About

Our Mission

StampCats brings the joy of passport stamp collecting into the smartphone age. We combine the nostalgia of traditional passport stamps with cryptographically secure NFC technology to create a lifetime log of your global adventures. With StampCats you can earn stamps by visiting places and countries in person. The NFC tag proves you have possession of a cat, and hardened location services on iOS and Android (which crosscheck multiple GNSS constellations) prove you are where you say you are.

StampCats is The NFC Mint's flagship consumer product, and every tag you buy doubles as a working showcase of privacy conscious location based authentication. Our end goal is to combat fraud, counterfeiting, and impersonation a better way. Our NFC products are designed to stop fraud before it starts to keep brands and our society as a whole a high trust place. As wise Russians often rhyme, "Доверяй, но проверяй." (Trust, but verify.) The StampCats passport cover uses an allusion to the Russian passport as a reminder of this axiom.

Team and Motivation

The StampCats project itself is a husband-wife team of developer and artist. We are a multi-citizenship family dismayed at the curtailment of passport stamps in the European Union and at e-gates around the world. To travel enthusiasts the passport serves as a journal of your life story. It is a document that can be passed down to future generations to show that you not only existed, but you went places and did things. In the case of people unable to travel, StampCats tags also revitalize the joy of having pen pals from around the world. You can mail your cat to Abu Dhabi and back for a stamp as long as your friend has an iPhone or Android phone to stamp it with!

NFC Technology

We utilize NXP NTAG 424 DNA chips with advanced cryptographic features including:

• ECC (Elliptic Curve Cryptography): Originality signatures that prove manufacturer chip authenticity that make the 7-byte UID trustably unique
• Secure Dynamic Messaging (SDM): Each tap generates a unique cryptographic signature tied to a monotonic counter for validation
• Real-Time Abuse Detection: Automated monitoring for anomalous scan patterns

How StampCats Works

Each StampCats tag contains a unique cryptographic key that cannot be cloned or duplicated. When you scan a tag with your NFC-enabled device, the NTAG 424 chip generates a cryptographic signature using its secret key and the tag's UID along with a monotonic counter (which means it only goes up). Our validation service verifies this signature against the claimed key on our secure HSM server to confirm authenticity. The app itself uses GNSS services such as GPS and GLONASS along with hardened and highly spoof resistant location services (Core Location on iOS and hardware-attested Google Play services location on Android) to detect and prove your location. Additional security mitigates vulnerabilities from jailbreaking or rooting to bypass spoof detection. Once everything is on the up and up the app prompts you if you'd like to add a stamp to your digital passport.

The system employs multiple layers of security:

• Counter-based replay prevention
• IP-based rate limiting
• AES-CMAC cryptographic validation
• Factory chip authentication
• Real-time abuse detection
• Distributed HSM key security
• Spoof detection, including crosschecking GNSS data
• Jailbreak detection

Privacy and Data

StampCats respects your privacy. We only populate location data when you actively scan a tag to add a stamp to your collection, and we only save the time and location when you opt into stamping your location. Data is not tied to your Apple ID or Google account and there is no login required to use the app. It is pseudo-anonymous, and your passport is associated only with your unique tag UID, not anything to do with your personal identity. Location services do not track anything except the availability of stamps and this data is ephemeral in the app only with no logs produced. The full privacy policy is the authoritative version of all of this.

Get Started

Ready to start your collection? Visit The NFC Mint to get your own StampCats tag from our Amazon storefront. Each tag comes with its own unique digital passport where all your stamps will be collected. Download the StampCats app for iPhone or Android and start exploring!

Important Notice

The NFC Mint LLC is the app publisher and authentication service provider for StampCats. Locations and stamps on individual passports are user-generated content. Always verify the safety and correctness of listed stampable places before traveling.

Trademark Notice

NXP and NTAG are registered trademarks of NXP B.V. The NFC Mint LLC and StampCats have no affiliation with NXP B.V.

Contact

For support inquiries, partnerships, or general questions, please contact us:

Email: support@nfcmint.com (The NFC Mint provides support for StampCats.)

Website: https://stampcats.nfcmint.com/

Twitter: @nfcmint