Hitachi and KDDI Corporation are trialling a new blockchain system which enables payments to made using a finger vein scanner, with data stored on the purpose-built blockchain.
In this experiment, KDDI and two Hitachi employees will be in a KDDI managed store in Shinjuku, and Mr. Donuts Takadanobabo Yamaguchi shop.
After user registration, identification by finger vein authentication and authentication in person, they will carry out a series of transactions using the existing coupon system.
By doing this, Hitachi and KDDI will verify the blockchain biometric ID authentication infrastructure, and verify the processing time and convenience of user registration and personal authentication.
Recently, block chains are being considered for various fields as well as financial services.
Block chains, on the other hand, are said to be suitable for securely sharing information among multiple companies, but because they are a base that can be traded without mediation by a third party organization, management of IDs and passwords in identity authentication creates a challenge.
In this trial, the coupon settlement system using Hitachi’s public type biometric authentication infrastructure (PBI), based on personal identification is installed on the environment of Hyperledger Fabric, a representative block chain infrastructure.
(Join Peter Jones, Deputy General Manager for Hitachi Europe as he discusses how the veins in your finger could be the key to the future of security. Courtesy of Hitachi and YouTube.)
Hitachi intends to verify its effectiveness.
Unlike traditional biometric authentication technology, PBI does not need to preserve biological information itself such as finger vein and can complete authentication using public key converted to data difficult to decode.
Additionally, Hitachi’s proprietary technology, which cooperates with PBI and block chains, enables automatic generation of electronic signature with characteristic data of biometric information with low risk of theft and leakage as a secret key.
As a result, the user can authenticate themselves by holding the finger registered on the authentication infrastructure, rather than present the coupon at the store, and the coupon can be used even without the smartphone.
Because the process is anticipated to settle payment by hand, the aim is to shorten the processing procedure and time of using coupons, with an expectation of improvement to user convenience and satisfaction.
As coupon usage information recorded in the block chain is extremely difficult to tamper with, it is easy to share coupon usage history securing reliability between KDDI and affiliated stores, and payment according to the number of coupon users is highly accurate
KDDI and Hitachi will continue to support the creation of added value by enterprises by establishing and examining new business models to realize new services in various fields.
