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Chronicles

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CurrentC alerts users of its pilot program that some email addresses were stolen by hackers

Wal-Mart's Answer To Apple Pay Has Already Been Hacked  —  Here's a bad sign for CurrentC, the fledgling mobile payment system in development by a consortium of retailers.

Business Insider Jay Yarow

Context & Ripple Effects

The breach lands four days after a widely shared teardown of CurrentC as a clunky, privacy-heavy bid by Walmart, CVS and other retailers to sidestep card fees, so the story hits a product already under scrutiny. The pickup list — TechCrunch, CNBC, The Verge, Re/code, 9to5Mac, AppleInsider — shows how closely the Apple Pay-versus-retailers fight is being watched.

MCX's response, reported by TechCrunch, is that the theft happened at an email provider rather than in CurrentC's own systems, and that the consortium is open to dropping QR codes for NFC and relaxing exclusivity — a notable softening given that MacRumors simultaneously confirmed retailer exclusivity remains the rule, just without fines for leaving.

First-order effects

  • CurrentC's pilot users are directly exposed — some had email addresses stolen — forcing MCX into damage control before the wallet has even launched broadly.
  • MCX must defend its security posture publicly while conceding flexibility on QR codes and non-exclusivity, weakening two pillars of the original design.

Second-order effects

  • Consortium members weighing exclusivity now have a public security stumble to point to, making it easier for retailers like Target — reportedly developing its own mobile wallet — to justify going solo.

Third-order effects

The trend: Retailer-owned payment consortia are losing ground to phone-native wallets, with security stumbles accelerating a split into individual retailer apps and bank partnerships.

Related: CurrentC · A look at CurrentC, the clunky and creepy mobile payments app · MCX postpones rollout of CurrentC, lays off 30 · MCX to disable all CurrentC accounts as beta test ends · Wal-Mart

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