Some religious and internet subcultures interpret payment implants, biometric IDs, or wearables on the hand as fulfilling imagery from the Book of Revelation (the “mark” on the hand or forehead required to buy and sell).
How IRING.SI treats this
Documented: people genuinely make this argument in sermons, forums, and videos when new payment tech appears.
Not documented as fact: that any specific smart-ring vendor is implementing a prophetic system, or that Tolkien wrote his Ring as a coded forecast of NFC chips.
The responsible approach is dual: respect that the fear is meaningful to believers, and insist on evidence when claims jump from “this reminds me of X” to “this is X.”
Technology ethics still matter—consent, exclusion of the unbanked, vendor lock-in—without needing apocalyptic certainty.