Given to 45 “Team Visa” Olympic hopefuls, the rings feature Visa token technology, a design from McLear & Co. that includes a secure microchip made by Gemalto, with an embedded NFC-enabled antenna.
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The credit card giant is offering up a new NFC-enabled payment ring to Team Visa athletes, no doubt inspired by the fact that those super aerodynamic track and field uniforms don’t really offer much in the way of pocket room. That being said, it looks like the technology could soon become mainstream, thanks to Visa who has launched their own NFC mobile payments ring. The technology and banking industry, is calling it a brilliant marketing strategy for its global brand identity at the worldwide event with which 207 countries are engaging in.
Visa, the exclusive payment provider at the Olympic and Paralympic Games, unveiled a payment wearable ring backed by a Visa account.
“Unlike many other payment wearables, the ring does not require use of a battery or recharging”. Indeed, Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer Missy Franklin is one of the athletes to be given Visa’s new gadget.
While we’ve gotten to the point where we can use our smartphones to make transactions instead of pulling out cards, Visa wants to leave the smartphone in the pocket or holster by allowing the wearer to simply tap the transaction terminal.
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Visa is the only card accepted at the Rio Olympics, which will begin on Aug, 5, and the company is notable for experimenting cutting-edge prototypes in every sponsored event such as the Olympics.
