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Are chip implants the payment method of the future?

Kai Ryssdal May 24, 2016
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An employee of internet security company Kaspersky Lab has a microchip implanted in the area between his thumb and the index finger during a Kaspersky Lab press conference on biological, psychological and technological implications of microchip implants ahead of the opening of the 55th IFA (Internationale Funkausstellung) electronics trade fair in Berlin on September 3, 2015.  JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP/Getty Images

Are chip implants the payment method of the future?

Kai Ryssdal May 24, 2016
An employee of internet security company Kaspersky Lab has a microchip implanted in the area between his thumb and the index finger during a Kaspersky Lab press conference on biological, psychological and technological implications of microchip implants ahead of the opening of the 55th IFA (Internationale Funkausstellung) electronics trade fair in Berlin on September 3, 2015.  JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP/Getty Images
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You’ve surely noticed, standing in line at the grocery store or pretty much anywhere, that there are an increasing variety of different ways to pay for whatever it is you’re buying.

There’s cash, but that’s so boring. You could swipe, or chip, nowadays. There are also apps. And then at some point in the perhaps not too distant future, just waving your hand in front of a reader, because you’ve gotten a chip implanted in your hand.

Charlie Warzel did it, a tiny grain-of-rice-sized chip in that fleshy bit between his index finger and his thumb and wrote about it for BuzzFeed. Click on the audio player above to hear about Warzel’s experience.

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