IDEX Biometrics & Chutian Dragon to Jointly Develop Advanced Digital Currency Solutions

Oslo, Norway – 5 May 2021 - IDEX Biometrics ASA, a leading provider of advanced fingerprint identification and authentication solutions, and Chutian Dragon Co. Ltd. (CTD) today announced an expansion of their ongoing collaboration to include the development of a Digital Currency/Electronic Payment (DC/EP) card based solution supporting the People’s Bank of China initiative. The new, smart card based digital wallet will be secured by IDEX’s TrustedBio fingerprint authentication technologies.

IDEX is a well-established biometric technologies provider, with competitive advantages in biometric performance, system security architecture and convenience, within the rapidly expanding field of secure payment cards. Chutian Dragon, one of Asia’s largest smart card manufacturers, is a leading participant in the Digital Currency/Electronic Payment National Project initiative and, as China accelerates the deployment of Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) infrastructure, well-positioned to be a frontrunner in delivering secure, card-based, digital currency applications. IDEX and Chutian Dragon entered into their initial license and commercialization agreement back in 2019, and have continued to expand the collaboration and partnership to today’s focus on one of the most important initiatives within the Chinese banking community.

By planning and building an infrastructure for mass digital payments, online or offline, China will be providing a solution for the millions of unbanked and underbanked people in China. The card-based digital wallet initiative is intended to be especially beneficial to the nearly 45% of the Chinese population who do not have access to a smartphone, thereby helping to narrow the digital divide in financial services. China’s six largest banks began multi-city trials of Digital Currency/Electronic Payment in December 2020, with enthusiastic consumer response. A mandate to deploy digital currency in time for the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022 will continue to drive the pace of rapid development.  

Fingerprint biometrics are an enabling feature for the card-based form factor of the “digital yuan,” assuring ease of use for safe and secure consumer transactions. Like private cryptocurrencies, central bank sponsored digital currencies, such as the Digital Currency/Electronic Payment initiative, are based on blockchain technology. However, central bank sponsorship fosters confidence in the concept of a digital currency.