It’s 2013. We have a super computer in our pockets (or purses), but the way we pay for things hasn’t changed a whole lot. Yes, we don’t carry a lot of cash any more, but we all carry multiple credit cards. And the credit card hasn’t changed all that much since its introduction in the mid 20th century.

When we ask technology visionaries about the future of payments, they all talk about mobile payments and digital wallets, where our phones become the carriers of currency. Well, it hasn’t happened. And, it won’t happen for a while. Why? Because of the enormous infrastructure that exists all over the US and across the world that all depend on one thing: Swiping your credit card.

That’s why I’m so stoked about the launch of Coin. Coin is the missing link between your physical wallet and the digital wallet. Put simply, Coin is a device that can hold all your credit cards and debit cards on just a single card.

This video does a brilliant job of explaining Coin. Please take a minute (okay, 1:46 to be precise) to watch it…

When I first met the co-founder of Coin, Kanishk Parashar, in my office in September 2012, I was blown away. I meet a lot of smart people, but it’s very rare to meet someone who studied computer science walking in to my office with little boxes full of hardware prototypes. And even more rare to find out that he learned how to do the hardware stuff himself in order to get going. That was probably the single most thing that attracted my attention; that here’s a founder who is different. Someone who is willing to go learn whatever he or she needs to learn to solve a problem.

Coin’s co-founder, Karthik Balakrishnan, is a PhD candidate in Aero/Astro (Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering) at Stanford. Karthik is a real-life rocket scientist. When I had lunch with him and learned about his research, which involved actually putting a satellite into orbit, I didn’t admit to him that parts of what he was describing were way over my head!

Coin is a feat of engineering. It’s got a battery, a display, wireless connectivity, and a universal dynamic magnetic stripe, all packaged together  into something that is as thin and as durable as a credit card. For fun, here are some of the early prototypes of Coin.

 

And for proof that it works, here is an image of a receipt where we used a Coin card in the wild. Even though it’s only for a $1 purchase, I’m guessing this receipt will some day be an epic receipt!

K9 Ventures led the Seed round for Coin in October 2012. I’m honored to be a part of Coin and to work with such an outstanding set of founders. They’ve built an amazing team of people around them, all of whom have played a key role in getting Coin to where it is today. Kudos to the whole team at Coin.

Coin is starting to taking preorders for the Coin card starting today.

Remember: One Coin, for all your cards.

Order yours at http://onlycoin.com.

You can follow me on Twitter at @ManuKumar or @K9Ventures for just the K9 Ventures related tweets. K9 Ventures is also on Facebook and Google+.