Visa Creates An NFC Mobile Payment Ring For Olympic Athletes

The concept of smart rings have been around for a long time, and at one point it was even speculated that Apple could adopt such technology (although nothing has come to fruition yet). That being said, it looks like the technology could soon become mainstream, thanks to Visa who has launched their own NFC mobile payments ring.

Unfortunately this ring will only be given to Olympic athletes competing at the Rio Olympic games and who are part of Team Visa. The idea is that with the athletes having to keep changing in and out of uniforms for their events, keeping their wallets or their phones on them at all times would be difficult.

However a ring can be worn most of the time meaning that they’ll be able to make purchases and pay for them by waving their hands over the terminal, just like how you would pay using an NFC-enabled credit/debit card or smartphone, except in ring form. Visa will be installing 4,000 NFC-capable terminals around the Olympic venue to help make it more convenient.

Of course whether or not this technology will be made available to regular Visa customers in the future remains to be seen, but we guess it will also largely depend on the feedback they receive, but what do you guys think? Would you prefer using a ring or your phone for mobile payments?

Tyler Lee
Categories: Gadgets
Tags: sports, visa, Wearable Tech