​It's one of the busiest afternoons of the year at Melbourne's Queen Victoria Market, and the queue ahead of me progresses ever slowly as punters fumble for wallets to retrieve cash or cards. After waiting for what seems like an eternity, I finally make my way to the counter and order a drink. I tell the bartender that I'll pay via tap-and-go, and watch the look of surprise on his face as I remove my sunglasses and tap them on the terminal to pay.

The total transaction is accomplished in mere seconds; there's no reaching into my back pocket to retrieve a card, or punching in a PIN on my smartphone. These are no ordinary sunglasses though. They're called WaveShades – an Aussie-made prototype using the new Curl contactless payment system. 

WaveShades were launched at the recent St Jerome's Laneway Festival, where organisers allowed test users to pay for their bar tab or munchies with a wave of their sunnies.

The concept for Curl first came to Australian entrepreneur Peter Colbert, founder and CEO of Inamo, after he'd been surfing with friends.  Fresh out of the water and still in his wetsuit, he met a friend for coffee but neither of them could pay. This light-bulb moment led to the creation of Curl, a small, waterproof chip nestled in a rubber holder that easily slips onto a smart-watch, fitness-band or key ring.

While the Curl technology is currently only used as a payment method, there are plans afoot to extend its usage. This could be entry to your gym, a replacement for paper concert tickets, unlocking your car or home, or for public transport.

The chip itself is tiny, measuring 25mm by 15mm, and fits snugly into a rubber holder. The WaveShades simply feature a blackened version of the chip glued to one arm of the glasses. Future devices will likely see the chip built inside products.

While Mr Colbert is the brains behind the concept, he worked with Oberthur technologies to develop the waterproof chip itself. Curl has partnered with Visa, so can be used at any Visa tap-and-go-enabled point of sale without cost to the user and is covered by the Visa's insurance policies.

"The possibilities for our platform are virtually unlimited," Mr Colbert said. "I believe there is a great opportunity to lead the way in moving people's wallets to wearables." 

Inamo has been approached by several companies to integrate Curl into other products.

With devices like the Curl making payment easier than ever, the road to a cashless economy is likely to be travelled much quicker than imagined.