Today's Article

Guo Rizen, Vice General Manager, Weixin Pay Industry Application: We're hoping that palm payments can save people the trouble of carrying physical items like cards and keys so that our lives become more convenient. 

CNN Correspondent: Here at Tencent's headquarters in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, the technology is used across the building from the cafeteria to the gym. Guo Rizen oversees the lab that began developing this technology in 2019. He says the double verification of palm prints and veins helps prevent identity 11theft. 

Guo Rizen: With face scanning technology, people can look a lot like each other, like twins. But with palm payments, even brothers and sisters who look alike have unique palm prints and veins. 

CNN Correspondent: Tencent began 12rolling out this tech in early 2023. It's now being tested in convenience stores at Shenzhen University and in local gyms. The co-founder of this gym chain says nearly 2000 members have registered to use the system. 

Xia Jinglong, Co-founder, Supermonkey: Before this, our users needed to enter a password to open the door, then use their smartphone to check in and 13make purchases. Now they can just use their palm. 

CNN Correspondent: Biometric payment systems are nothing new, from fingerprint to 14facial recognition, these services have been around for years, including palm scanning technology. In 2020, Amazon began rolling out this palm payment service at Whole Foods supermarkets in the U.S. But concerns have been raised about biometric payment systems around data, security and privacy, both in China and abroad. 

“When you 15amass huge amounts of people's most sensitive information, their biometric data, you're creating a kind of 16honeypot, which cybercriminals kind of lick their lips so bad and really want to 17access.”