Many companies are developing and implementing payment systems that use fingerprints, eye scans, blood veins, and heartbeats as payment methods. These methods may well replace the traditional, and easily stolen, plastic credit cards that carry your personal information.

Currently, banks are issuing credit cards that have both the magnetic strip of information and a computer chip embedded in them with personal information; But, they are refusing to demand users input a PIN to access their credit. In their opinion,  it is too much of an imposition to force consumers to both sign a receipt and type in a four-number code to ensure their personal information safety.

Biometric Security, is the idea of linking between a person’s unique physical signatures, such as heartbeat or iris prints, to their credit card information. Similar to Apple’s fingerprint scanning technology on the iPhone; The same technology could be used for payment systems.

Bionym has created a device known as Nymi, which has a heartbeat-monitoring armband that can link with a payment terminal to authorize a purchase. The Nymi armband does not even transmit biometric information; instead it confirms a person’s identity through the heartbeat, then encrypts the necessary credit information that can only be read by a payment terminal that reads heartbeats.

Bionym says the Nymi could replace many other items the average consumer carries, such as car keys. The information that can be stored in the Nymi and accessed only through the signature heartbeat is nearly endless.

“You can leave your phone and wallet at home, go for a run, pick up a coffee and snack and return home,” said Bionym president Andrew D’Souza to Mashable.com.

First seen on: http://www.businessinsider.com/

Would YOU use your own heart beat to replace your passwords?