Shift Payments

Shift Payments, operating as Apto Payments, emerged from the 2014 Y Combinator cohort, founded by Meg Nakamura, Greg Kidd, and Eugene Otto. Nakamura's background in financial advisory services, particularly her work on regulatory compliance and transaction monitoring with Kidd, highlighted the rigidities of the legacy financial system. This experience directly informed the company's mission to simplify the creation of bespoke card programs. Their initial proof-of-concept was a prototype prepaid card developed in late 2013 that enabled users to spend Ripple balances in real-time.

The company's flagship product was the Shift Card, a VISA debit card that allowed users in the United States to spend digital currencies directly from their Coinbase or Dwolla accounts. This addressed a primary friction point for cryptocurrency holders by enabling them to use their digital assets for everyday purchases at millions of merchants accepting VISA. The card functioned by debiting the equivalent value of cryptocurrency from the user's linked Coinbase wallet at the point of sale, based on the current spot price. For a period, the company offered no domestic transaction or currency conversion fees, positioning itself as a cost-effective bridge between the crypto and fiat economies. Revenue was generated from an issuance fee for the card, ATM withdrawal fees, and a percentage fee on international transactions.

The service was established through a key partnership with Coinbase, which handled the security and storage of crypto assets, allowing Shift to concentrate on the payment processing infrastructure. The company required users to provide their social security number and home address to comply with regulations. The Shift Card program was officially retired in April 2019. Following this, the company rebranded to Apto Payments, shifting its focus to providing a card issuance platform that allows other businesses to launch their own physical and virtual card programs. Apto Payments was later acquired by Qenta, and in 2021, Apto acquired the challenger credit card startup Vertical Finance to expand its product offerings.

Keywords: Shift Payments, Apto Payments, Meg Nakamura, Greg Kidd, Eugene Otto, crypto debit card, Coinbase, Dwolla, VISA debit card, bitcoin spending, cryptocurrency payments, card issuance platform, fintech, Y Combinator, Ripple, financial services infrastructure, prepaid card, payment processing, digital currency