Handwave has expanded its agreement with Visa to support secure card onboarding within its palm-based payment platform.
The expanded partnership builds on an earlier collaboration between the two companies that centred on Visa's Token Management Service (TMS) for tokenised biometric payments.
Under the agreement, Handwave will integrate Visa's tokenisation and authentication technology to link payment cards to a user's palm, replacing card data with digital tokens intended to protect consumers and merchants during transactions. Handwave will also gain access to Visa's fraud prevention and risk management tools, including Visa's Decision Manager, which supports real-time transaction monitoring.
According to the companies, this initiative is intended to bring biometric payments in line with the security and compliance standards applied to card payments while maintaining a fast checkout process.
Consumer attitudes towards biometric payments
According to the official press release, the announcement references research published by Handwave in March 2026, which found that nearly half of US consumers would consider adopting palm-based payments if security and privacy safeguards were in place. The research also pointed to a generational divide in trust: 46% of respondents aged 25 to 34 said they trust biometric recognition methods, such as facial or fingerprint verification, for payments or loyalty programme claims, compared with 28% of those aged over 55.
Across all age groups surveyed, 48% said they would use palm-based payments regularly if data handling practices were assured, indicating that trust in security remains central to broader adoption.
Expansion across European markets
Beyond the technology integration, Visa will support Handwave with market development, marketing activities, and data-driven insights aimed at expanding the biometric payment platform across European markets beyond the Baltics, which serve as the initial launch region. The two companies are also working towards making the solution available within the Visa Acceptance Platform, which would allow acquirers and merchants already connected to Visa's infrastructure to integrate Handwave's biometric payment offering.
Handwave stated it is in discussions with banking and retail partners in the Baltics to prepare pilot programmes for palm-based payments in retail settings, with production deployments expected within 2026.
Commenting on the expanded agreement, Oskars Lakšēvics, Chief Revenue Officer at Handwave, said the collaboration was intended to make onboarding a user's palm and payment card a fast process, supported by infrastructure designed to meet international standards for security and compliance. Moreover, Juris Paegle, Country Manager for Visa in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, said the partnership was intended to support biometric payment experiences while maintaining the security and choice expected of Visa's network.
