SINGAPORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 12, 2025--
In a global first, Ant International, a leading global digital payment, digitisation, and financial technology provider, has added iris authentication features to Alipay+ GlassPay, its AR glasses-embedded payment solution, through partnerships with leading smart glasses producers.
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Currently, Alipay+ GlassPay integrates multi-modal biometric verification measures including the AI-powered voice interface with intent recognition and voiceprint authentication technology. With the new feature successfully tested on AlipayHK, Alipay+ GlassPay now enables merchants and service providers to create an even smoother, more secure, and more immersive consumer experience via augmented reality. Using the latest innovations in AI and AR (augmented reality) technologies, leading smart glasses manufacturers Xiaomi and Meizu are Ant International's inaugural partners to implement various payment functionalities on smart glasses globally.
Multi-modal secure authentication for AR consumer experience
Riding on rapid advances in AI, smart glasses are emerging as a new gateway for interactive commerce by bridging physical and digital consumer experiences. The device integrates instant try-ons, interactive shopping and simplified checkout wherever the customer is. By industry estimates, consumer adoption of smart glasses could grow almost sevenfold between 2024 and 2029 to 18.7 million units globally 1.
Iris authentication has seen accelerated adoption around the world because of its clear security advantages over other biometric authentication methods. It is resistant to spoofing, thanks to a larger number of distinguishing feature points compared with facial or fingerprint analysis.
Alipay+ GlassPay's iris authentication feature compares over 260 biometric feature points to verify and protect the identity of the user. It uses AI and advanced liveness detection technology to counter fraud attempts using photos, videos, or 3D masks. Using advanced imaging algorithms, the solution accurately verifies user identity in various lighting conditions, offering reliable, zero-contact security with a simple glance throughout the day.
The solution integrates an end-to-end security suite for e-wallets and apps, including a unique personal encryption key scheme to safeguard user data. In accordance with laws and regulations, device manufacturers, digital service providers and technology providers will work together to ensure compliance with security requirements in different markets.
The multi-modal security framework of Alipay+ GlassPay is powered by Ant's gPass, the world’s first trusted connection technology framework for smart glasses, which enables glasses manufacturers and developers to build a secure AI digital services system, innovate new application scenarios for the device, and expand on its utility for consumers. As AI and AR use cases continue to expand, gPass is committed to providing global users with a safer and more convenient experience with smart devices.
New customer engagement and growth avenues for merchants
Building on AR-embedded payment, Alipay+ GlassPay will support merchants and digital platforms to develop a more enriched and efficient consumer experience. For example, smart glasses may help consumers to hail a ride and move seamlessly from a satisfactory offline try-on to an instant online purchase, saving merchant warehousing and logistics costs and improving omni-channel management.
Ant International will introduce the enhanced Alipay+ GlassPay solution to manufacturers, service providers and developers in the Asia Pacific.
Today, Alipay+ connects over 1.8 billion user accounts on 40 mobile payment providers to 100 million merchants across 100+ core markets. With one integration, mobile payment partners can access Alipay+’s expanding toolkits for customer engagement and business growth. Among these, Alipay+ now integrates QR-based and card payments via a global NFC solution. It also enables a full range of agentic AI features including MCP-based AI payments built on Alipay+ GenAI Cockpit, an AI-as-a-Service platform for fintechs.
"Payment remains the foundation of all fintech and all financial services,” said Peng Yang, Chief Executive Officer of Ant International, speaking at the panel on AI roadmaps at the 2025 Singapore Fintech Festival. "Ant International is laser-focused on pushing the frontier of payment from all angles: hardware-embedded consumer services, card+QR interoperability, bank-to-wallet connectivity, AI merchant payment orchestration for agentic commerce, and much, much more. Seamless, real-time, around-the-clock secure global payment will be a main engine for global resilience and growth in a time of great change.”
“We are excited to offer our advanced embedded payment solutions to smart hardware innovators and digital service providers to expand the exciting horizon of augmented-reality commerce. Ant International will continue to push payment innovations across the frontiers of interoperability, agentic AI, and new hardware solutions,” said Jiang-Ming Yang, Chief Innovation Officer, Ant International.
“Xiaomi smart glasses are a key component of Xiaomi's AI terminal strategy. Leveraging Xiaomi's leading advantages in smart personal devices and an ecosystem of diverse use scenarios, we will expand cooperation with partners worldwide to enrich AI-driven lifestyle experience for consumers worldwide," said Zhang Lei, Vice President of Mobile Phone Department and General Manager of Wearable Devices, Xiaomi.
“The ultimate goal of smart glasses is to seamlessly integrate technology into our lives," said Guo Peng, Head of XR Business Unit of Xingji Meizu. "Iris payment solution is a critical step toward this vision — it makes the act of paying feel natural again. However, the more invisible the technology becomes, the more visible the safeguards need to be. In our collaboration with Ant, our focus is not only on achieving faster and more seamless recognition but also on building a comprehensive security framework — from encrypted storage to liveness detection — ensuring the complete protection of users' biometric data. As for smart glasses payment solution, security is not just a feature; it is the very foundation."
About Ant International
With headquarters in Singapore and main operations across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America, Ant International is a leading global digital payment, digitisation and financial technology provider. Through collaboration across the private and public sectors, our unified techfin platform supports financial institutions and merchants of all sizes to achieve inclusive growth through a comprehensive range of cutting-edge digital payment and financial services solutions. To learn more, please visit https://www.ant-intl.com/
1The Rise of Smart Glasses, From Novelty to Necessity, IDC, 21 Jul 2025
Ant International continues to push the frontiers of payment technology, adding to recent developments including AI-powered agentic payments and NFC-based integration of QR and card payments
The enhanced solution improves consumer checkout experience and merchant payment success rate, and opens a new channel for personalised customer interaction
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran kept up its attacks on Persian Gulf neighbors on Wednesday as airstrikes pounded Tehran, while U.S. President Donald Trump again made contradictory statements about whether he was ready to wind down the war or escalate it.
Trump struck a hard line Wednesday in a Truth Social post, demanding that Iran stop blocking the Strait of Hormuz — the waterway vital to global oil supplies — or the U.S. would bomb the Islamic Republic “back to the Stone Ages.” A day earlier, Trump said the U.S. “will not have anything to do with” ensuring the security of ships passing through Hormuz; that was an apparent backtrack from an earlier threat to attack Iran's power grid and other infrastructure if it didn't open the strait by April 6.
Trump, who is scheduled to give a televised address Wednesday evening, said Tuesday he could walk away from the war in two to three weeks once he felt confident Iran would not be able to build a nuclear weapon — even if Tehran does not agree to a ceasefire.
But his latest Truth Social post struck a more belligerent tone as more American troops move into the region for a possible ground offensive after weeks of airstrikes targeting Iran.
Trump also claimed Wednesday that “Iran's New Regime President” wanted a ceasefire. It wasn't clear to whom the U.S. president was referring since Iran still has the same president. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, called Trump's claim “false and baseless,” according to a report on Iranian state television.
Speaking earlier to Al Jazeera, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi signaled Tehran’s willingness to keep fighting. “You cannot speak to the people of Iran in the language of threats and deadlines,” he said. “We do not set any deadline for defending ourselves.”
Since the war began on Feb. 28, Trump has offered shifting objectives and repeatedly has said it could be over soon while also threatening to widen the conflict. Thousands of additional U.S. troops are currently heading to the Middle East, and speculation abounds about the purpose of their deployment.
Just days ago, Trump threatened to attack Iran’s Kharg Island oil export hub. And there has also been speculation about whether the U.S. could decide to send in military forces to secure Iran’s uranium stockpile — a complex and risky operation, fraught with radiation and chemical dangers, according to experts and former government officials.
Adding to the confusion is what role Israel - which has been bombing Iran alongside the U.S. — might play in any of these scenarios.
Trump has been under growing pressure to end the war as oil prices have skyrocketed, pushing up the cost of gasoline, food and other goods. The spot price of Brent crude, the international standard, was up more than 40% since the start of the war, trading at more than $103 a barrel on Wednesday.
A fifth of the world’s traded oil passes through the strait in peacetime, and even if it were to reopen quickly, some effects like higher food prices could persist for months or longer.
The U.S. has presented Iran with a 15-point plan aimed at bringing about a ceasefire, including a demand for the strait to be reopened and for its nuclear program to be rolled back.
Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful. Its own five-point response includes retaining sovereignty over the strait.
In the interview with Al Jazeera, Araghchi acknowledged receiving direct messages from U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff. He insisted, however, that there were no direct negotiations and said Iran has no faith that talks with the U.S. could yield any results, saying “the trust level is at zero.”
He warned against any U.S. attempt to launch a ground offensive, saying “we are waiting for them.”
A cruise missile slammed into an oil tanker off Qatar’s coast Wednesday, the Defense Ministry said. The 21-member crew of the tanker, contracted by state-owned QatarEnergy, was evacuated and no casualties were reported.
A fully-loaded Kuwaiti oil tanker came under attack off Dubai the day before, one of more than 20 ships attacked by Iran during the war.
In the United Arab Emirates, a person was killed when he was hit by debris from an intercepted drone in Fujairah, one of the country’s seven emirates.
Bahrain sounded two alerts for incoming missiles, while Kuwait’s state-run KUNA news agency said a drone hit a fuel tank at Kuwait International Airport, sparking a large fire.
Jordan’s military said it intercepted a ballistic missile and two drones fired from Iran in the last 24 hours. No casualties were reported. Two drones were also intercepted in Saudi Arabia, and air raid sirens sounded in Israel though there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
An airstrike on Tehran, meanwhile, appeared to have hit the former U.S. Embassy compound, which has been controlled by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard since American diplomats were held hostage there in 1979.
Witnesses said buildings outside the massive compound had their windows blown out and that it appears the strike happened inside the walled facility.
Israel also said it hit a plant in Iran producing fentanyl, a synthetic opioid. Israel and the United States have alleged in recent years that Iran was experimenting with using fentanyl in chemical weapons.
Iran acknowledged a strike Tuesday on Tofigh Daru factory, but insisted it only supplied “hospital drugs.” Hospitals use fentanyl to treat severe pain but it can also be fatal.
In Lebanon, at least five people were killed in an Israeli strike on a Beirut neighborhood.
Israel invaded southern Lebanon after the Iran-linked Hezbollah militant group began launching missiles into northern Israel days after the outbreak of the war. Many Lebanese fear another prolonged military occupation.
More than 1,200 people have been killed in Lebanon and more than 1 million displaced, according to authorities. Ten Israeli soldiers have also died there.
In Iran, authorities say more than 1,900 people have been killed, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel. More than two dozen people have died in Gulf states and the occupied West Bank, while 13 U.S. service members have been killed.
Rising reported from Bangkok. Associated Press writers Giovanna Dell’Orto in Miami and Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.
A young girl is comforted by her father and Israeli soldiers as they take cover in a bomb shelter during air raid sirens warning of incoming Iranian missile strikes in Bnei Brak, Israel, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
People inspect the site of an Israeli strike amid debris and damaged vehicles in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
A man feeds stray cats in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
The Indian flagged LPG carrier Jag Vasant transporting liquefied petroleum gas, is seen at the Mumbai Port in Mumbai, India, after it arrived clearing the Strait of Hormuz, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
Firefighters and rescue workers work at the site of Israeli airstrikes, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A firefighter extinguishes a car at the site of Israeli airstrikes, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Israel's rescue teams and residents take shelter as sirens sounds next to a site struck by an Iranian missile in Bnei Brak, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
A police vehicle is seen through a shattered windshield at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Two men ride scooters past charred debris at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
