Is payment implant the future happening now?
According to Marqeta survey 49% of participants finds payment implants useful and safe.
As digital payments become more common, the variety of ways we can pay for goods and services electronically is evolving and multiplying. How will this change over the next 10 years? Cryptocurrency, biometrics, implants and machine-controlled payments have been discussed at length in the media.
The topic was addressed by Marqeta, which partnered with Consult Hyperion, an independent company that provides services from expert consulting, technical, software development and certifications, to conduct a series of workshops with industry leaders. The insights from the workshops were then expanded upon by Propeller Insights'; survey of 2,037 consumers across the UK, commissioned by Marqeta, exploring how they feel about the types of payments they use, which they would like to see in the future and what concerns they may have. Combining this data, the report answers the questions: how will technology shape our payments future? What are the challenges of trying to regulate the ever-changing purpose of payments, and how does this cause regulation to always be a step behind innovation in this area? Will the next generation be the driving force for positive change in a cashless future?
A key discussion at the workshop focused on how ready and willing people are to adopt future payment methods. Many participants expressed concern that resistance to change could stop innovation. However, some consumers don't know what they want or will expect until they use it themselves. According to the survey, 51% of respondents would consider using a microchip implanted in their hand to pay. Concerns about safety from a medical standpoint were evident among those surveyed.
Walletmor implants, because of their biopolymer materials, are biocompatible and
certified by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), what makes them a safe alternative to cashless payments. At the same time, they are a better option for reluctant biometric payments. The potential of biometrics has brought it within the reach of banks and technology companies that use it to verify the identity of customers. Going a step further, this technology can be used not only in verification processes, but also authorization (including payment confirmation).
Biometrics is an information that comes from our body. It is the fingerprint, the iris, the appearance of our face. Increasingly biometrics in many countries, both EU and the Far East for example, is used to verify who and where is moving by means of face recognition cameras. This is biometric surveillance, which in fact ends the right to anonymous movement of citizens of a given country in the public space, which is why it arouses so much controversy.
An alternative to it is undoubtedly the payment implant. Implants do not have the
ability to spy, track, monitor or collect any information about the user. 48% of those
surveyed believe that an implanted chip would be useful if they were caught without cash or a card, while at the same time being safe from hacking or copying the data of the person making the payment.