One year after exploding on the scene, it looks like Coin, the YC-backed startup that wants to replace all your bank cards with a universal card, is finally shipping its product to some early backers after a long, long wait. The company previously said shipments would begin this summer. It is now the middle of November.
Coin has not made a public announcement or statement at this point, but we picked up on a couple of revealing details on Twitter, which show that some backers have received order tracking numbers, while at least one had his card arrive already.
We’ve contacted Coin to ask for more details.
Update: Coin representatives did not respond for comment, but a customer support agent confirmed that the product is shipping.
Good news, Coin has started shipping to US Backers! At this point in time, I do not know when anyone will receive theirs as everyone is sent a personal tracking number through their email, and the shipment depends on when they ordered.
We do know that some people have already received theirs, and we couldn’t be happier! Please let us know if you have additional questions or concerns as we are always happy to help.
Going on the @Coin tweets, it appears that a selection of lucky (or perhaps chosen) few are at the front of the queue, which suggests that other beta customers who paid $55 for the card — many of whom have become disillusioned by the wait — will get theirs soon.
That won’t apply to those located outside of the U.S., however. The company has told international customers that its timeframe for addressing them is “Spring 2015” — though we don’t know if that date will only apply to a selection of international countries, or all users who are overseas in one go.
If you’ve not heard about or seen the credit card replacement — which lets you switch between cards, and syncs with your smartphone for security — then you’ll want to revisit the demo that Coin CEO and co-founder Kanishk Parasha showed off at TechCrunch Disrupt New York earlier this year.
In addition to passing through Y Combinator’s hallowed halls, Coin has raised over $15 million in funding from investors. It started out as a project that blew past its $50,000 pre-order target within just 40 minutes, and it has bags of potential for changing the way that we pay and store our precious cards. That said, Apple has introduced its own payment service, while eBay is spinning out PayPal and Square has realigned its focus — payments is a hotly contested space today, and Coin needs to get out of the blocks quicker than ever before.
We’re still waiting to hear back from Coin at the time of writing, but we’ll update this story as soon as we learn more.
Hat tip @jason