The world of payments continues to shift and evolve in quick succession. If it were up to some companies active in the Fintech sector, paying with your finger may very well become the new trend. This would certainly be an improvement from tap-and-go services, which remain rather awkward to use in most cases. Without proper security, this is not a viable strategy, though. But what if you could complete a Bitcoin transaction with your fingers?
Making a payment is all about convenience, which is often the big problems when it comes to new forms of payment. Mobile payments, while certainly usable through a clean interface, are not necessarily all that popular. The reason is simple: people need to use a specific app on their phone to complete the transaction, which can be quite annoying when the battery runs low.
Pay By Finger Could Be The Next big Thing
Biometric payment solutions are quickly gaining traction in the world of technology and fintech. Right now,several companies explore the option of letting users pay with their finger. One simply puts the finger into a point of sale terminal reader, which would be used to verify the identity of the customer. In a way, this could end up being a more secure and convenient way to pay than anything else available on the market today.
This technology is dubbed as creating a biometric “crypto key” to unlock one’s personal payment options. By using this method, customers can pay with their bank account, credit and debit cards, or any other payment method “linked” to their profile. A very convenient way to get things done, but there are a lot of potential drawbacks to this approach as well.
Deploying biometric payments, especially ones linked to all of one’s financial tools, will require major security upgrades. In fact, it does not seem there is a viable backend to use such a payment system just yet, despite the blockchain offering lots of potential in this regard. In fact, considering companies refer to this as a ”crypto key” to begin with, it only seems to be a matter of time until blockchain technology is introduced in this ecosystem.
However, there is an even bigger problem, as this new way of paying does not solve key financial issues. Financial inclusion remains a big problem, and this new ecosystem would only be useful to those who have access to financial services already. If Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were to be supported, that would be less of a problem. Unlike other financial methods, Bitcoin boosts financial inclusion to new heights, for those who are willing to take the leap.
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