Rail passengers at Tokyo and Yokohama stations in Japan can now order, collect and pay for coffee made by a six-armed AI-powered robot barista — known as Ella — at a fully automated contactless coffee shop... More
Customers using a Sainsbury’s contactless convenience store in London can now take the products they want to purchase from the shelves and charge their purchases to their credit or debit card without needing to scan them with their smartphone or visit a checkout by using a new feature on the UK retailer’s SmartShop app... More
Emirates Post Group is issuing a set of four “crypto stamps” in both physical and blockchain-enabled digital form that purchasers can authenticate by scanning an NFC chip embedded in the physical version with their smartphone... More
Customers at two Ikea outlets in Brisbane, Australia, can now use their mobile device to scan the products they want to buy while they shop and then pay on their way out without needing to unload and reload their shopping cart at the checkout... More
Consumers in the Berkshires region of western Massachusetts in the US will soon be able to make in-store and online purchases and carry out person-to-person transactions using a digital version of the BerkShares local currency... More
The British Standards Institute (BSI) has launched a digital object identification (DOI) system that enables users to access information about individual building products and verify their origin and identity at every stage of the supply chain and construction process by scanning an NFC/RFID tag or QR code... More
Customers of Russia-based bank VTB can now use a digital debit or credit card to make contactless cash withdrawals from its ATMs using their iOS or Android device... More
Residents of Singapore can now add a digital version of their Covid-19 vaccination certificate to their Android device and access it from Google Pay or by adding a shortcut to their device’s home page... More
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) has begun a nationwide rollout of the LankaQR digital payments solution that enables consumers to make payments to merchants and service providers directly from their bank account by scanning a QR code with their mobile device... More
Residents of Canada can now download and store a digital version of the country’s new federal proof of Covid-19 vaccination card on a mobile device that supports the Smart Health Card format... More
Passengers using bus services in the city of Boise and the Treasure Valley region of the US state of Idaho can now purchase and store tickets and passes in a preloaded transit wallet and then pay their fares by either tapping a contactless smartcard or scanning a QR code stored on their mobile device at an onboard validator... More
Concert-goers attending events at entertainment venues across North America will soon be able to check in and check out coats, bags and other items at the cloakroom with a tap of their NFC-enabled Apple or Android device rather than using a paper ticket... More
Apple users can now store and display a card verifying their Covid-19 vaccination status in Apple Wallet as well as in the Health app on their iPhone... More
Residents of the United Arab Emirates will soon be able to use their face to authenticate their identity when accessing a range of on- and offline services across the public and private sectors... More
UK supermarket chain Tesco has opened its first checkout-free store in central London, enabling customers to check in at the store entrance with a smartphone app, select the products they want and leave without needing to scan their purchases or pay for them at the checkout... More
Delhi Transport Department is to begin issuing drivers in the Indian capital with digital driving licences and vehicle registration certificates in the form of QR code-enabled contactless smart cards that link to records held on central online databases... More
Commonwealth Bank of Australia and National Australia Bank as well as supermarket chains Coles and Woolworths and fintechs Azupay, Beem It and Merchant Warrior have confirmed they will support the rollout of the national QR payments and rewards platform developed by Australia’s Eftpos payments system... More
Customers of ABN Amro in the Netherlands can now make contactless cash withdrawals from ATMs via their mobile banking app without needing to use their debit card... More
California has released the code for both the front end and middle tier of its Digital Covid-19 Vaccine Record into the public domain to enable other US states to deploy their own digital vaccination record systems more quickly... More
French citizens will soon be able to verify their identity when accessing a range of secure online services — including opening a bank account, filing a tax return and paying for their health insurance — by scanning their updated Carte Nationale d’Identité Électronique (CNIE) eID card with their NFC-enabled smartphone... More
