India's YES Bank has deployed the ToneTag software development kit to enable payments via soundwaves over its YES Pay mobile wallet.
ToneTag utilises the in-built mic or speaker of any device to enable data transfer through soundwaves at merchant terminals which have integrated the technology. The SDK contains features such as patented noise filters, three levels of encryption, tokenisation, white box cryptography and multifactor authentication.
Ritesh Pai, senior president & country head- digital banking at YES Bank, says: “Contactless payments based on sound tones is something we haven’t seen before and is a very interesting concept brought forth by ToneTag. As IoT sees greater investment, consumers will become increasingly reliant on contactless payments , ToneTag is our bet at making YES Pay Wallet future-ready. We are bullish about our alliance with them as we continue to strive in making payments seamless for end users.”
It's not the bank's first stab at sound-based payments. In 2016, YES Bank partnered with Bangalore-based Ultracash Technologie to transfer payment data from one device to the other using ultra-high frequency sound waves.