Randahl Fink1d 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 Sintonen1d ago
@randahl Airplane inflight card payments have been doing this for ages. So nothing new technically as far as I can tell.
Show threadMichael Westergaard1d 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 threadCaptain Button

@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?

Apr 13 at 12:59pmWeb
Show threadHarry Sintonen1d 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 Westergaard1d 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