Identity is the New Currency of Trust.

Why Now and What It Means

For years, biometric payments have hovered on the edges of mainstream adoption. But right now, we’re crossing a line. PopID’s rollout of face payments across major fast food chains and Visa’s debut of palm payments in Singapore aren’t future experiments - they’re live deployments.

The smartphone put digital wallets in our pockets. Now biometrics are removing the device barrier altogether. You - your face, your palm, your verified identity - are the payment method.

The implications are massive. Payments will become faster, more secure, and potentially more private. But the real shift?

Identity becomes currency. Not just a way to access your wallet, but the wallet itself.

A Brief History of Biometrics in Payments

Biometrics have teased the future of payments for decades.

Fingerprint authentication kicked off the first wave, initially in high-security environments, then creeping into smartphones and laptops. Voice recognition systems followed, offering password-free logins. Facial recognition joined the mainstream in the 2010s, largely through smartphones like Apple's FaceID.

But until now, biometrics were always tied to unlocking a device, not authorising a payment directly. The device remained the gateway. Biometrics were the key, not the currency.

Why Apple and Google Pay Aren’t Biometric Payments (Yet)

When you use FaceID to trigger Apple Pay, you're authenticating your phone, not your identity to the merchant or the payment network.

Apple and Google still use devices as intermediaries. You’re tapping your phone or your watch against a terminal. The device is what’s trusted.

True biometric payment cuts out the device layer. It’s not about your phone trusting you. It’s about the network trusting you directly.

That’s the leap PopID, Visa, and others are beginning to make. And it changes everything about payment UX, security, and control.

How Biometrics Have Evolved

The last five years have been a revolution for biometric authentication:

Facial Recognition: Accuracy skyrocketed with machine learning, from unlocking phones to airport boarding.

Voice Biometrics: "My voice is my password" systems now verify banking customers without PINs or passwords.

Fingerprint/Vein Scanning: High-accuracy multi-point fingerprint tech is now standard, with palm vein scanning offering even greater fraud resistance.

Biometrics moved from convenience features to serious security measures. And critically, they’ve become fast and frictionless - a must for mass adoption.

The Big Tech Shifts Making Biometric Payments a Reality

Two forces are colliding to make biometric payments ready for prime time:

Advances in Sensor Tech: Cheap, compact, ultra-accurate sensors can now be embedded anywhere - kiosks, POS systems, even mirrors.

AI and Machine Learning: Modern biometric systems can analyse, verify, and adapt in milliseconds, even across ageing, lighting changes, or minor injuries.

Face Recognition: Companies like PopID are proving face payments can be deployed in high-volume retail.

Palm Recognition: Visa’s move into palm tech (and Amazon’s similar pilot) shows a push toward biometrics that offer stronger privacy and lower spoofing risk.

Why multiple technologies? 

Security concerns and cultural sensitivities are driving diversification. While face recognition is fast and intuitive, it carries higher privacy concerns in some markets due to surveillance fears. Palm vein scanning, on the other hand, is harder to fake and requires deliberate consent to present, making it a safer, more culturally acceptable method in regions wary of face surveillance.

Different markets, different risk appetites, different tech answers.

This isn't "early adopter" territory anymore. This is the new rails being laid.

How We’ll Pay in the Next 5 Years

In five years, tapping a phone will feel as outdated as swiping a card.

Walk into a store, grab what you want, glance at a scanner, and leave. Your face or your palm will trigger instant, verified, secure payments - no card, no phone, no checkouts.

It’ll start in high-trust environments (airports, quick-service restaurants, loyalty-heavy retail) and quickly expand as consumers get comfortable with frictionless, invisible payments.

The real competition will shift to who owns the trusted ID layer.

Ownership of Identity and the Risks

If your biometric data becomes your wallet, ownership becomes existential.
Who owns your faceprint? Your palm scan? The payment token tied to your body?

Biometric data is uniquely sensitive - you can’t reset your face.
Without strong regulation and user control, the risk isn't just fraud - it's surveillance, profiling, and loss of personal autonomy. Who you trust to "hold" your identity will matter more than who you trust to hold your money.

Who Wins and Who Might Lose

Winners:

• Trust-centric brands who prioritise user control and consent
• Payment networks that master biometric onboarding and authentication
• Retailers who deliver seamless, device-free payment experiences

Losers:

• Brands clinging to outdated physical card ecosystems
• Companies who fumble privacy and trigger public backlash
• Payment platforms dependent solely on device-based authentication

Where This Could Go Next: Payments Meet AI Agents

Biometric payments are the first step.

The next? AI agents acting on your behalf, using your verified identity to make micro-decisions and micro-transactions in real time.

Imagine: Your AI knows your lunch preference, your loyalty points, your bank balance, and your calendar. You never order - it just happens.

Identity isn't just verified once. It's lived, continuously.

(But that's a whole other article.)

Summary: Biometric payments aren't just the next evolution in tech convenience. They're the start of a shift where who you are becomes your credit score, your payment method, and your key to the digital world.
And the brands who win? They’ll be the ones who remember: Trust is the new exchange rate.