Mobile bitcoin wallet provider BitPay has announced a new version of its eponymous app that introduces biometric security.
In addition to other features including UI improvements and support for Portuguese, BitPay version 3.1 now features fingerprint-based app locking, along with a new PIN code feature. Announcing the improvement in a blog post, the company called it “a much-requested security and privacy feature for wallets on shared devices.”
It’s a measure that emulates similar security approaches on the leading mobile payment platforms specializing in traditional currencies, Apple Pay and Samsung Pay. Apple pioneered fingerprint-based authentication with its Touch ID system, and while Samsung Pay has supported fingerprint authentication as well, it also now offers iris-based authentication through Samsung’s new Galaxy S8 and S8+ smartphones.
For a cryptocurrency like bitcoin, such security seems all the more important given the purely digital nature of the funds, so many BitPay users will likely appreciate the new biometric lock feature.
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(Originally posted on Mobile ID World)
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