China Construction Bank (CCB) has decided to add biometric cards that are secured by IDEX Biometrics in its digital renminbi trials.
These biometric cards will act as digital hard wallets for members participating in trials of Chinese digital currency, called DCEP.
DCEP is the digital version of China’s official currency Yuan.
IDEX Biometrics said that these smart cards will be secured by its fingerprint sensors and biometric software.
Earlier, pilots had deployed mobile phone applications as “soft wallets” in the form of mobile phone applications.
A digital renminbi hard wallet is the same as a conventional dual-interface smart card, with secure processing, encrypted memory, and near-field communication capabilities.
The card’s stored value will be secured with fingerprint recognition and authentication provided by IDEX Biometrics.
IDEX CEO Vince Graziani said: “As the DCEP initiative continues to evolve, there is a significant market opportunity for offline hardware wallets protected by fingerprint biometrics.
“Low cost and easy to use hardware wallets are the perfect solution for enabling the DCEP initiative to reach those who do not have access to a smartphone or a bank, who would be otherwise left behind in a digital currency world.
“The emerging hardware wallet application is an incremental market opportunity beyond the already large market for biometric payment cards.”
