The world’s first subcutaneous implant payment chip

“We’ve designed and built the world’s first, globally accepted payment implant. It’s an open payment implant that can be used to buy drinks in New York, haircut in Paris or Pad Thai in Bangkok. It’s a great device,” – Mr. Wojtek Paprota, founder and CEO of Walletmor, told the site. Digital Trends.

Pay with a Walletmor chip implanted under the skin of the hand. Photo: Walletmor

Entrepreneur Paprota started out with a background in financial and wealth management, having come up with the concept of Walletmor a few years ago. He explained that the Walletmor chip is not focused on a “closed loop” but connects to an open standard and in this case a payment platform.

The image of the Walletmor payment chip is about to be implanted on the user’s hand. Photo: Walletmor

To use the device, customers must first order an implant worth 199 euros (about 4.78 million VND) through the company’s website.

Next, they need to open a corresponding iCard account, or open a MuchBetter.com account in the UK, to create a digital wallet that can be linked to the implant.

They then link the implant to the account with an activation code, add funds to the account to start spending. They eventually need to visit a “medical cosmetic clinic” to have the chip implanted underneath their skin.

The device works using near-field communication (NFC) technology, the same contactless payment system used in smartphones as Apple Pay.

“Walletmor is only responsible for the hardware for the implant itself. When it comes to software and cybersecurity, it depends on the companies we work with and the systems we use” – businessman Paprota emphasize.

The future of payments?

The user checks the account linked between the bank and the chip. Photo: Walletmor

A confident businessman in the future payment chip Subcutaneous implants will become commonplace. For now, he admits, there are some bottlenecks as the device is still “relatively expensive” compared to freely available bank cards, with the added benefit of not needing to be implanted.

The benefit of having a payment chip implant is that it eliminates the possibility of “accidentally leaving it somewhere and never having to worry about it being stolen or robbed”, Mr. Paprota said.

In addition, Mr. Paprota added an interesting point about why banks might be really interested in adopting this technology in the near term.

“When you have an implant in your hand, it becomes your default first-choice payment method. That’s a big advantage for banks because when you have 10 payment cards in your wallet,” he said. , banks will compete for you to choose. Whoever gets chosen wins and don’t forget that banks make money from transactions when we use their cards,” the businessman explained and added. that the company is planning to introduce more applications into its implant to create an ecosystem.

“Then it’s not just a payment method, but also a way of managing our digital and physical identities. In addition to paying, you can use this chip at the airport to make a passport or provide medical certification, such as a Covid-19 certification. In the event of an accident, a device installed in your body can instruct first responders on the most appropriate first aid. the more applications and features in one implant, the more appealing it will be to customers. Think of it as an aggregator of our identity,” said Mr. Paprota of the company’s vision.