Bling Nation

About Bling Nation

Founded in 2007 by Wences Casares and Meyer Malka, Bling Nation emerged as a mobile payment service provider based in Palo Alto, California, with the objective of challenging major credit card networks. The founders, two entrepreneurs from Brazil, were previously known for establishing Patagon, the largest online brokerage in Latin America. Their venture into mobile payments was inspired by similar technologies gaining traction in Japan and Hong Kong.

The company's core product was a service that enabled contactless payments through mobile phones. This was facilitated by a quarter-sized microchip sticker, called a "BlingTag," that users could affix to their phones. The BlingTag allowed for debit transactions directly from a user's checking account or PayPal account, functioning much like a debit card but with added digital features. Each time a purchase was made, the user would receive a text message confirming the transaction and showing their updated account balance, a feature intended to help with money management. For security, the tag itself stored no personal information; if a phone was lost, the user could simply re-register a new tag with their PIN.

Bling Nation's business model focused on partnering with local community banks and merchants in smaller towns, aiming to serve markets they considered "underserved" by major card companies. The company generated revenue by taking a percentage of processing costs, claiming to offer merchants savings of up to 50% on processing fees compared to traditional card transactions. At its height, the service was adopted by nearly 20 banks with around 1,000 merchants on its network. The company also formed a partnership with VeriFone to distribute NFC-enabled payment terminals to participating merchants.

In early 2011, the company introduced a loyalty program called FanConnect, which allowed customers to post updates about their purchases on Facebook to redeem coupons. However, the initial requirement for all network partners to adopt FanConnect was met with resistance from merchants, leading some, including its first bank partner, to cease issuing the stickers. Faced with challenges in merchant and consumer adoption, and an increasingly competitive market shifting towards embedded NFC technology, Bling Nation suspended its service in May 2011 to re-evaluate its product offering.