Same problem here, specifically we use a Smart Card to access Barclays iPortal for banking. The smart card and reader works perfectly in Ventura and worked perfectly in the first developer beta of macOS Sonoma, but somewhere either beta 2 or beta 3 of the developer previews it stopped working. I have replicated this with a clean install on different Mac hardware and the same issue. This is a Sonoma issue and not a reader or Mac hardware issue as the same reader and smart card continue to work well if I plug them into Ventura machine. Sonoma can "see" the reader (Gemalto BLE Reader) but cannot determine if a card is inserted and cannot read any card. testing with pcsctest command it sees the reader, I select it (01) and then it hangs on "Waiting for card insertion" even if I insert a card. Unplugging and replugging in again the whole usb device doesn't give me any window of "it works"... it's not working at all.

Just to confirm, a clean install of the released public version on 27th September - and still smart cards are NOT working, whereas they work perfectly on Ventura (and did on initial developer builds of Sonoma)

Just upgraded to macOS 14.1 Beta (23B5046f) (The developer beta for Sonoma 14.1 next release) and the smart card still doesnt work :(

I GOT IT WORKING in macOS 14.1 Beta (23B5046f) by INSTEAD of connecting by USB, I connected with BlueTooth using the GBDM App (Gemalto Card Reader for Barclays iPortal login) and connecting the card reader by BLUETOOTH (which has NEVER been possible in Ventura, it always failed to connect) Im now logged into Barclays iPortal!! Woot Woot! Party! Now I have a VAT return to do ... boooooooo.