The Evolution of Plastic Cards and "Digital Money"

What exactly is new about plastic cards and their impact on digital money? Payment systems and plastic cards are evolving to accommodate digital money in new and exciting ways ways that effectively and securely embrace new and improved technology.

Digital money is not new, since banks have been making payments by transferring bank account balances back and forth since 1200 AD, in Italy.

In this regard, it doesn’t really matter whether the bank’s balance shown is displayed in ink or pixels.

Paper checks have also evolved into remote, paperless mediums with instantaneously executed transfer of balances occurring routinely. Wire transfer today accounts for more than six-sevenths of the dollar volume of payments in the United States. Cash is still the most common method by number of transactions per day, but the estimated average value of a cash transaction is relatively small, approximately $10, compared to that of a wire transfer, 4 million.

Embedded technology in plastic cards has opened up even more avenues of use, with greater flexibility.

Now, banks can instantly process payments with plastic cards, while merchants can promote loyalty programs through the use of “cash value enhanced” or “special offer” plastic cards.

All of this adds up to an extremely popular usage and a wide diversity of applications for plastic cards.

Companies like Visual Products, a leading designer and printer of plastic cards, are providing the industry and consumers with customized, “made to order” plastic cards from its turnkey manufacturing facility in Florida. Companies like this are tooling and adapting constantly to meet the ever-increasing demand for plastic cards.