Next generation payments and strong authentication continue to converge, with Fujitsu Frontech North America announcing that its palm vein biometrics solution, PalmSecure, has been chosen to protect all Robocoin kiosks.
Robocoin is a company specializing in Bitcoin and cash dispensing kiosks. Having committed to biometric authentication, Robocoin ATMs require three factors of authentication – phone, PIN and palm vein – that, once submitted, allow for automated 24 hour service to Bitcoin accounts and cash withdrawal needs.
In choosing palm vein authentication, robocoin has picked a notoriously difficult to spoof biometric modality. Fujitsu’s PalmSecure biometric sensors capture palm vein images using near-infrared light. Additionally, because palm vein patterns are subdermal features (like all types of vascular biometrics) forgery is near impossible. The process is contactless, allowing for nuanced deployment – nixing hygiene concerns and germ-averse cultural barriers
Robocoin CEO Jordan Kelley comments on the decision to go with PalmSecure, saying, “We thoroughly researched other forms of authentication, including other biometric technologies, but determined that Fujitsu’s PalmSecure technology met our requirements for 100% successful enrollment and speed of authentication at point-of-service. PalmSecure technology for authentication also projects and is consistent with the image we want to project as an innovative company providing world-class services to our account holders.”
Transaction fraud protection in next generation payment is a space that Fujitsu has recently been interested in. Regular readers of FindBiometrics will recall that this same PalmSecure technology is a key component in the PulseWallet, a naked payment option that allows registered users to pay with nothing but the scan of a palm.
Randy Fox, vice president of currency handling and identification product solutions at Fujitsu Frontech North America expands: “We are very excited that a cutting-edge company like Robocoin in the burgeoning bitcoin space would select Fujitsu’s PalmSecure biometrics technology for positive authentication of their account holders. Fujitsu has a long and proven history of providing unique and innovative services and solutions to the financial industry throughout the world, including North America. Since 1983 in the United States, Fujitsu has provided ATMs and more recently industry-leading OEM bill dispensers and recyclers with the high reliability required for integration into ATMs and other cash handling devices.”
Recently, as part of the Road2BUP summer event, Fujitsu’s PalmSecure technology was featured in an article about biometric payments.
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September 10, 2014 – by Peter B. Counter
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