Welcoming cashless, cardless and phoneless transactions

Honestly, I never thought I would live to see this day. I expected this to be in some far-fetched future that I am not a part of. But now that the day has come, my thoughts have been split in half. Of course, the classic binary “is this a boon or bane?” argument.

Yesterday, I was watching the movie Kingsman, in which the bad guy uses card implants to control people, activate explosives, and whatnot. I mean, it's bizarre right, but it was a thriller I thoroughly enjoyed. I have seen such crazy futuristic tech implant ideas in several other movies and series like Black Mirror. So, imagine my surprise or shock (I haven't yet decided on that one); when I came across this news today about this tiny card which you can plop inside your hand and, like in magic, you can just do some hand gestures and voilà, pay whatever you need to pay for.

Personally, I am fascinated, and I can't stop with the infinite puns that are coming into my head, like:-

The future is in your hands.

This idea is going to come in handy.

Technology is getting under your skin!

It is endless and I know I need to stop.

To clear the air, no this is not some futuristic proposal, this is out there as I speak and this British-Polish company has already sold 500 implantable payment chips. But can you believe there are 500 people out there waving their hands to get payments done, leaving others in awe? It comes with a very simple procedure too, local anaesthesia followed by a moment of minuscule pain and the Walletmor card is in. The healing takes 2-4 weeks, but guess what, the chip immediately starts working once it is in.

Well, we have come a long way from cash to cards to QR codes, and now carrying our phones is also becoming a burden, I guess.

The card uses a technology used by smartphones called NFC (near-field communication). In others, payment implants use radio-frequency identification (RFID), which is the same technology used in contactless debit and credit cards. Enthusiasts have been using this RFID technology to experiment and explore, but Walletmor is bringing it to the mainstream commercial market. Their microchip is a limited distance reader and needs magnetic coupling between the user and the receiver to function. The major concerns with this technology are privacy and security, of course. The cards can last up to 8 years, and my major concern with this is data security. Walletmor claims that it is risk-free and secure. The onset of the global pandemic COVID-19 raised a huge demand for contactless payment technologies in the Fintech industry, giving Walletmor the biggest opportunity to drive this to the commercial market. Access to this technology is so convenient that you can order it directly from their website for around 17K INR, just like how you would order groceries or clothes. This smart implant can be removed at any time as well.

To list out the pros of the technology: -

• You don't have to worry about forgetting your wallet.

• It is reliable even if your phone battery dies.

• You don't have to worry about the theft of your payment cards and wallets.

• To be a part of the technological revolution.

• There is no monthly maintenance or subscription price. Also, if you buy something in a foreign currency, it does not charge you the currency spread. In this situation, your charges are 100% of the transaction value.

Why are people using it apart from the above reasons?

Because it is cooler and more convenient, and the reactions they get from people are priceless. They also like it for the fact that, if they are robbed in a foreign country, these implants have got their backs. A handful of the lot also sees it as a form of self-expression, similar to tattoos or piercings.

The social media reaction has been very negative. People are baffled and are outright saying no to this idea, and there are several “Mark of the Beast”, “Apocalypse is here” and “What if thieves cut off your hand?” comments.

The book nerd in me is relating it to Dan Brown's 'Origin', where he talked about the concept of singularity and being one with technology. In this book, he visualizes technology leading to the rise of a new species and the 7th Kingdom of life called Technium. It talks about how technology becomes the 7th Kingdom of Nature where the new species absorbs the human species. Furthermore, it predicts a future where “humans and technology will fuse” and how we are evolving into something different by modifying our genomes and engineering an enhanced version of ourselves by incorporating technological tools into our bodies.

So, I would like to conclude this article with a quote from the book.

“These are just the primitive beginnings of the symbiosis.”

To know more check out: https://linktr.ee/walletmor