Is Flutterwave’s GlovePay Anything More than Just an April Fool’s Prank?

April 1, 2019

Is Flutterwave’s GlovePay Anything More than Just an April Fool’s Prank?

Nigerian payments company, Flutterwave just unveiled a futuristic payment technology which has gotten many people bemused. The technology is essentially a system that enables people make payments with just a handshake. Literarily people can just shake hands and complete a transaction.

"I don't have change", "I forgot my ATM card", "Our PoS is down," are now outdated sentences because we've changed the game! Say hello to #GlovePay. #ShakeToPay

Read more: https://t.co/XWPwrWAdLS pic.twitter.com/dreVedlsqB

— Flutterwave (@theflutterwave) March 31, 2019

How crazy is that?!

Called GlovePay, the handshake payment is powered by Internet-of-Things (IoT) enabled glove.

As explained in a video, once users wear the glove, they can make payments anytime by shaking other users who have the gloves. Users immediately receive alerts for the transaction on their devices. But why would I want to use a glove when I already have a smartphone?

This sounds pretty RAD! And according to the company, GlovePay will completely takeout excuses like “no change” or “I forgot my ATM.” But like someone asked, which is easier to forget, an ATM which most people keep in their wallets anyway, or a hand glove which many people don’t know what to do with?

In a blog post, Flutterwave says it will distribute GlovePay to users once fully available. But it says only the first 1000 people will get it for free.

All in all, the GlovePay sounds too good to be true. For one thing, the glove really does not have any keypads that we know of. And if there are no keypads, how will users enter payment amount?

Since Flutterwave didn’t give any practical explanation about how GlovePay really works, let’s think about this for a bit.

In the promo video, the glove has a barcode signature. Now the glove is supposedly internet-enabled (who pays for the internet subscription?), and this means the barcode could be scanned by the Flutterwave app.

After scanning, a user’s Flutterwave account could be synced with the glove; piece of cake. So when you’re about to make payment and you want to enter the amount… oops, you can’t, there are no keypads.

And even worse, what about security? No keypads, don’t forget. So how will I input passwords, OTP’s and whatnot? Or will GlovePay use my DNA to stop other users from making payments with my glove? How will it get my DNA in the first place?

This is super weird and many people believe this is nothing more than an April Fools Prank!

Since the announcement was made on March 30, users have been having a field day. Reactions have been mostly funny, while others have been quite skeptical.

Believe it or not, the average Nigerian is fetish. The idea of shaking every Tom, dick and Harry just because of payment won’t really sit well with most.
Now, let’s talk about that iPhone X this keke driver is using 😂

— MIST’UCHE◾️ (@ManLikeMarv_) March 31, 2019

In this Nigeria? Shake hands and your 'private part' will go missing. 😂😂

— Zen-Guy (@kenechukvvu) March 31, 2019

So I’ll forget atm at home but remember to take or wear glove outside, inside this hot Lagos. 🙄

— …and 100 others (@Ooni_of_Lagos) March 31, 2019

Pls don’t forget say Na dishwashing gloves abi Na construction gloves 🤣🤣🤣

— V'Ateliers Imagery Solutions (@vateliersimages) March 31, 2019

But it's not April 1st till tomorrow nah. 🙄

— Muyiwa Matuluko (@MuyoSan) March 31, 2019

Lol.. is this an April Fools’ joke?

— Joshua Oluwagbemiga 🇳🇬 (@JoAccord) March 31, 2019

Keke man wey de use iphone X … issok 😂

— Jaykay 💻 (@iam_JayKay) March 31, 2019

Why so serious……….

Glove payment has so many downsides including stolen gloves, dirty gloves among others….it's so so not secure…..lol.

— Dess (@afrocryptoman) March 31, 2019