With digital wallets becoming an integral part of modern payments, companies are facing increasing pressure to balance innovation with security. Amid intense competition from tech giants like Apple and Google, Curve, under CEO Shachar Bialick, is exploring how the fintech can stay ahead of fraud while enhancing user experience.
Mark Walker, editorial director at The Fintech Times, sat down with Bialick to discuss the latest developments in the digital wallet space, including the use of AI tools to combat fraud.
Our conversation started with the topic of digital wallets and the ongoing ‘wallet wars’ between tech giants like Apple, Google and Samsung. Bialick touched on the current market dynamics, highlighting the challenges faced by companies trying to compete with Apple Pay.
Shachar Bialick, CEO of Curve
“The problem that everyone in the wallet wars has is, why would I, as an Apple customer, move away from Apple that works pretty damn good. Why would I move to another wallet?”
Current technology
The current pass-through wallet technology used by many digital wallet providers is limited in its functionality and user experience, as these wallets simply act as a digital representation of a physical payment card, passing the transaction through to the underlying bank or card issuer without any unique features or capabilities beyond the basic payment functionality.
This creates significant challenges for new entrants and startups, as they would need to integrate with each individual bank and merchant acquirer in the market, a complex and time-consuming process that hinders scalability.
Additionally, pass-through wallet providers have limited visibility and control over the transaction data and flow, preventing them from offering unique features or services that could benefit the customer, and making it difficult to establish a viable monetisation model, unlike closed ecosystems like Apple Pay that can charge an ‘Apple tax’ on transactions.
For Bialick, the key to success in this market lies in offering customers unique features and capabilities that differentiate a digital wallet from the competition. Curve’s ‘staged wallet’ technology, he explains, enables the company to influence and control the transaction flow, enabling features like zero-fee foreign transactions, the ability to double-dip on rewards and enhanced fraud prevention..
Curve’s approach
The key difference in fraud prevention between a staged wallet like Curve and a traditional pass-through wallet lies in the level of visibility and control. The staged wallet model provides the provider with full oversight of the entire transaction data flow. This also allows them to leverage advanced analytics and AI-driven fraud detection to identify and block suspicious activity in real-time. For example, it can detect transactions occurring in locations different from the customer’s device.
In contrast, pass-through wallets have limited access to transaction details and context. This significantly reduces their ability to effectively prevent fraud and protect both their customers and banking partners from fraudulent activities.
This technological advantage, combined with Curve’s regulatory status and embedded business model, gives the company a strong position to partner with banks and other players in the digital wallet ecosystem.
Bialick explained how Curve’s strategy has always been B2B2C, working with partners like PayPal, Samsung, and Visa to access their customer bases.
As our conversation drew to a close, Bialick outlined Curve’s strategic goals for the next 12 to 18 months, which include launching Curve Pay and continuing to build partnerships with banks and other financial institutions. He stressed the importance of working closely with regulators and networks to create a better product for European and UK customers.
“What we know we need to do right now is to get Curve pay to the market as soon as possible, and acquire as many customers as possible through our partners and direct acquisition,” he said. “This while we’re working with the biggest banks in Europe and the UK and the biggest networks and regulators to figure out how we as a whole can bring to bear a better product, more innovative for European and UK customers together.”
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