Tl;dr - You may have heard of Swipe and their token or their wallet, but did you know that they offer a crypto-linked Visa debit card that works with two of the top contactless payment services?

I've previously written about the benefits of contactless payments, and since then the supermarket checkout and similar points-of-sale have been identified as the 'most dangerous place' to be while shopping.   This has now become part of the recommended practices publicized by the CDC.  You may have previously been unwilling to make the fuss over using a payment method some cashiers may not have a lot of experience with, but rest assured, it's more and more visible (and worth the trouble). 

What if we could piggyback crypto payments on to this suddenly more common experience?  Indeed, the inability to pay at the point of sale with cryptocurrency has presented another hurdle for some consumers - particularly some who might be here among us on Publish0x .  The idea of telling someone who doesn't know that crypto is actually currency is deterrent enough for some people, never mind the need to make conversions.  Today I learned of an offering that is looking to bridge that gap without a whole new payments system (remember Flip and FitPay?), and it looks pretty interesting.   

Swipe has had their wallet app out there, but recently were approved as a Visa Service Provider in order to offer their linked Swipe Card.   Their whitepaper gets into the specifics of how their Swipe Token (SXP) ties in, and that's for another article, but the key part is the Swipe Card features:

• Security settings
• Real time history
• ATM PIN access
• On-demand conversion
• Virtual & physical debit cards
• Digital Wallet compatible (Google & Samsung Pay)

Yes, all that other stuff is cool and useful, but On-demand conversion + Digital Wallet compatibility kind of make this a big deal.   Think about it this way: when you use your contactless payment service at the checkout, the cashier never sees your card or has any idea where the money is coming from.  If the conversion happens automatically and on-demand, the biggest stumbling block is still getting the cashier who knows how Google Pay or Samsung Pay works...or t.  If all else fails, you have a physical Visa card and can still use crypto, albeit a little less safely.

These two features when put together should make the process of paying for goods and services with your cryptocurrency a smoother, quicker process (and most importantly, one that is less risky for your health).  I'm looking forward to seeing how this unfolds.