Would you implant a tiny debit card chip in your arm?

On the LinkedIn networking site, entrepreneur Vojtek Paprota calls himself a “believer of transhumanism.”

He’s referring to a radical but growing movement that wants people to use technology to evolve beyond their physical limitations.

The British-Polish businessman is the founder of Walletmor, which claims to be the world’s first company to sell contactless bank card chips that can be implanted in people.

The procedure is simple, if bloody, and leaves clients with a small stitch under their wrist.

Once the chip is installed, users no longer need to worry about debit or credit cards. They can wave their hand at a contactless reader to make a purchase. It may sound like a dystopian fantasy, but Walletmor is proof of how fast the payments industry is evolving.

From chip implants to facial recognition software on your mobile phone, this new technology aims to consign cash and bank cards to the history books.

But is it dangerous that this fast-growing sector is going off the deep end? Definitely seems to be Walletmor.

Money Mail can reveal today that the firm, which has been covered by both the BBC and Forbes, has been mired in controversy after it emerged it had been misleading customers.

Mr. Paprotta repurposed the chips from third-party vendor MuchBetter, which is affiliated with Mastercard.

After being alerted to Walletmor’s actions, both companies ceased operations, citing “health and safety” concerns.

In the UK, overnight customer accounts have been closed.

The result? Some of them were left with completely unnecessary chips under the skin. Their only option at the moment is to remove them – although Walletmor insists it is looking into ways to reprogram already implanted chips for future use.

For the first time, a microchip was inserted into a person in 1998. Professor Kevin Warwick, known as Captain Cyborg, connected his nervous system to a computer as part of an experiment.

But otherwise, there was little appetite for commercially available chips – until Walletmor stepped in and started selling them as an alternative to bank cards.

The device is about the size of a grain of rice and costs €200 (£169).

Walletmor could not perform implants, instead referring customers to piercing specialists.

The chip was linked to MuchBetter’s smartphone app where customers could deposit funds. In April, Walletmor boasted on social media that it had been featured in more than 450 articles worldwide.

“The implant can be used to pay for a drink on the beach in Rio, a coffee in New York, a haircut in Paris or the local grocery store,” Mr Paprotta told the BBC earlier this year.

From chip implants to facial recognition software on your mobile phone, new technology aims to consign cash and bank cards to the history books.

But in a Facebook group dedicated to Walletmor’s 434 “ambassadors,” customers regularly post videos of card machines struggling to read their chips.

Gary Prince, director of software strategy at SimplyPayMe, says: “It’s an exciting concept, but for something like this to work, people have to want to use it.

“What is the benefit of hand payment? If it could also be loaded with ID, that would be a different story. But it will also open up a wider debate around privacy.”

Interest in “biometric” payment solutions, which use physical characteristics to identify a customer and authorize a transaction, is steadily growing.

Famous examples include fingerprint and facial recognition technology used by banks, tech giants and even airports to authenticate passports.

In the late 1990s, Nationwide trialled an ATM that could scan eyeballs to confirm identity and allow customers to withdraw money – although it never went beyond an initial trial.

In 2016, Apple Pay introduced “selfie payment,” which allows customers to authorize transactions by taking a photo of their face.

The following year, Santander became the first bank in the UK to implement voice recognition technology. And in 2019, Barclays launched “finger vein scanners” that can identify customers by their fingertips using infrared technology.

It is hoped that these types of technologies can eradicate fraud as criminals are unable to replicate these unique characteristics.

However, card payments are still the most popular payment method, with 1.7 billion debit and credit card transactions recorded in February this year, according to UK Finance.

As for Walletmor, it’s now a sticky mess.

Card payments continue to be the most popular payment method, with 1.7 billion debit and credit card transactions recorded in February this year.

The company says only two customers in the UK have had the chips implanted. Dozens of others have paid but haven’t inserted them yet.

Around the world, hundreds of others received the chips. But they don’t face the same problems because the company uses a different account provider, iCard.

Dmitry Kondratiev, a lawyer specializing in the ethics of body modification, says, “Walletmor’s legal department did an excellent job defending itself according to its terms.

The company is not responsible for any difficulties related to the installation, nor for the correct operation of the bank.”

Walletmor notes that it does not technically offer financial services, meaning it is not subject to regulators such as the Financial Conduct Authority.

Mr Paprotta tells Money Mail: “We ask our users to be patient as the chips work flawlessly in the British Isles as well. Walletmor is a transparent, honest and professional company. We openly promote our ideas of transhumanism. We are not hiding anything and we are acting in accordance with the law.”

The incidents have left Walletmor loyalists divided. Many of his “ambassadors” treat technology like a religion. One wrote on his Facebook page: “I trust Walletmor to solve this issue. Every new technology comes with challenges.”

Others are less forgiving. “What has come to light is a lack of due diligence,” writes one.

“Walletmor did a media tour and confidently stated that they are making implants mainstream. The reality was completely different.”

It’s tempting to give up on those who are so eager to jump on board.

However, around 51 percent of people in Europe and the UK would consider having a chip implanted in their hand in 2021, according to a survey by payment solutions service Marqeta.

But when Money Mail reached out to MuchBetter and Mastercard for a statement about their relationship with Walletmor, their responses were telling.

A Mastercard spokesperson says: “This is not a product we are involved in and do not support. This is an area that requires serious verification to ensure the security of the transaction and the identity.

“We only allow transactions on our network with devices that meet our certification and testing requirements. Human-chip implants do not meet these requirements.’ A MuchBetter spokesperson adds: “We have no relationship with Walletmor, commercial or otherwise. Walletmor infringes MuchBetter’s trademark.”

Firms are clear: without effective regulation, payment implants will never be accepted beyond a small cult of “transhumanist believers.”

h.kelly@dailymail.co.uk