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"It is the mark of a good action that it appears inevitable in retrospect" -Robert Louis StevensonThe Long Journey Of Apple PayInvented in the early days of 1960, the magnetic stripe payment card was almost and accidental invention with a very colorful history. It was never even conceived in the original form to do more then open a locked door. The technology was adapted and adopted along the way. On September 9th, 2014 a baton was passed from the reliable magnetic stripe payment card on to the next generation and history will record that the company that went about creating the first widely adopted and useful system will be Apple and it will be called Apple Pay.There will be a great deal written and to be said about Apple Pay. Many even astute experts will assume that Apple just took a year or so to build this new payment system. The truth be told it was a very long odyssey that spans almost a decade. It is also a masterful act of negotiation on Apple’s part to not “disrupt”, but to work with and not against all parties in the payment system ecosystem.Yes, it has been a very long journey for Apple and payments. This journey started just a few months after the first iPhone 1 was announced. Apple took a slow and methodical approach to what will become a central feature of iOS devices moving forward. The first patent applications that were directly related to payments began to appear in 2008, they just did not seem obvious on to just a few weeks ago [1]. One could even go to the days before Apple released the iPhone and see the foundation being constructed for finger print scanners and other security systems.Apple knew very early on that to have a mobile wallet it has to be highly secured. The results was TouchID and this was primarily established with the purchase of AuthenTec [2]. The security was also extended into the very processor of the iOS device, the ARM processor. This was achieved through the use of the TrustZone/SecurCore [3] ARM developed specifically to secure financial data. Apple took this framework and made it the foundation of the Secure Enclave.Payment Card Breaches Changed EverythingThe Target payment card breach was a huge turning point in the payment card industry. Up to this point all parties of the payments ecosystem had very little motivation to change the way they processed payment cards. The 1970’s era magnetic stripe was the primary system used in the US with dozens of startups for the last two decades spending billions of dollars to try to “disrupt” this system, all to no avail. But the Target breach was different, it was a huge number of cards, stolen from a top 5 retailer and it was getting the attention of government regulators. Thus in January 10th 2014 I asserted that the payment card companies would begin to support new technology that would assure the highest level of security [3]. I presented it this way:“Apple’s Secure Enclave And Touch ID, Movie EntranceLike the perfect set up in a movie, Apple has arrived with a fully encrypted wallet called the iPhone. The new iPhones use the Secure Enclave, iCloud Keychain and Touch ID to make the iPhone and Apple’s forthcoming iWallet a rather robust answer to many of these problems. By the end of 2014, we will see the almost decade of planning Apple did to become the first true, useful and secure mobile wallet.”- January, 2014EMV Comes To America, But Is It A Better Way To Pay?This set the stage for a largest shift of payment card terminals in history. Visa and MasterCard proposed the EMV [5] standard used in other parts of the world to become the replacement of the magnetic stripe of the payment card. The difference in the US is that PIN numbers would not be required. Hidden in the most recent EMV standards is a system called Wireless EMV. Wireless EMV is NFC by any other name with some extensions. For sanity I will mean both NFC and Wireless EMV went addressing this method. The shift first took place at the largest retailers in the US in 2013 and is taking place today. For a vast majority of merchants in the US these upgrades will be free or very low cost. In just about every new payment card terminal deployed in the US of course EMV is a key part of the device however most include NFC. The reasons are simple but also complex. EMV is slower then swiping a card in just about all studies. But it get worse, EMV in the most secure mode requires a PIN number and this can add over 45 seconds to a transaction that formerly took place in seconds.There are other issues with EMV, it does nothing to address the foundation cause of the Target breach. The EMV system does not encrypt data after it leaves the card and is introduced into the merchant’s payment system. The only way this can change is through end to end encryption and tokenization. This means that the payment card data is encrypted through the entire payment system rendering any hack to the system useless. Thus EMV did not present a satisfactory solution to what was the real issue with the massive payment card data breaches.Apple developed an elegant solution. By securing a payment card in the iOS device inside the Secure Element and passing the payment card in an encrypted manner, three massive issues of retail payments are resolved:Payment cards are always securedPayment card date is always currentPayment card transactions will be faster then card swipesApple Pay: The Patents Just Stacked UpIt was certain, based on over 50 patents and patent applications [1] that Apple would apply NFC [6] technology as the foundation of the retail payments system. However the first step was to negotiate a way that the Secure Element, controlled by the cellular carriers could be replaced by the Apple Pay system. This allowed Apple and not the carriers to control the destiny of the of Apple Pay. This method was granted and endorsed by Visa and MasterCard and is called Host Card Emulation [7] and Tokenization. These systems form the foundation of the way Apple Pay operates. This system was originally just related to NFC but Apple has extend it’s use cases for App purchases.Apple was masterful in the way they negotiated with every element of the existing payments ecosystem. In the same manner Apple negotiated with the record companies, the movie industry, the TV industry, the book industry (not so well done), the cellular providers, the auto industry and home automation companies. Apple had to work with:Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, UnionPayThe top BanksThe top processorsThe top payment card merchant service companiesThe top payment card terminal manufacturesThe top retailersThe top App developersThe Points Apple Highlighted:How Does Apple Pay Load A Payment Card?The loading of a payment card is simple. You can associate your payment card on file at iTunes or you just take a picture of the card and will be encrypted into the secure element. Apple will verify that your card is valid and you are the authorized user. At this point 85% of US payment cards are compatible with the Host Card Emulation/Secure Element Apple is using. More will come soon.How Apple Pay Works At Retail StoresFrom the perspective of the user: you enter into a retail store that has the upgraded Apple Pay’s NFC systems, this is a trivial upgrade for just about any merchant and will cost very little or zero. Thus to complete a purchase on the iPhone 6:Shop for your purchaseGo to the checkoutTake out your iPhone and wave it past the NFC readerConfirm the default card in the Passbook screen or select another cardPress your finger on TouchIDThe payment is completeThe transaction is completed instantly, with a receipt inserted into Passbook. This will be many orders of magnitude faster then handing over a payment card or in the future having to use the EMV customer facing terminal. The Apple Watch will have a Passbook app and some payment card choices, however there will not be TouchId, it will use unique biometrics to verify the user. To the consumer Apple Pay offers:Security: The card is a one time use card and can never be stolenSpeed: There is little effort to wave an Apple Watch or iPhone past the payment card terminal.Efficiency: By holding all your payment cards and reward cards on one device, your wallet will be smallerFrom the merchant’s perspective: the transaction is routed through the traditional payment systems and requires no new contracts or relationships, it all just works. The payment is considered “card present” [9]. This is important since all other mobile wallet transactions would have cost the merchant more money once the artificial subsidy payment startups used became unprofitable. Thus all the merchant needs to do is to have the NFC upgrade. To the merchant Apple Pay offers:Security: They are not at all liable for any payment card data stolenSpeed: The lines will move faster because there is less delayEfficiency: They will not need, nor are they allowed to ask for an IDFrom Apple’s perspective: Apple gets to become a useful service holding payment cards in the most secure system thus far established for a mobile wallet. This will make Apple the center of the universe for payment innovation and allow for far deeper uses cases in the future.How Apple Pay Works Inside AppsThe other aspect of Apple Pay is inside of Apps. Apple has created an API that allows merchants to receive a one time use payment card number in a very secure manner and also pass on demographic information with permission, including address. Thus with a single touch Apple will complete a transaction and allow you to move on. Stripe has been a valuable Apple partner and was granted early access to the Apple Pay system. The results are Stripe has created a beautiful and elegant API that allows App developers fast and easy access to Apple Pay.Apple did not stop there, they are opening up this API to all developers and payment gateways and I predict it will be the dominate way to pay inside of Apps.In the example case of a Target app transaction a consumer just shops as normal. When they are ready to check out, the cardholder just needs to presses TouchID to complete the transaction.In the case of OpenTable, Apple Pay allows for the payment of the meal with a simple press on TouchID. No need to present any payment card after the meal.Apple: A Payments FacilitatorThe pure brilliance here is Apple does not require a merchant to change merchant account providers and the existing systems work as they always did. This is in radical contrast to the "disruption" model that just about every payment startup used. Apple’s path to work with, rather then against all parts of the payments infrastructure is the only reason even a company of Apple’s size was successful. If Apple approached this all with the idea they wanted “to own both sides of the transaction” like most payment companies, they would have met with high resistance.Apple does not process any payments, Apple does not issue any payment cards, Apple will be a facilitator to the existing system and in the process improve it and change it in a remarkable way. Apple will securely holds the payment card, tokenizes it and use various technologies to pass it on safely during a transaction.It all started with the announcement of the iPhone 5s when Apple first held meetings with banks and Visa and MasterCard. They wanted to present a new method for mobile payments that was far more secure then any method in history. They also wanted to request a wholesale cost for these transactions to be lower. Finally they asked for a rebate, a sharing in the card issuing bank's profits for creating this method.All of this was a monumental task because Apple needed to gain approval by numerous participants. They had to convince the card issuing banks that for many reasons it was in their best interest to support Apple's new methods. Most do not understand that about 85% of fees that merchants pay will go right back to the card holder's payment card issuing bank. Apple had to get the top 10 banks to agree to earn less money and offer Apple a portion for the value they offer. Apple also had to convince Visa and MasterCard, but that was the easy part. For all this work Apple will receive a portion of the Interchange Fees from the payment card companies and thus neither the merchant nor the consumer pays more for using Apple Pay.Apple receives revenue from the card issuing bank’s Interchange Fees. Merchants and consumers do not see any increase. Merchants can choose any provider.Just The Beginning, There Is More Coming For Apple PayThe Apple Pay we see today on September 9th, 2014 is not the Apple Pay we will see in a year or more. Apple Pay is like the iPhone 1 and is just the first step of a much larger journey for Apple and payments. I am certain that the desire to not try to cause merchants to change merchant account relationships and retailers not to change the systems or processes they have built, will be the foundation to the success. We will see Apple present new extensions that will use far more refined and richer experiences as Apple begins to integrate the back end of retailer’s POS systems. This will include data sent to the Apple Pay user based on the transaction inside of a real and effective receipt system.We will also see the introduction of iBeacons when used with Apple Pay. This will be a huge next step for Apple Pay and will move a huge step forward for Apple Pay 2.To be successful, Apple Pay needed the widest acceptance at the widest number of merchants and I am 100% certain, this was the best path on this long Apple Pay journey. Wait till you see whats up next!It Just Works: Apple Pay MagicFrom the perspective of the typical iPhone or Apple Watch user, they will experience what many will see as Apple Magic. It will all just work with even less asked of you then prior payment methods include just swiping a payment card. When Apple gets done adding even more rich features and layers, it will be hard for most people to want to use any other method. Apple Pay I think, will become as exclusive to the new iOS devices as the Apple white headphones were to the iPod and later the iPhone 1. This will stand out as a clear sign that you are a new Apple iWallet user. There will of course be a prestige and status element attached to this all, and that is no accident. We will see this interesting and dramatic way to pay become almost iconic over the next few months.I have always said that with mobile wallets, we will all vote with our wallets, literally. We needed the reason, the premise to want to use any new way to pay. I think Apple Pay is the first system to be worthy of creating a true evolution in payments. With Apple Pay, Apple will have forever changed the way pay for goods and services. There will be less and less reasons to present your payment card. Your iOS device will take care of it all and it will just work.An Amazing JourneyI think history will record that Apple Pay was the largest advance in payments since the invention of the magnetic stripe payment card. We have come so very far since Dothea Perry accidently invented the modern payment card in the early 1960s while ironing her husband's crisp white IBM shirts [10]. How far we have journeyed since that evening in 1960.Specimen of the first payment card from IBM.____[1] (From 2010-2014)Apple’s iWallet And Retail Payments Plans Have Been Exposed In A New Patent.,Brian Roemmele’s answer to Is NFC dead or is it just starting to get traction?,Brian Roemmele’s answer to Does Apple have patents that may point to the iWallet and new Passbook features?,Brian Roemmele’s answer to Why does the iPhone 4S lack NFC support?,Brian Roemmele's answer to Online Payment Gateways and Processing: With the rise of digital wallets, what are the implications to "Card Present" vs. “Card Not Present” transactions/trends/policy?,Startup Payment Disruption Has Left The Building. Now Apple Is Ready To Lead The Revolution. by Brian Roemmele on Accepting Payments,The Great NFC Debate Has Ended.,How An Android Secure Element Replacement Is Really An Apple iWallet Story.,Massive Change: MasterCard, Visa and American Express Propose New Global Standard to Make Online and Mobile Shopping Simpler.,The Apple iWallet Patent Is GrantedThe Blueprint For The Next Decade Of Payments Just Arrived.[2] Brian Roemmele’s answer to Why did Apple buy AuthenTec?,[3] Brian Roemmele's answer to What is Apple’s new Secure Enclave and why is it important?[4] How The Payment Card Breach At Target Will Change Everything.[5] EMV[6] Near field communication[7] Google Wallet[8] Host card emulation[9] 1-Click In Any App: ApplePay Will Change How Apps Receive Your Payment Information.[10] Brian Roemmele's answer to When was the first credit card with a magnetic stripe issued?

I had this happen once while I was traveling. I told them the card was good, they said they had tried running it 3 times all were declined. It is a little bit embarrassing but if all is correct with your account except the card being declined relax, do not even bother pulling out another card.I asked to use their phone (I only have a home phone), they let me and I called my bank. They had placed a hold on the card do to possible credit fraud. I was able to identify myself using pass codes and passwords as well as account information. They then asked how long I would be traveling, I indicated I did not know as my father was dying and I would be staying until he passed. They removed the hold and told me to wait about 10 minutes before trying the card again.We waited the specified time, the card then was processed successfully.I have actually had this happen on a number of occasions. Some have surprised me like when I was getting motorcycle repairs. It was taking a while and I made a purchase inside the dealership (challenge coin) and went to a restaurant up the road in walking distance for breakfast/lunch. When I tried to pay for the repairs the card was declined. I called it was because one it was in a different state that I live in (I live in the St Louis metropolitan area but on the Illinois side of the river) and I had done 2 small transactions followed by a large transaction (apparently that is a fraud alert situation test if the account has money then go for the gold). Again a simple call took care of the problem. It has taken care of the problem every time. A nuisance when not expected but you learn what causes the flags and can call your bank in advance and let them know it is you that will be doing the possibly fraudulent transactions.Another time was when I had my motorcycle serviced at a different dealership than I usually use. Card declined. A quick telephone call cleared everything up.Still another time I had gotten a big bonus at work and I bought myself a $4000 diamond pendant. Card declined. A quick telephone call cleared it up and I told them I would probably be spending another one or two thousand that day as I wanted to buy some gifts for friends. No problems at the other stores as they knew in advance.Be glad they are protecting your account. It is a major pain when someone does get your credit cards (I had my wallet stolen once so I know). Luckily I discovered fast but I already had in about 30 minutes transactions going against one card in Louisville KY, New York City, Denver, and Los Angeles as well as 4 in the local area. I will never complain about credit card security.When you are going to travel let the credit card company know in advance and your rough itinerary and they will accept a rough one. Let them know approximately when you are leaving, where you will be going to, and if by air travel airports you may have layovers at (in case you want to do some shopping in an airport store). If you plan on an unusually large purchase of a type not normally processed by you or at a business you do not normally frequent let them know in advance. I am sure there are other reasons your card can and will be flagged, I just have not encountered them yet. While I may get a glare or two, once all it cleared up they know it is a bank hold to prevent fraud the businesses are always understanding.Moral of the story, do not get upset. Call your bank. It is probably just due to a computer action to protect your account. It is all fine and easily handled.

How to buy and sellKristina Kurhanska is a senior IT analyst for unbiased reviews of software, SaaS, web development and IT marketing companies.Disclosure:We may receive compensation when you click on links. Neither our writers nor our editors get paid to publish content and are fully committed to editorial standards.Created: July 22, 2018Updated: May 12, 2020In our latest guide to Bitcoin, we outlined what is necessary to know about blockchain as the basis for cryptocurrencies. Let’s move on to getting some coins and see how to buy and sell cryptocurrency. There are two things you should be familiar with. One, crypto-exchange platforms and, two, cryptocurrency wallets. Exchanges are the places where you would exchange, buy, sell bitcoins and altcoins. The latter is a tool to store your digital coins. To better understand cryptocurrency transactions, we’ve decided to review two biggest exchange platforms.Investing in cryptocurrency in general is a good business if you are on the right path and with the right platform. After so many failed attempt on getting the right platform, I came across Libraforex Cryptocurrency Investment Platform (www.libraforex,io) where i get different percentages on every investment i made with cryptocurrency every 10 days. It looks too good to be true until i gave it a try and trust me it has been a smooth ride all the way. Don’t give up on cryptocurrency and join the platform. Trust me, you won’t care about the price fluctuation anymore. Thank me Later.PS: This is not in any case of me trying to lure you into anything for my own personal financial gain, i am just innocently sharing so that you could gain one or two things as this has been working for me. You can also make a research on what works for you too.Coinbase exchangeCurrently the biggest and most popular cryptocurrency exchange platform, available in 32 countries. It allows trading Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and Litecoin. To over 20 million users it offers a friendly interface, few levels of protection and both desktop and mobile (Google Play and App Store) versions.RegistrationYou have options to create a private or a business account. In case of second, the service will offer to redirect you to the subsidiary products – GDAX, a trading platform for investors, and Coinbase Commerce API, for accepting cryptocurrencies as payments for goods and services.Further registration forms will require personal information like bank account, credit/debit card, address, ID and its verification. The more data you give, the higher your buying options will be. The daily maximum cash transactions for the U.S. is $50,000, for Europe – €30,000. As soon as you create an account, it is time to choose the means of protection. The service persistently advises the 2-factor authentication. 2FA or 2-step verification, besides the passwords, there’s a 2FA code. The code is generated on your phone by such methods like TOTP (time-based one-time password), Google Authenticator or similar apps, SMS/text codes (less secure).Payments and feesCoinbase supports three payment methods: banking account, debit/credit card and wire transfer (PayPal). Depending on a country, available options can vary, the same as the conversion fees and exchange rate. Take into account, that in countries like Australia, Canada, Singapore, both variable and fixed fee are used. But in general, for the fastest transactions you will have to pay more:Best forBuySellDepositWithdrawSpeedFee (USA)Bank accountLarge and small investments++++4-5 business days1.49%Debit/Credit cardSmall investment+–––I3.Wire TransferLarge investment–1-3 business days3.99% (PayPal)Local currency wallet is another useful feature. A consumer can place the funds in USD, Euro or other national currency, and later use it to buy the coins.Buy/sell cryptocurrencyAs mentioned earlier, Coinbase has an easy-to-use interface, so, learning how to buy and sell cryptocurrency won’t take a lot of time. Currently, the service supports following digital currencies: Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum and Litecoin. Coinbase provides rates statistics by each coin (hourly, daily, weekly, yearly, all time), so the consumers can easily plan their actions based on given information. Mobile app version gives the opportunity to set alerts – to stay notified about price fluctuations.Coinbase rates dashboard, June 2018.On Coinbase you can easily switch between Buy and Sell options. In both cases, the system works the same: you choose a type of coin, a wallet and a payment method. However, due to high rates, rather than buying the whole bitcoins, the most common option is buying/selling by fractions. You need to input the amount of money you are ready to spend, and the system immediately displays the amount of coins you get:For reverse transaction, a consumer has to write down the number of coins he/she wants to obtain – the money sum column will appear:To sell, a consumer is choosing from what place to take the coins (BTC, LTC or ETH wallets) and where to send funds (USD Wallet, PayPal, or bank account). The rest of it is the same procedure as with buying – select the amount of coins to sell and/or your rate.Kraken exchangeThe second biggest cryptocurrency exchange, according to experts and users. Kraken is available in the European Union, Canada, Japan, and the USA. Unlike Coinbase, it works with both trading schemes: cryptocurrency to cryptocurrency, and cryptocurrency to fiat currency. The service supports 17 digital coins such as Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, EOS, Gnosis, Tether, Ethereum, Litecoin, etc. Combined with local currency (USD, EUR, GBP, Yen), it creates tradable pairs – XBT/USD, BCH/USD, EOS/EUR, etc. The service also provides statistics of fluctuations and trade rates for each pair.RegistrationAfter signing up, a user has to pass verification. The more advanced account you want, the more requirements it will have:Tier 0 – the basic level with only interface exploration;Tier 1 – requires full name, date of birth, country, phone number and has the option to deposit and withdraw only digital currency;Tier 2 – requires a physical address, and allows depositing, withdrawing and trading in digital and fiat currency;Tier 3 – requires ID verification, but provides much higher buying/selling limits;Tier 4 – requires a signed application form, ensures higher daily and monthly limits than Tier 3.For advanced security, Kraken offers the already known two-factor authentication (2FA) combined with a master key – as the option to recover account access. 2FA is provided by authentication app (6-8 digits one-time passcodes), Yubikey (hardware device) and static password.Payments and feesUnlike Coinbase, where you can pay directly from your bank account or credit card, on Kraken you have to deposit some funds first. Choose the fiat currency (Euro, USD, etc.) and select one of the deposit methods: bank account or wire transfer (SWIFT, SEPA). For future, use the same instruction to withdraw your funds.It is free of charge to deposit funds and there are no limits on amounts. This can not be said about the currency movement inside the service and its withdrawal. Fees vary and mainly depend on volume, and also on the popularity of exchange pair. The charge for withdrawals of digital assets vary from ฿0.0005 (Bitcoin) to Ł0.001 (Litecoin) and to Ξ0.005 (Ether).Buy/sell cryptocurrencySimilarly to Coinbase or other cryptocurrency exchanges, Kraken has its daily buying/selling limits. Amounts depend on the user account status (tier). While buying/selling you can switch between two operations, select currency and its amount. Pay attention, that each cryptocurrency has its minimum order quantity. The reverse rate, like on Coinbase, is not available. For better trading, Kraken has also launched Cryptowatch, that provides “real-time cryptocurrency market data, charting and trading services”.Cryptocurrency walletsBesides coin trading, there’s the question of funds storage. Cryptocurrency wallets are digital tools, that aren’t quite as wallets in a conventional sense. They contain encrypted passwords (private and public keys) to unlock funds. Even though most of the cryptocurrency exchanges, like Coinbase, Kraken or Bittrex, provide its own wallets, blockchain experts recommend using more than one wallet. This is especially relevant considering the rise in popularity and thus, more security threats.Most of today’s coins have its official wallets (Bitcoin Core Wallet, Litecoin Core, Ethereum Wallet, etc). Though you can also choose between multi-coins or single-coin wallet. And yet, there is no wallet which can support all currencies. To unify all available cryptocurrency wallets, we’ll get 3 groups: software, hardware and paper wallets.Software wallets can store the private key on your PC/laptop, mobile app or on web (cloud server). If you are going to be an active buyer/seller, probably, this is the best choice for you. However, consider pros and cons first.ProsConseasy to accessperfect for the small amount of coins and day-to-day usequick transaction timeeasy to hackcomputer/phone can contain malware and virusesdesktop wallet may require technical updates of OSOne fine example of such service is Armory wallet, check the demo.Hardware wallet, or a physical wallet, is the most secure way to store any amount of digital currency. The offline hardware device is easy to connect to the internet, often may have a screen, which is an additional safety feature, used to verify the owner.Pros:immune to computer virusescannot be hackedcan store multiple currenciesCons:doesn’t suit the day-to-day tradingTrezor wallet is just one example.Paper wallet seems less technical than other variants. But everything isn’t so unambiguous. Special software programs (BitAddress, Bitcoin Paper Wallet) generate the private and public keys and then the information is printed, most often like QR-code.Pros:full immunity to hacker attacks, malware, virusesis not stored on any deviceCons:a piece of paper can be lost/stolenCheck out Bitcoin Paper Wallet Generator if you want to know more about it.Tips how to buy and sell cryptocurrencyEven though the whole idea of Blockchain is independency, security and decentralization, it does not mean all risks are demolished. Yes, your funds of bitcoins and altcoins are better protected than in typical banking system. But many fraudulent schemes have already entered the blockchain environment.Thus, tip #1: use more than one exchange. Lower fees, user-friendly interface, the variety of payment methods, advanced account protection are main factors, you should consider.#2 is do not rush to exchange coins into the fiat currency and then withdraw to your bank account. More and more stores and companies accept bitcoins and some other altcoins.#3, as a beginner, trust the market flow. Choose the most popular exchanges, trading platforms and coins. What is good for the majority, will not hurt your interests. Later, with some experience gained, you will be competent enough to make relevant decisions depending on your selling/buying plans.And finally, #4 – never forget to make a backup of your private/public keys.