.svg) | |
| Location | Belgium |
|---|---|
| Launched | 1995; 30 years ago (1995) |
| Discontinued | December 31, 2014; 10 years ago (2014-12-31) |
| Website | proton.be at theWayback Machine (archived 1999-04-21) |
Proton was astored-value card payment system inBelgium from 1995 until 2014. It was introduced with the goal to replace cash primarily for small transactions around €15. For security, the card was limited to storing 125EUR of available electronic cash (originally 5,000BEF).[1]
The card was used for small payments without a pin code or signature, and users ran the same risk as with cash in that if the card was lost the cash value allocated to it would also be lost.
The advantage to merchants was that they could accept payments without the necessity for a bank terminal to be connected to a centralised system for approving the transaction (the transaction was approved by the card itself), and the transaction was very quick.[2]
In August 1998, Proton World International was founded, a joint venture between Banksys, Visa, American Express and EGR. The goal was to promote the Proton technology worldwide.[3] In 2001, the Australian company ERG bought the remaining shares of Proton World and became the sole shareholder,[4] making a $50 million loss two years later by selling it toSTMicroelectronics.[5]
Proton saw limited success in Belgium, possibly due to a poor understanding of the system, despite being commonly available onparking meters andpay phones, and withinconvenience stores. Despite this, the system was also implemented in other countries such asChipknip in theNetherlands, and was considered for other markets such asAustralia.[6]
Security was based on themessage authentication code.
The system was retired on 31 December 2014.[7] Customers are requested to offload the charged amount back onto theirbank account before the expiration date.