A Polish-British company is offering individuals the opportunity to receive a subcutaneous implant inside the hand, capable of making payments like any credit card or payment digital. In this article we are going to find out what it is about in detail and how this novelty works, very interesting but in some ways also disturbing or otherwise divisive.
Subcutaneous microchips to make payments: yes or no?
The company, called Walletmore, sells microchips the size of a small safety pin that are implanted under the skin of the individual's hand and cost poco more than 200 dollars. According to the company, more than 200 people have already received the microchip, and Walletmor believes this is because people don't want to worry about losing their wallet or getting their credit card stolen.
A national study conducted by BIOSTAT found that over 72% of Poles are concerned about theft or loss of your wallet or credit cards. Nearly 47% also said they would undergo an implant if it were completely free.
In fact, the system allows you to make payments without having to carry any form of physical payment, such as a mobile phone or card. “It can replace a bulky wallet and is a convenient alternative to a credit card or a device with a payment function,” said the company.
The idea of implanting a microchip is not new: in Sweden some people have asked to receive microchips containing COVID-19 vaccination data, but this is the first case in which a microchip is used to make payments. After the procedure, people are able to transfer the funds into the digital wallet application and can immediately make purchases at most of the merchants around the world by simply scanning their hand on the card reader.
“Every day we receive several phone calls from all over Poland asking us for information about the plant and where it can be performed”, reads the company's press release. “The interest is so great that currently the queue of customers waiting in our country is several dozen”.
According to Wojtek Paprota, CEO and founder of Walletmor, the implant is simple and "painless", but should only be performed by professionals under regular sanitation conditions. Currently, the procedure is only offered to permanent residents of a country of the European Union, Switzerland or the United Kingdom.
The procedure can be performed in 11 centers across Poland. In a press release, Walletmor announced collaboration with a "national network" of doctors willing to perform the procedure. Szymon Manasterski, an orthopedic specialist who works with Walletmor, said that the procedure lasts poco more than 25 minutes, while the implant takes only four minutes. The plant, which measures less than a millimeter thick, is inserted under the skin through an incision. It expires five years after activation, but can be easily replaced, according to Walletmor.
