This is due to the fact that the 37-year-old does not need to pay using a credit card or his phone. He merely places his left hand near the contactless card reader, and the transaction is completed.
Mr. Paumen, a security guard from the Netherlands, says, “The reactions I receive from cashiers are wonderful!”
He can pay with his hand because he got a contactless payment microchip implanted under his skin in 2019.
Mr. Paumen explains, “The treatment hurts as much as when someone pinches your skin.”
Although the first microchip was inserted into a human in 1998, the technology has only recently become commercially available.
When it comes to implanted payment chips, Walletmor, a British-Polish company, claims to have been the first to sell them last year.
“You may use the implant to pay for a drink on the beach in Rio, a coffee in New York, a haircut in Paris – or your local grocery store,” says Wojtek Paprota, the company’s creator and CEO. “It can be used anywhere that accepts contactless payments.”
A tiny microchip and an antenna are enclosed in a biopolymer – a naturally derived material comparable to plastic – in Walletmor’s chip, which weighs less than a gramme and is about the size of a grain of rice.
Mr. Paprota goes on to say that it is completely safe, that it has received regulatory approval, that it works instantly after being implanted, and that it will remain firmly in place.
It also doesn’t require the use of a battery or any other form of power. According to the company, more than 500 chips have been sold.
Near-field communication, or NFC, is the contactless payment technique in cellphones that Walletmor employs. Other payment implants use radio-frequency identification (RFID), a technology that is similar to that used in contactless debit and credit cards.
Many of us find the notion of having a chip implanted in our bodies repulsive, yet a survey of over 4,000 people in the UK and the European Union in 2021 revealed that 51% would consider it.
Mr. Paumen characterises himself as a “biohacker” in the Netherlands, someone who implants technology into his body to boost his performance.
He has a total of 32 implants, including door-opening microchip and magnets embedded in his body.
“People who do not wish to change their bodies will always exist. That is something we should appreciate, and they should respect us as biohackers.”
To read our blog on “Vaccine Manufacturers Turning To Microchip Tech To Beat Glass Shortages,” click here.
