While I wouldn't call it overly hyped, PaySaint was a project I was involved with to provide ePassporte with some competition that was fully developed and ready for launch and the final banking issues never met resolution.
Of course, it was going to do a lot more than be a debit card system and what made it unique (worldwide local bank transfers in 24 hours) was also the part that ended up being the biggest obstacle and ultimately the reason for its demise.
Unfortunately, it wasn't even a technical or feasibility problem, but money-laundering/policy problems.
Would have been perfect to have right around this time
Or, possibly it would be going through the same problems as ePassporte right now...who knows.