London-based Walletmor is rolling out a microchip that can be implanted in the hand and will work with a digital wallet for contactless payments.
The tech company said the microchip will work with the “Purewrist” app and the implant procedure takes only 4 minutes.
The implant is now available to the public for $299.
BBC reported:
A microchip was first implanted into a human back in 1998, but it is only during the past decade that the technology has been available commercially.
And when it comes to implantable payment chips, British-Polish firm, Walletmor, says that last year it became the first company to offer them for sale.
“The implant can be used to pay for a drink on the beach in Rio, a coffee in New York, a haircut in Paris – or at your local grocery store,” says founder and chief executive Wojtek Paprota. “It can be used wherever contactless payments are accepted.”
Walletmor’s chip, which weighs less than a gram and is little bigger than a grain of rice, is comprised of a tiny microchip and an antenna encased in a biopolymer – a naturally sourced material, similar to plastic.
Mr Paprota adds that it is entirely safe, has regulatory approval, works immediately after being implanted, and will stay firmly in place. It also does not require a battery, or other power source. The firm says it has now sold more than 500 of the chips.
X-ray showing Walletmor implant
X-ray showing Walletmor implant
WATCH:
Microchips are gaining popularity in Sweden and now Swedes are getting Covid vaccine passports implanted in their hands or elsewhere under their skin.
“Get your Covid certificate in a chip in your hand or elsewhere under the skin. It is increasingly popular to insert a chip into the body with different types of information and now you can also insert your Covid certificate in the chip.” – Aftonbladet, Sweden’s daily newspaper reported last year.
Skeptics and critics slammed the scannable Covid vaccine passport as invasive.
However, the developer says too bad, the technology is here and will be used whether we like it or not.