IDEX and Reltime Collaborate On Crypto-focused Web3 Biometric Card

IDEX Biometrics has pivoted its biometric payment card expertise to the world of web3. The company has teamed up with Reltime to develop a new payment card solution that can also act as a digital asset wallet and a cold storage device.

The cryptocurrency-focused card will be based on the same design foundation as IDEX’s offering in the traditional financial services market: taking the form of a standard payment card, it will feature an embedded fingerprint sensor that can perform a biometric scan during a given transaction, thereby verifying that the registered cardholder is indeed the one seeking to perform the transaction.

In a statement, Reltime CEO Peter Michel Heilmann announced the partnership with the kind of bombast that has come to be associated with the crypto space.

“We see unlimited potential and opportunities by bringing this important, biometric, Web3 feature to Reltime’s Layer 1, Proof of Authority ecosystem in 150 countries,” he said. “With this truly unique card, we are, in fact, solving three of today’s challenges facing our global financial tribe of people and businesses—cold storage, payments and identity—giving them peace of mind from being hacked, scammed, or ripped off.”

Based in Oslo, Reltime is a Decentralized Finance-focused startup that first began experimenting with biometric payment card technology last year, when it announced that it would develop such a solution using Zwipe’s Pay ONE platform. Pay ONE uses IDEX fingerprint sensors, thanks to a partnership between the companies that was announced in 2020.

“The IDEX Biometrics collaboration with Reltime creates new opportunities for payment cards and digital authentication, bringing additional markets and new revenue streams,” commented IDEX Biometrics CEO Vince Graziani. “We are looking forward to working with Reltime to jointly develop and bring to market more innovative biometric technology solutions in response to evolving consumer demand for all-in-one smart cards and solutions safeguarding digital assets, and securely storing them offline.”

The partnership’s announcement comes after major cryptocurrencies experienced a crash during the first half of the year, with Bitcoin having fallen as much as 75 percent from its recent peak. That having been said, IDEX and Reltime’s planned joint solution clearly anticipates the endurance of crypto assets, and there are signs that the markets are stabilizing. In a research note issued earlier this week, JPMorgan suggested that crypto markets have “found a floor”, and predicted a boost in sentiment later this year if the Ethereum blockchain’s planned shift from a “proof-of-work” to a “proof-of-stake” model proves to be successful.

–

Aug. 10, 2022 – by Alex Perala