Digital currency hardware wallets featuring biometrics from Idex, Fingerprint Cards launched

A trial of hardware wallets for digital RMB has been launched by the Postal Savings Bank of China, in the form of a fingerprint-enabled card featuring sensors and software from Idex Biometrics.

Digital Renminbi is China’s new digital currency, and the hardware wallet issued by PSBC takes the form factor of a payment card for online payments through payment networks or offline payments without a network. The hardware wallet is intended to narrow the digital divide by making the digital currency available to people without a smartphone, or segments of the population, like the elderly, who are more comfortable with a familiar payment method.

The dual-use card can also be used to access healthcare, demonstrating the technology’s ability to serve multiple applications.

“This Digital Currency Electronic Payment, DCEP, trial by Postal Savings Bank of China is exciting on many levels,” states Vince Graziani, CEO, IDEX Biometrics. “It not only demonstrates the value of biometric cards for digital currency initiatives globally, but also demonstrates our vision that a single biometric card will ultimately have multiple applications that require highly secure digital identity for individuals.  These new applications have the potential to drive massive deployment of biometric cards world wide.”

China UnionPay issues LOA

Idex has announced its manufacturing partner Goldpac has received a Letter of Approval (LOA) from China UnionPay for its biometric payment card.

UnionPay’s certification of the card, which also includes a secure element from Tongxin Microelectronic (TMC), was announced just weeks ago. This latest LOA is the second received by a card with Idex technology, after a card made by Feitian was approved last year.

The formal acknowledgement that the biometric payment card meets all relevant requirements constitutes the go-ahead for Goldpac and local banks to begin issuance.

HASHWallet reaches production

The new version of the HASHWallet from eSignus has reached a commercial launch, featuring a biometric sensor from Fingerprint Cards and a larger, 3.1-inch display for displaying full long addresses, such as for XLM, in a single view.

The new version also includes faster refresh rates and 105 PPI high-resolution imaging. HASHWallet’s also come with a Recovery Card and a free lifetime eSignus account.

A beta release was announced in November, shortly after eSignus raised $500,000 in funding.

In addition to the FPC1321 T-Shape biometric sensor from Fingerprint Cards, the card features a secure element from Infineon. eSignus has also opened the card up for community-driven development with the release of the HASHWallet Operation Language (HOLa) for macro interpretation.

Article Topics

biometric cards  |  biometric payments  |  biometrics  |  central bank digital currency (CBDC)  |  data storage  |  eSignus  |  Fingerprint Cards  |  fingerprint sensors  |  HASHWallet  |  Idex Biometrics  |  secure element