As it was originally conceived, customers would link their checking and debit accounts directly to the app. When a user got to the cash register, the cashier would scan a QR code from the customer’s phone provided by the CurrentC app to authorize the payment.
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CurrentC, a mobile payments system that went through a round of beta testing this year, announced on its website that it will shutter the service as of June 28. The service launch has been delayed again and again-most recently in May-and retailer partners have been defecting to Apple Pay and Google Wallet. The twist behind CurrentC is that it was backed by a consortium known as the Merchant Customer Exchange, or MCX, which consisted of merchants such as Walmart, Best Buy, CVS and Rite Aid. Now 24 million consumers use Chase’s mobile app, and 42 million access their accounts through Chase.com.
It was meant to create a merchant-owned mobile payment system that would shield retailers from having to pay interchange fees to credit card companies and fend off competition from the likes of Apple Pay.
Banks like Chase are building up their mobile-pay platforms and marketing machines to drive growth outside their traditional lending businesses. Instead of NFC, like Apple Pay and Google Wallet, shoppers needed to install an app they would open ahead of paying, then display a special barcode to complete the transaction.
Although by Thursday morning several news outlets speculated that was the end of the ill-fated payment app, the website indicates that CurrentC has “not yet determined the future timing of CurrentC but we will keep you posted”. Reports also indicated participants in CurrentC’s 2014 beta program had been hacked.
MCX announced in May that it would postpone a nationwide rollout of its service while laying off 30 employees, according to TechCrunch. MCX hadn’t responded by press time to a request from Retail Dive for clarification.
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“It certainly appears that MCX realized it was spending far more than it would ever save in its effort to build a third network”, Sloane said.
