Randahl Fink13h ago

The central bank of Denmark, Nationalbanken, today announced its new offline payment system which means Danes will be able to pay digitally at the store — even when the internet is down.

This means both credit card payments and cellphone payments go through at the counter up to 7 days into an internet breakdown, because of a new technological solution which is being rolled out at grocery stores first.

Pharmacies will be added to the system later this year.

https://via.ritzau.dk/pressemeddelelse/14873884?lang=da&amp%3BpublisherId=13561853

7-dages offline-kortbetalingsberedskab på plads i dagligvarekæder... og snart også på apotekerne | Danmarks Nationalbank

Alle voksne danskere, der har et dansk udstedt betalingskort fra Dankort, Mastercard eller Visa kan nu betale med deres fysiske kort eller wallets på mobilen i de fleste landsdækkende dagligvarekæder i mindst en uge, selvom der sker et nedbrud i kortbetalingsinfrastrukturen, eller internettet ikke virker.

Show threadHarry Sintonen
@randahl Airplane inflight card payments have been doing this for ages. So nothing new technically as far as I can tell.
9:35amWeb
Show threadRandahl Fink10h ago
@harrysintonen in a world where Russian hackers are constantly trying to shut down essential digital infrastructure in Europe, I this is indeed both new at our stores and very, very important.
Show threadJurkis 🇱🇹10h ago
@harrysintonen @randahl We had such type of bank cards (issued by bank Snoras) in Lithuania at about 1993-2010. Then Snoras bankrupted.
Show threadHarry Sintonen9h ago
@Jurkis Note that this is on the payment system side, rather than specific card. So any card will work.
Show threadMichael Westergaard9h ago
Not any card. Danish cards. Probably mostly a regulatory thing: Danish banks consent to the risk of 7 days of outstanding payments on debit cards, but foreign banks do not.
Show threadHarry Sintonen9h ago
@michael @Jurkis Sure. Similar limitations likely apply in each country individually to limit fraud. What I meant with there was that you don't need some kind of a special card for it to work. The change applies to existing cards, that is.
Show threadMichael Westergaard9h ago
Also for debit cards? (The OP is incorrect; this is for debit cards, not credit cards.)

There's a huge difference – credit cards can work off-line as they do not need to check the account balance, but debit cards needed an internet connection to check the amount to be deducted is available.

They very likely handle debit cards the same way: by just allowing people to spend for a week without checking the balance. It used to be possible using Danish debit cards as well but was removed for security reasons (financial security, not security security).
Show threadHarry Sintonen9h ago

Sure. The same thing is coming to other nordic countries and Estonia, too. This was announced in May 2025 already. See https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/nordics-estonia-plan-offline-card-payment-back-up-if-internet-cut-2025-05-07/

Sweden rolls out their system by July 2026. https://www.riksbank.se/en-gb/press-and-published/notices-and-press-releases/press-releases/2025/offline-card-payments-should-be-possible-no-later-than-1-july-2026/

Riksbank also has a some explanation how it works: https://www.riksbank.se/en-gb/payments--cash/payment-preparedness/offline-payments/

It should be noted that this is more of a regulatory change. Technical aspects of offline payments have been in the systems since for a very long time.

Show threadCaptain Button8h ago

@michael @harrysintonen @randahl

Does this mean the system has a copy of everyone's balance, or at least balance range? Or are they just taking the risk that someone with a very low debit balance could spend money they don't have for a week?

Show threadHarry Sintonen8h ago
@cptbutton AFAIK it's a risk based system. There likely is a cap to the amount you can pay, too. Note that you only use it when the network is down, which reduces the risk of abuse significantly.
Show threadMichael Westergaard7h ago
I don't know how it works exactly, but it's almost certainly a (slightly) modernized version of this terminal which was taken out of service in 2007: dr.dk/nyheder/penge/fluesmaekkeren-sendes-paa-pension

That terminal allowed shops to accept payment from debit cards while off-line, with banks guaranteeing the transaction up to an amount (that was lower than an online cleared transaction which was only limited to your account balance – people literally buy cars with the card).

The entire thing that is happening now is that the guarantee that was decommissioned in 2007 is back.
Fluesmækkeren sendes på pension

Efter næsten 30 år på markedet går den velkendte fluesmækker nu på pension. Det sker for at styrke sikkerheden for både forretninger og forbrugere.

DR