Implanting a credit card chip

Hi guys and girls,

I'm going on a small implant binge at the end of this year and I've decided I'd like to implant a credit card chip (or, more accurately, have it implants by someone else). I've decided on a pre-paid Visa card from the local Post Office, which has an expiry of 2 years from date of manufacture. I'm not fazed by having to remove the chip after it expires, as I think 2 years will be a brilliant test for how my body reacts to an implant of this size. There are two things I'm stuck on at the moment -

How to coat. I am assuming (hoping) that all I will need from the card is the chip. I'll test this theory out on another card but cutting out the chip and testing its functionality, but if we go ahead and figure that it will work, I'm still faced with the prospect of coating it. I'm thinking a small case of biocompatible silicone will do the trick, but I have no experience with this. Does this sound plausible? Is there anywhere I can send my chip to have it coated by someone who knows what they're doing? If I coat it myself I'll be practicing on a few other pieces first.

Implant location. So far for ease of use the obvious options are back of hand, inner wrist or the typical NFC location. I'm not sure how something so large will go for the NFC spot, and I'm not sure on how much abuse the chip will cop during everyday use for the other two areas.

Any advice or knowledge on these subjects would be awesome!

(P.S - I live in Australia)
(P.P.S - the other implants will be my M31 magnets that I have previously had implanted. Implanter will most likely be old mate from BSliced in northern NSW, who has experience with implantations of a few kinds and scarification).


  • Please fill us in on some details.
    Why did your m31 magnets need to be removed?
    Where are you buying your implant grade silicone?
    Why did you choose silicone?

    When you remove the electronics from your pre-paid card you will end up with a chip and a wire coil. The coil is as important as the chip and it takes a lot more space. The chip itself will be minuscule.  Google image searching reveals that some cards have coils that are almost the same size as the card. That may need to be replaced.

    You said you were going to cut the chip out of another card to test it first but that worries me because cutting, with a knife or scissors will undoubtedly damage your electronics. Acetone bathing is the preferred method.

    The size of your implant may determine your implant location so you should know what you're dealing with first.Depending on how you proceed, your coating may also be a factor in where the implant will fit.

    None of what I've said hasn't been covered on this forum already. Please take the time to review some relevant posts. It seems like you've read some of them but you're missing a lot of information and that makes you sound unprepared for this. Perhaps I'm reading between the lines and worrying about nothing but we keep each other safe and no here wants you to end up in an ambulance.
  • So curiously I've been thinking about this today. Did anything ever come from getting info from a bank (can't remember which one and who) on whether they can place their card date on a writable NFC chip that's already been biocoated.

    I know @Amal has his project.

  • @Meanderpaul Yeah... I can't fucking wait for the next update on the Vivokey. I swear I check the site every other day. So excited to see what all comes of it and get my hands on one... Or rather get one in my hand (ok, most likely wrist).
  • @McStuff a simple mechanical rejection for the M31s, partially due to my implant job and partially due to excessive stimulation during healing (I had a giant magnet on the side of my toolbox that I put my hand against accidentally).
    Supplier for the silicone is unknown at the moment.
    Silicone because it seems to be the most logical choice for an at home job, unless you have another suggestion?

    Thank you for the info on the chip and wiring. I thought this was the case, but I wasn't sure if it was all contained as one piece in the card and whether it would stay that way outside the card.

    'Cutting out' the chip would have been just for the testing, if required. Thanks for the tip with the acetone bath.

    I agree that sizing will very much dictate the location, so I suppose I'll just wait and see the overall size before trying to narrow it down.

    I have been in the forum for a fair while (although away over the last few months)and I've read most of the posts with regards to implants. I am more mechanically minded and sometimes electronic posts don't interest me or go over my head. As you said, nothing you've said is a giant secret, but any information will be helpful as I may have overlooked some things (like the acetone bath).

    I am confident I can end up with a working chip ready to be coated, even if I end up mutilating a card or two. Do you have any suggestions for coatings other than silicone - the easier to master quickly the better, though I'm willing to take a good many tries before coming up with a final implantable product.

    Thank you for the concern for my health, also.

  • Sorry, extra post. You mention I'm missing a lot of info. Any general ideas on that so I can do some reading?
  • Just spit balling but if you make the chip and antenna small/compact enough why not just do a biomass capsule?
  • As a side not could we just skim the data from a card and copy it to an NFC chip almost like what a card thief would do to make a copy of a credit card?

    Without getting into the whole security side of all of this would be preferable ;)
  • credit cards, or most electronic payment in general, perform authentication and cryptographic tasks on the chips (contactless or not). It's not just data you can simply copy. And if your bank provides you with credit cards which feature copy-able data-only .... maybe, just maybe find another bank.
  • edited August 2017
    Just for those who do not live in Australia (since I'm hearing the word "bank" a few times here already): the Australian Post prepay card is not a credit card. There are no banks involved. It uses the hardware of credit cards (maybe) but no bank accounts are involved. You literally just load money into it and use it like a credit card, and when you ran out of money it gets declined.

    For more information:
  • This talk has made me wonder - would the security systems on the prepay card be as tight as a regular 'bank' card? It may be possible to copy and paste the data as Meanderpaul suggested. For now though, I think I'll just remove the chip from the card and see what I can do with it from there.
  • I was also thinking of some how using PayPal. I've seen a couple of swipe machines advertise PayPal as an option but never really looked into that. So many choices.

  • I know this isn't the point but is there a thing you could put in you that does contact less like a phone?

  • I suppose it may be possible to copy a PayPal account info onto an NFC chip, but I'd never thought to look into it. It's probably much harder than it seems.

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