South Korea’s Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Korean National Police Agency have begun trialling a mobile driving licence prior to a national rollout and as a first step towards the introduction of other state-issued digital ID documents... More
QR Codes
Czech Republic to roll out mobile driving licences and digital IDs
Residents of the Czech Republic will soon be able to store, display and verify digital versions of their identity card and driving licence on their mobile device and will no longer be required to carry physical ID documents if they do so, the Czech government has confirmed in a policy statement... More
Public transport users in the Philippines get NFC top-up for contactless fare payment cards
Public transport users in the Philippines can now top up their Beep prepaid contactless fare payments card directly from their NFC-enabled smartphone... More
FBI warns of cybercrime risks as businesses use QR codes ‘more frequently’ during pandemic
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the US has released a public service announcement (PSA) warning that “cybercriminals are tampering with QR codes” in order to steal data and funds and is advising consumers to “practice caution” when using them... More
UK grocery stores let consumers receive personalised digital vouchers on their smartphone
Customers shopping at Nisa grocery stores across the UK will soon be able to scan selected products with their smartphone in order to receive digital vouchers that entitle them to a discount on those products when they present their ‘voucher wallet’ at the checkout... More
Ports in US and Hong Kong add contactless ‘self-service immigration’ channels using facial recognition
Passengers disembarking from international cruise ships at the US port of New Orleans in Louisiana can now verify their identity on entry to the country using biometric face recognition technology rather than by presenting physical documents to immigration officers... More
TSA to begin Apple digital ID pilot in February
Air passengers with Apple devices will soon be able to verify their identity at Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoints at two US airports by presenting a digital ID document such as their mobile driving licence (mDL) or state ID stored in Wallet... More
Cincinnati airport rolls out contactless retail delivery robots
Passengers travelling from Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in the US can now order food, beverages and travel items sold at retail outlets in the airport’s Concourse B on their mobile device and have their purchases delivered directly to their location by an autonomous delivery robot... More
French government investigates fake Covid-19 vaccination certificates
As many as 110,000 fake digital and paper-based Covid-19 vaccination and test certificates are in circulation in France and more than 400 separate investigations into the generation of fraudulent ‘pass sanitaire’ health passes are underway, France’s Ministry of the Interior has revealed... More
JR East launches contactless coffee shop with AI-powered robot barista
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
Sainsbury’s lets customers ‘just walk out’ of contactless store in London
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
UAE launches blockchain postage stamp with NFC authentication
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
Ikea introduces scan-and-go mobile checkout in Australia
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
US region to get blockchain-powered local digital currency
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
British Standards Institute unveils NFC digital ID system for construction products
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
VTB lets customers make contactless ATM withdrawals with digital bank cards
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
Singapore lets residents store digital Covid vaccination certificates on Android devices
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
Sri Lanka launches national QR code mobile payments solution
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
Canada rolls out federal Covid vaccine card for domestic and international travel
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
Boise rolls out transit wallet, smartcard and mobile app for fare-capped contactless ticketing
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