the transaction cycle, in a matter of milliseconds, there is important information to sign the transaction. The blockchain will be added to the transaction directly at the POS terminal. And then this data will be used to validate your transaction and in a second, secure the response based on the information obtained from the terminal and the card.
Michael Butaev, Tangem Wallet.
The process by which payments are confirmed involving the blockchain is not made very clear in the AMA held between Tangem and Visa. However, the division leader assures that the goodness of this card lies in the fact that It does not require confirming the transaction in advance or surrounding the public ledger of the chain. It will happen entirely on the network, Butaev implies.
According to Maike Hornung, Head of Cryptocurrency Strategy in Europe, VISA is “exploring and supporting novel approaches like Tangem, where we see VISA credentials being used for new payment experiences or to help consumers spend their digital crypto assets in a seamless way.”
Self-custody payment cards are becoming popular
Interest in these payment solutions has grown in recent months. An example of this is is the Mastercard card launched by Mercuryo for Europe called Spend, fact reported by CriptoNoticias. As a way to ensure self-custody, the card is, like Tangem’s, associated with a private wallet.
As these cards can only be recharged or used with the crypto-asset balance stored within the wallet that is associated with the plastic, Access to this wallet is essential to spend with it.
Users should note that Mercuryo’s Spend card requires an identity verification process to apply for it. It remains to be seen whether Tangem’s wallet requires the same. Probably yes, as it is a collaboration with VISA that required going through a certification and compliance process.
Despite the ease of payment, this KYC process for using the card has some drawbacks. While card payments are beginning to value self-custody, the same has not yet been seen in regards to anonymity and privacy.
Creating a bitcoin and cryptocurrency wallet does not require revealing virtually any personal data; however, The companies that issue these debit cards if they request them and store themwhich could potentially negate the original anonymity of cryptocurrency wallets.
