Register in the App for One-Second Payments...
Too Fast to Capture on Camera
"Virtual Asset Service to Be Introduced in Line with Regulatory Pace and Direction"
"Customer Images Encrypted and Secure... No Plans for Marketing Use"
Toss has officially launched its facial recognition payment service, "Toss FacePay," declaring its intention to take the lead in the offline market. The company announced its goal to absorb as many of its 30 million cumulative Toss application subscribers as possible and increase the current user base, which stands at 400,000, to several million by the end of the year.
A person experiencing Toss FacePay payment. It took less than a second to complete the payment, and the speed was so fast that it was difficult to capture a press photo approving the reporter's face. Photo by Moon Chaeseok
FacePay is a service that allows users to register their face and payment method in the Toss application, enabling payment at stores simply by looking at the terminal.
Toss has set a goal not just to distribute terminals, but to establish a new standard for offline payments. The company also announced plans to collaborate with a wide range of industries, including convenience stores, cafes, restaurants, movie theaters, and fashion, beauty, and electronics retailers.
When the reporter tried the service, registering a photo in advance on the Toss app allowed the terminal to recognize the face and complete the payment in less than one second. The payment speed was so fast that it was difficult to capture the face recognition process in a press photo. There was no need to take out a card, cash, or mobile phone.
Vice President Kyuin Oh of Toss is giving a presentation titled "FacePay, Now for Expansion" at the Toss FacePay press conference held on the 2nd at SJ Kunsthalle in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Photo by Chae-seok Moon
Toss FacePay is spreading rapidly. The number of subscribers surpassed 400,000 just six months after the pilot operation began in March. Toss has set a goal to increase the number of affiliated stores to 300,000 this year and 1 million next year. Through this, the company aims to strengthen its leadership in the offline facial recognition payment market ahead of competitors such as Shinhan Card and Naver Pay.
Toss Place, a subsidiary of Toss that provides payment terminal and point-of-sale (POS) solutions, is responsible for distributing the terminals. At the event, Toss unveiled two new devices, "Toss Front View" and "Toss Front Cam," expanding the lineup alongside the existing flagship terminal, "Toss Front." The plan is to accelerate the spread of FacePay by offering various options tailored to store environments.
"Toss Front" is a universal terminal that supports all types of simple payments, including FacePay. "Front View" enables FacePay support by adding it to existing terminals without replacement, while "Front Cam" can be attached to the top of kiosks, allowing the service to be used in existing environments.
Along with distributing payment terminals, Toss also introduced an open platform called "App in Toss." With App in Toss, users can search for stores, make reservations, and check benefits within the Toss app, and complete payments on-site with FacePay in just one second. After payment, automatic point accumulation, coupon issuance, and repeat visit reservations are seamlessly connected.
Vice President Oh explained, "Toss Place, which distributes terminals, App in Toss, which provides store-specific services, and FacePay will be organically integrated to unify the user's offline payment experience."
Junho Choi, Technical Product Owner (TPO) at Toss, is giving a presentation on "Toss's Innovation in Payment Experience" at the Toss FacePay press conference held on the 2nd at SJ Kunsthalle in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Photo by Chae-seok Moon
Toss drew a clear line, stating that there is no need to worry about security issues. The company said it has implemented various security technologies, including "liveness" to verify real people, a "facial recognition model" to detect facial changes, and an FDS to detect abnormal transactions. Toss emphasized that it is the only facial recognition payment service to pass the preliminary adequacy review of the Personal Information Protection Commission. All data is encrypted and managed in a network-segregated environment, and a proactive compensation system is in place in case of fraudulent payments.
Even in the event of an external hacking attempt, customer information is encrypted and managed to prevent data leakage.
Junho Choi, Technical Product Owner (TPO) at Toss, explained, "We do not store the original image registered by the customer at the time of initial sign-up in a form that can be decrypted; instead, we manage it in an encrypted format. Since all data networks are separated, unless the entire Toss system is hacked, it is structurally impossible for original customer data to be leaked." He added, "We can only use images for marketing purposes with customer consent, but we have no plans to do so."
The introduction of virtual asset payment support services will be pursued cautiously in line with the speed and direction of financial authorities' regulations. When asked about reports that latecomers such as Naver Pay are considering including virtual asset payment support in their facial recognition payment systems, Vice President Oh replied, "I understand that the government is leading the legislation on virtual assets. We (Toss) also plan to introduce a virtual asset support system in accordance with these developments."
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