You can already use your fingerprint to authorize mobile payments with certain smartphones and some companies are working on alternative methods like facial recognition and retinal scanning, but a company by the name of Nymi has managed to create what’s essentially a wearable credit card that’s authenticated using your heartbeat. Developed in collaboration with MasterCard and TD Bank Group, the technology is entering its testing phase.
Nymi(TM), in collaboration with TD Bank Group (TD) and MasterCard(R), today announced the completion of the world’s first biometrically authenticated, wearable credit card payment using one’s heartbeat. The first payment was made as part of a pilot on Friday, July 10th which can be seen here: http://bit.ly/1M4YQLP. Over 100 TD users in Toronto, Ottawa and Regina will be testing the Nymi Band’s contactless payment functionality until the end of the summer, as part of this closed payment pilot. Other participating Canadian banks are scheduled to launch similar pilots later this year, and Nymi expects several thousand payments to be made using the Nymi Band during this time. The Nymi Band is a secure and continuous wearable authenticator that identifies a user based on their unique heartbeat (or electrocardiogram) through proprietary Nymi technology called HeartID(TM). Nymi has developed an NFC-enabled prototype of the Nymi Band for these pilots, which is linked to a user’s MasterCard. In doing so, participants can utilize the Nymi Band to make secure, contactless payments using Tap & Go(TM) payment terminals found at many retailers.
