A Polish company has unveiled what it believes to be the world’s first “deposit” card, which allows users to receive contactless payments without requiring a card terminal. While available only in Poland for now, there are plans to offer the service internationally in the near future.
Zrzutka, which is Poland’s leading crowdfunding service, describes its new card (karta wpłatnicza, meaning “deposit card”, a play on karta płatnicza meaning “payment card”) as a “mini-terminal” in itself.
To receive a payment, the card is held near a smartphone, which will detect it and offer a selection of contactless payment options. The process can be activated either through Near-Field Communication (NFC) technology or by scanning the QR code on the card.
The service is aimed in particular at small business owners – such as handymen – but also private customers who can use the card to, for example, quickly split a bill with friends. It can also be used by workers to receive tips for services.
“According to our knowledge and research, there is no similar product in the world yet,” Dorian Turkiewicz from Zrzutka told Notes from Poland. “So far they have been ordered by private persons who wanted to settle accounts with their friends, as well as by various foundations and business owners.”
Zrzutka is the only crowdfunding platform in Poland licensed as a national payment institution by Poland’s Financial Supervision Authority (KNF), which allows it to provide the payment card service.
No commission is charged for each payment. However, the card itself costs 29.94 zloty (roughly €6.50), and there is also a monthly subscription of 4.99 zloty (just over €1) following a free period of six months.
For now, the cards will only be available to residents of Poland. However, Zrzutka plans to launch an international version of its core portal for money collections by the end of the year, which will pave the way for all eurozone residents to access the new cards.
Turkiewicz, however, notes that the pandemic may have suppressed some of the potential demand since the professions targeted for the product – such as handymen, beauticians or hairdressers – have “severely limited business activity” as a result of coronavirus restrictions.
However, Zrzutka, which is Poland’s largest crowdfunding company on the Polish crowdfunding market, has seen its core business boom during the pandemic. Poland’s crowdfunding market is expected to almost double between 2020 and this year, reaching 2.03 billion zloty (€433 million), reported Wprost.
In 2020, Zrzutka registered almost 2.7 million payments, which was 89% more than in 2019. The total value of last year’s transactions reached 192 million zloty (€41.5 million) and the firm expects that figure to double this year.
Main image credit: Zrzutka.pl
Maria Wilczek is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She is a regular writer for The Times, The Economist and Al Jazeera English, and has also featured in Foreign Policy, Politico Europe, The Spectator and Gazeta Wyborcza.
