Motiv is adding heart rate-sensing security features to its smart ring that will enable it to make payments later in the year, the company announced today at CES. The ring has always measured your heart rate for the purposes of tracking your exercise and activity, but now the company wants to measure the heart accurately enough to read it like a fingerprint and verify your identity. Once your identity is verified, the ring can communicate with point-of-sale terminals to authorize payments. Motiv intends to add the new functionality via a software update in the second half of 2019.
The device works based on the theory that everyone’s heart gives off unique signals in their heart rates. Motiv intends to use electrocardiography (EKG) to...