Example of an implanted microchip, for contactless use.
Photo: Viken Kantarci/Getty Images
A British-Polish company, Walletmor, has started selling chips that can be implanted in the skin and function as a “payment microchip”. It is a miniature device, smaller than a grain of rice, and when you bring your hand closer to a payment machine, it will have the same function as a payment card.
the implant It can be used to make any type of payment, as long as the business accepts “contactless payments”, that is to say those where you should not enter the payment card in a machine. This was stated by Wojtek Paprota, the founder of Walletmor.
It is a short-range, high-frequency wireless communication technology that allows two devices to exchange information. It is like the NFC that smartphones also use or what they call “near field communication”. That is, it is not exactly the radio frequency technology of credit cards.
Patrick Paumen, is a Dutchman who wears the implant in his hand, and says he causes a sensation every time he brings his hand close to a bank terminal to pay.
“The reactions of the cashiers are priceless” says Paumen narrating his experience, who also assures that the procedure is not painful.
For its part, the company Walletmor has insisted on explaining the benefits of this technology. And on his Instagram account he explains how the implant works.
There is no doubt that all the answers to the possible fear of implanting a chip that works as a payment method can be resolved if you contact them directly. All the information is in the company link: Walletmor, the world’s first payment implant.
The biggest concerns of the interested parties is whether these implants will contain “too much” personal information. and if later with the advancement of technology they could be used to “track people”.
“Chip implants contain the same kind of technology that people use every day”says Paumen, the man who has had the implant since 2019.
So it seems that it is just another way of “exchanging data”, so perhaps you will have to choose between: the comfort of having a payment method implanted in your skin, or the security of not using another chip with which you can be tracked somehow. This will be left to personal preference.
In 2021, a survey conducted by a consultancy firm found that 51% of a sample of 4,000 people in the United Kingdom would consider the use of this type of implant.
Similarly, some people have already agreed to use this type of implant to carry the Covid vaccine passport with them; or there is also the case of key rings or locator chips for animals or objects.
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