The death of the credit card has been talked about for quite some time now. The tech community has all but written the credit card eulogy and obituary with the digital payment trend soaring through the Covid-19 pandemic.
It seems that FinTech startup Lanistar has other ideas about the almighty credit card.
In a world-first, Lanistar has created a polymorphic payment card that bridges the gap between transaction security and a unique, personalized customer experience.
What Is The Card Meant For?
The card is obviously available to anyone that wants to use it but the Lanistar team had a very specific market in mind when putting together this ingenious product.
Lanistar entered into a partnership with MasterCard earlier this year, with the clear objective of targeting a very specific market of 18-35, also known as millennial and Generation-Z. This market now has a more specific section called the Pioneers, a section identified in Accenture’s latest Consumer Study, Discover The Patterns In Personality Report.
Here are some stats that make Pioneers an interesting target group for Lanistar:
- They are the 23% of the financial services market
- 87% say their smartphone is their principal device for transacting online
- 43% are in a high-income bracket
What’s So Special About This Card?
- It incorporates a futuristic display and a keypad, allowing users to create one-time PINs and CVV2 codes that expire after one use
- Users can add up to 8 bank cards the Lanistar card, freeze and unfreeze it via the app or on the card
- Lanistat offers payments and currency conversions in Euros, Danish Krone, Bulgarian Lev, Norwegian Krone, Polish Zloty, Hungarian Forint and more
If we could summarize it in a sentence, we can say that Lanistar is essentially sprinkling some of the Revolut and N26 magic on a physical product. It creates a world where the physical card turns from redundant to useful and exciting.
The real unique selling point for this card is that it achieves all of the aforementioned points while empowering users when it comes to security. Here’s what Gurhan Kiziloz, CEO and founder at Lanistar, had to say:
“We’ve been planning for this day for over a year now, so I’m thrilled to be releasing Lanistar to the world to change the fintech landscape and give consumers a secure and superior customer experience. This is the first step in our goal to reach a one-billion-pound valuation and break records in our space and we look forward to growing our user base ahead of our card launch in early 2021.”
Lanistar has just opened the door to a very exciting FinTech vertical. Who knows what will follow: Holograms? Cards that respond to voice commands? Only the future will tell.
Recap
This is an exciting development in an area of FinTech many were quick to write off. The credit card isn’t dead after all. If anything, it’s better, younger, fresher and …polymorphic.
Stay tuned as this is not the last we’ll hear from Lanistar and the credit card world.
