How vending machines work is a mystery to many people. Just how does it know which coins you are using, or which coins should be rejected? Vending machines, found in offices, hospitals, shopping malls, road service stations, airports, railway stations… just about anywhere, are a sought after convenience when it comes to snacking. But when they…
Toronto based payments company nanoPay have acquired the digital currency platform MintChip™ from the Royal Canadian Mint. MintChip™ is “a digital replacement for cash” and, the company says, with backing from the Government of Canada, is the first regulator-friendly digital cash platform. “As a digital payment technology with many of the attributes of cash, MintChip™…
A press release by Safaricom has announced that Kenyan M-Pesa users can now send funds to recipients in Uganda thanks to a partnership with mobile operator MTN. M-Pesa is a mobile phone based money transfer service which was launched in 2007 by Vodaphone for Safaricom and Vodacom – the largest mobile telecommunication services in Kenya…
Taxi hailing app Uber has begun accepting cash payments for rides in Indonesia, specifically within the city of Bandung where over two million people reside. Uber users traditionally use a registered payment card to pay for their rides using the Uber app, but in countries where the use of credit or debit cards is less…
A report by Australian bank Westpac has stated that Australian smartphone users predict the country will be 90% cash free by 2027. In fact, Westpac believe there is an expectation that it could be as early as 2022 if excluding survey results from those who believe the country will never be cash free. The Westpac…
Android Pay, the new mobile payments technology owned by Google, has today been launched in the USA. Android has begun the rollout of its new service, allowing users to make payments with their compatible Android phones in stores, which will continue for the next few days. Like most mobile payments, Android Pay uses near field…
Canadian company Nymi has developed an authenticating wristband which uses a person’s unique electrocardiogram (ECG) reading. According to the company, the wristband allows wearers to “seamlessly unlock devices, remember passwords and more”. Nymi first discussed using their wristband technology as a payment authenticator last year and, following a successful trial, it now claims that the…
A report by news channel CNN-Money has announced that MasterCard will begin to trial the use of biometric payment authentication by approving online purchases with facial scanning. Customers will be able to scan their faces using their mobile phone’s camera – commonly referred to today as a “selfie”. The reason behind this innovation is simple:…
Barclays Bank is rolling out its mobile cheque imaging service to a further 1 million customers, allowing them to process their cheques via their smartphone instead of taking them to their nearest branch. The technology allows users to take a photo of the cheque using their mobile phone’s camera, which is then used by the…
De La Rue plc. announced yesterday that it had joined forces with Japanese printing company Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd (DNP) to collaboratively develop anti-counterfeit technologies for secure identity documents. The announcement said that the agreement was signed earlier this month and that the partnership will: “centre on the development and delivery of sophisticated new…