Cashless sales at the tip of a fingerprint

Beijingers will be able to pay for cinema tickets and dinner by pressing their finger on a payment terminal as a fingerprint-based identification and payment system will be introduced in Beijing, a developer told the Global Times Thursday.

Fei Dayi, marketing director from Live By Touch, the owner of the fingerprint identification and payment technology, told the Global Times the technology will be convenient and safe.

"Using this technology means people don't have to take cash or cards anymore as our technology allows users to link their fingerprints to a bank account. They just press their finger on the terminal to confirm their identity for authorization. Within five seconds the transaction will be completed so it's way faster," said Fei.

Both credit cards and debit cards with Union Pay banks are accepted, said Fei. Though MasterCard and Visa from overseas banks are so far not included, they are on the company's schedule.

Fei said this technology is very safe.

"Our technology is different from traditional fingerprint-based identification that can't tell the difference between living and dead tissue. Our technology only accepts fingers which have traces of living people, also it encrypts each finger's unique traces so it's much safer," said Fei.

Feng Jianjiang, associate professor of information processing with Tsinghua University, told the Global Times that though fingerprint-based identification is already a mature technology and can be used in practice, the company should also make efforts in eradicating any possibilities of private information leaks.

"Theoretically, the company has access to recorded fingerprints; once it's recorded it could be leaked, so it should ensure this information is well-preserved to protect its clients," said Feng.