Fashion house Hugo Boss has added an NFC tag to a range of baseball caps that enables purchasers to create non-fungible token (NFT) digital twins that they can use to dress avatars on the Ready Player Me metaverse platform... More
NFC
Korean merchants turn to softPOS for Apple Pay acceptance
Merchants in South Korea can now opt to accept Apple Pay payments on their smartphone without needing to purchase and install NFC readers at the point of sale as a number of new or upgraded software POS solutions roll out across the country... More
Japan to host first entirely cashless World Expo in 2025
The World Expo 2025 in the Japanese city of Osaka will be the first world’s fair to be entirely cashless and is developing a dedicated blockchain-enabled Expo Digital Wallet that visitors will be able to use to make contactless payments with their smartphone both inside and outside the venue as well as after the event... More
Singapore lets taxi and bus drivers store digital vocational licences on their smartphone
Bus, taxi and private hire car drivers as well as school bus attendants in Singapore can now add a digital version of their vocational licence to the country’s Singpass app on their smartphone and use it to verify their identity and licence status, gain access to restricted areas and earn loyalty points when purchasing fuel... More
European Banking Federation lays out principles for a retail digital euro
The proposed retail digital euro should be appropriately designed in collaboration with the private sector, create value for end-users, preserve financial stability and incentivise and enable private sector intermediaries to add solutions and services within the central bank digital currency (CBDC) ecosystem, according to a European Banking Federation (EBF) vision paper... More
Google Wallet begins to roll out in Japan
Google Wallet has launched in Japan, enabling users to store and use their credit, debit, transit and loyalty cards, boarding passes, tickets and other digital credentials on their Android NFC smartphone or Wear OS smartwatch... More
ST releases NFC reader chip with active waveshaping and heartbeat detection
PARTNER NEWS: STMicroelectronics has released an NFC chip that supports active waveshaping and heartbeat detection, enabling developers and manufacturers to create smaller and more efficient contactless payment solutions and ensure devices comply with EMVCo 3.1 specifications... More
Xiaomi files patent for technology supporting contactless QR payments on AR glasses
Chinese electronics manufacturer Xiaomi has filed a patent with the China National Intellectual Property Administration for technology that would enable users of its wearable augmented reality glasses to initiate and authenticate contactless QR code payments. More
Germany to issue contactless monthly passes for unlimited multi-modal travel on transport services nationwide
Public transport users in Germany will soon be able to purchase a physical or digital contactless travel pass that will enable them to make unlimited journeys on local and regional public transport services across the entire country for a fixed monthly fee... More
Landmark London building rolls out support for employee IDs in Apple Wallet for contactless entry
Apple users working in landmark City of London skyscraper 22 Bishopsgate can now gain access to the building, their workplace and shared amenities with a tap of their iPhone or Apple Watch using a digital employee badge stored in Wallet... More
ST explains how smart home device makers can use NFC to offer a better user experience
KNOWLEDGE CENTRE: A new white paper from STMicroelectronics that sets out the benefits to both device manufacturers and consumers of using NFC to enhance, simplify and secure smart home applications is now available to download from the NFCW Knowledge Centre... More
Indian rapid transit system to trial digital rupee for contactless parking payments
Passengers using rapid transit services operated by Kochi Metro in the Indian state of Kerala will soon be able to make contactless parking payments with the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) as part of a digital rupee pilot programme launched by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)... More
In-store mobile and wearable transaction values in Italy rise by 122% to hit US$17.5bn
Consumers in Italy used their smartphones or wearable devices to make in-store contactless payments worth a total of €16.3bn (US$17.5bn) in 2022, an increase of 122% compared with 2021, according to the Innovative Payments Observatory (IPO) at Milan Polytechnic University... More
US Department of Agriculture to put state benefits on mobile phones in five states
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is to enable citizens entitled to financial support under its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri and Oklahoma to receive benefits and make NFC or QR code payments for eligible purchases on their mobile device... More
Cilab adds shmoo plot feature that lets engineers visualize an NFC terminal’s RF field in just ten minutes
PARTNER NEWS: NFC testing innovator Cilab has added a feature to its high speed tester that enables NFC terminal manufacturers to quickly and easily test a device’s RF field by making it visible in the form of a shmoo plot, 3D plot and intensity chart... More
ANZ to run central bank digital currency pilot at Australian universities
The Australia and New Zealand Bank (ANZ) is to pilot the use of a prototype central bank digital currency (CBDC) for offline transactions using pre-loaded contactless cards at RMIT University in the Australian city of Melbourne and Southern Cross University in New South Wales... More
Mahajati picks Ixkio to authenticate artworks with NFC
EXHIBITOR NEWS: Singapore-based Islamic wood-carving specialist Mahajati has selected ixkio’s NFC tag management platform to enable purchasers of its unique artworks to verify the authenticity of the product and provide proof of ownership by scanning an NFC authentication tag with their smartphone... More
European Central Bank sets out timeline for digital euro rollout
The European Central Bank (ECB) has laid out plans for a staggered rollout of a digital euro that would begin with the bank initially releasing the central bank digital currency (CBDC) for use in person-to-person and ecommerce transactions... More
Nine in ten businesses to increase spending on digital identity verification
Nine in ten businesses across the finance, technology, telecoms and aviation sectors worldwide (91%) plan to increase their spending on identity verification (IDV) technology in the next one to three years, with one in three intending to increase their IDV budget by 20% over that period, an international business survey has found... More
Aegean Airlines speeds up boarding with government digital ID
Passengers travelling on domestic flights operated by Aegean Airlines and its subsidiary Olympic Air in Greece can now verify their identity when boarding using government-issued digital ID credentials stored on their Apple or Android smartphone rather than a physical ID card or passport... More