This seems to be the next best thing since the introduction of plastic credit cards. if you are anyone like me you must hate having to pull out your card everywhere you go and have this subconscious fear of protecting it with your life. Well The new payment scheme which scans the vein pattern in your finger has been trailed already and looks quite promising.

Why is it a big deal?

“FingoPay” developed by British start-up “Sthaler” is a new technology that builds a 3D map of the vein pattern in your finger which can be attached to your bank account, letting you scan your finger to pay in shops. According to Stahler, The scanner uses VeinID technology and recognises the vein pattern of your finger, not the skin pattern on your finger. The company claims that unlike fingerprints, the 3D scan can’t be damaged, stolen or forged making it ultra safe.

How Does It work?

According to Stahler you can link your existing card or bank account to your FingoPay account. The customers bank account details are stored with worldly similar to how we store our card details on a online store. Then the 3D scan of your finger veins at a shop will authorize the payment. The technology uses an infrared light to create a detailed map of the vein pattern in your finger. It requires the person to be alive, meaning in the unlikely event a criminal hacks off someone’s finger, it would not work.

Shops who have signed up to the scheme will have a pink FingoPay scanner at the kiosk where registered customers can put their finger inside it to be scanned.

So When will it be rolled out?

Currently it is at a pilot phase; A trial has been running since january 2017 at a bar in Camden, London, called Proud, as well as in Costcutter stores. The exact dates and new locations are to be announced soon.

Author – Subodha Pilimatalawwe