Visa International, Worldwide Olympic Partner since 1986 , launches Visa payment gloves making payments convenient and warm for sports fans warm during the PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games. The credit card company is the exclusive payment card and the official payment system at the Olympic venues, with over 1000 contactless point-of-sale terminals.
Lotte card, the financial division of South-Korean retail giant Lotte Department Store, will be producing the new prepaid wearables, including wooly gloves, a commemorative Olympic pin and NFC stickers.
“We are looking forward to transforming the payment experience for everyone who attends the upcoming Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang,” said Iain Jamieson, Korea country manager at Visa.
From November 9th, the three prepaid wearables allowing safe and secure payment at the South-Korean Olympic venues will be available for purchase.
Commemorative Olympic pin
All four variants of the commemorative Olympic pin, a collectors’ favorite, will allows their owners to pay on-site. The pins will cost KRW5,000 (ca. 5 USD) each. Prepaid amounts of KRW30,000 or KRW50,000 (respectively ca. 27 and 45 USD) can be loaded on them.
Payment-enabled gloves
Gloves will be a must at the Winter Olympics, with temperature in PyeongChang averaging 4.8°C. Like the pins, the gloves will be available including prepaid amounts of. A dual interface chip, housed with a contactless antenna, will be able to complete transactions at the Winter Olympics as well as at compatible readers worldwide.
NFC stickers
These thin and flexible wearables feature an embedded dual interface NFC-chip and antenna. A collection of 8 designs, including the official PyeongChang 2018 mascot and the Korean flag, will be available in denominations of KRW30,000 and KRW50,000, like the pins and gloves, but also of KRW100,000 (ca. 90 USD) and KRW200,000 (ca. 180 USD).
Rio Olympics
Visa already experienced with wearables at the Rio Olympics. A sample of 3000 athletes, artists and journalists used a rubber waterproof bracelet to pay for goods and services inside the venues. The prepaid system did not require the use of a PIN for transactions under 50 Reais (around 15 USD).
An additional 45 Visa-sponsored Olympic athletes wore an NFC ring, using token technology. The Visa Token Service has since been implemented by the smartwatches Fitbit Ionic and Gamin vívoactive 3.
