Biometric authentication will be used to secure $2.5 trillion in mobile payment transactions by 2024, a tenfold increase from the $228 million forecast for 2019, according to a new report from Juniper Research. 

The report indicated that 90% of smartphones will have some form of dedicated biometric hardware, however, only about 30% of these devices will be used to authenticate contactless payments. The report cited the projected rise in contactless cards, which will be widely used instead of contactless smartphones. 

"Biometrics has traditionally been used for in-person contactless payments," analyst James Moar, who authored the research, said in a company release. "However, with an increase in the need for smooth authentication on all (mobile) commerce channels, we anticipate over 60% of biometrically verified payments be made remotely by 2024."

The report also noted that facial recognition technology will be increasingly used to authenticate transactions, as opposed to fingerprint scanning. 

The report noted that several new payment security standards, including 3D Secure 2.0 requirements for two-factor identification, will drive adoption of biometric use by merchants.

The report noted, however, that most of the growth in biometrics will be found in Android devices, since iOS does not support WebAuthn authentication.