Starting from June 11, Tencent will begin to introduce palm recognition through its WeChat Pay service. The verification method will first be tested on the Airport Express Line in Beijing, China before expanding to other locations and settings including offices, retail outlets, college campuses, and restaurants. Users simply need to hold their hands over designated scanners, currently situated at select metro station turnstiles, and an automatic payment is made. The technology which is developed by the AI lab YouTu, scans both the surface-level palm prints as well as hand veins to make a read. For now, eligible users include residents in mainland China who have completed the real name verification process for WeChat Pay. While the new payment method is far from becoming the new norm, issues regarding biometric data security have been raised by experts and development will likely be closely monitored.
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