Credit Cards Begone! Paying With Just Our Fingernails… What 2025 Could Bring

Technology is surpassing our wildest imaginations on a daily basis and now it looks like we could be waving goodbye to our everyday necessities like our debit and credit cards, in favour of a more “technological approach”.

Around four in 10 people believe that innovations in technology will enable them to do away with their wallets by 2025, a new survey found.

The study also showed that people believe mobile payments will become an increasingly mainstream option, with seven out of 10 expecting to use the method in 13 years.

Just over half of the 4,000 adults surveyed expect to be able to pay for their purchases by scanning their thumbprint by 2025.

Ian Pearson, who produced the report for the British Payment Council examining the possible future of payments, said security concerns could hold back the possibility of us paying with our thumbs. He explained that it is relatively easy to get hold of someone else’s fingerprints.

He suggested that it could be improved if the method was alongside with printing unique electronic information onto a fingernail.

His report, Pay Your Way 2025: Future Payments, also suggested that possible payment methods could include people using digital jewellery such as rings or badges to transfer money. Our jewellery could be worth a whole lot more than what it’s worth now…

However, two thirds of people surveyed admitted they believe they will still be using cash in fifteen years’ time.

We’re hoping the cash payment tradition will stick around for a while… it would be too easy to start impulse-buying with just our fingernail…