Near-infrared, because the surface of a hand is not a secret.
Anyone can photograph a palm. The vein pattern under the skin shows only under near-infrared light, which is why HathPay enrols and pays on purpose-built terminals and never on a phone camera.
Built from parts you can inspect.
The prototype uses a camera without an infrared filter, a ring of 850 nm illumination and local compute, so capture geometry and light are controlled rather than left to the room.
What each sensor actually sees.
| Ordinary camera | HathPay NIR terminal | |
|---|---|---|
| What it reads | Palm lines on the skin surface | Vein pattern beneath the skin |
| Fooled by a photograph | Yes | Vein contrast does not appear in an ordinary photo |
| Light | Whatever the room provides | Its own controlled illumination |
| Capture position | Varies with every hand and phone | Fixed geometry, guided placement |
| Device identity | Unknown | Signed, approved, revocable |
Today's software demonstration captures with an ordinary webcam so the whole journey can be shown end to end. That is exactly why it is not the production sensor. Anti-spoof testing on the NIR terminal comes before any real money.
From a prototype to a module in every till.
HathPay should end up inside existing checkout hardware rather than beside it. Each step is proven before the next is built.
See it working, end to end, in thirty minutes.
Activation in a bank app, enrolment at a branch terminal and a palm payment settled through a simulated bank. Then the architecture and the pilot plan.