Futuristic Payment Options

Businesses everywhere are making it faster and easier to pay — because the less friction at checkout, the better for everyone. Contactless cards and mobile wallets were just the start. The next wave of payment technology is wearable and biometric, and some of it is closer than you think.

Pay with your sunglasses

Visa has prototyped payment-enabled sunglasses with an NFC chip built into the frame: take them off, tap them on a terminal, and you've paid — no card, no phone. It began as a proof of concept, but it makes the point that any object you carry can become a payment device.

Pay with your face

Facial recognition payments sound like science fiction, but they're already in commercial use. Samsung pioneered combining iris, fingerprint, and facial detection to authorize mobile payments, and face-verified checkout is now live at scale in several markets. The appeal is obvious: your face can't be left at home or stolen from a pocket.

Pay with your ring

Payment rings — like the UK's Kerv, the world's first — link a wearable ring to a prepaid card. Tap your finger on any contactless terminal and the transaction is done: no battery, no pairing, no phone required. Payment-enabled watches, bracelets, and key fobs work the same way.

What it means for merchants

Every one of these innovations speaks the same language as today's contactless terminals — NFC. Accept tap payments now and you're already compatible with most of what's coming: the wearable future doesn't require new hardware, just a modern terminal.

Virtuous Payments keeps Canadian businesses ahead of the curve with terminals that accept every contactless payment — cards, phones, watches, and whatever comes next.