Authentication company Nymi, in collaboration with TD Bank Group and MasterCard, today announced the completion of what it calls the world's first biometrically authenticated, wearable credit card payment using one's heartbeat.

The first payment was made as part of a pilot on Friday, July 10. 

Over 100 TD users in Toronto, Ottawa and Regina will be testing the Nymi Band's contactless payment functionality until the end of the summer, as part of this closed payment pilot. Other participating Canadian banks are scheduled to launch similar pilots later this year, and Nymi expects several thousand payments to be made using the Nymi Band during this time, according to the announcement.

Nymi said its Nymi Band is a secure and continuous wearable authenticator that identifies a user based on their unique heartbeat (or electrocardiogram) through proprietary Nymi technology called HeartID, according to the announcement. Nymi said it has developed an NFC-enabled prototype of the Nymi Band for these pilots, which is linked to a user's MasterCard. In doing so, participants can utilize the Nymi Band to make secure, contactless payments using payment terminals found at many retailers.

Karl Martin, Nymi's Founder and CEO explains, "Nymi's goal is to fundamentally change the way authentication is treated and to move industries towards a more secure and convenient identity model. By working with partners like TD and MasterCard, we are effectively demonstrating that continuous authentication can be a more secure and convenient way to make retail payments."