Chinese bank tests biometric hardware wallet for digital yuan payments

China’s large-scale digital yuan testing across several cities continues to gather pace with some financial institution leading the development of hardware wallets for the central bank digital currency.

According to Xinhua news agency, the Postal Savings Bank of China has created a biometric hardware wallet for the project.

The biometric hardware wallet enables easy identity verification for users via fingerprint sensors on the card.

Consumers participating in the CBDC trials in Beijing are also able to use the card to access healthcare services.

Indeed, the Postal Savings Bank of China says the hardware wallet which is still in the testing stage was designed to provide easier access to the CBDC and healthcare services for the elderly without needing to use smartphones, adding:

“With this card, it is much more convenient to enter and exit public places, and you can pay with just one touch. It is especially suitable for the elderly who have difficulty using smartphones.”

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, the Postal Savings Bank of China first began to develop physical wallet cards back in January.

The biometric card is part of a growing list of hardware wallets for the digital yuan. Earlier in February, the Xiong’an branch of the Agricultural Bank of China also developed a hardware wallet for the digital yuan.

Chinese banks and financial institutions have been at the heart of CBDC-linked developments. Apart from creating hardware wallets, the Agricultural Bank of China also launched an ATM pilot program allowing citizens to convert cash to the digital yuan.

Several municipal authorities have also utilized airdrops and lotteries as means of bootstrapping early adoption of the DCEP.