- Future of biometric payments and digital ID taking shape
Palm vein biometrics are gaining popularity for in-store payments, with Mastercard deploying the technology to a retail chain in Uruguay and Amazon adding remote enrollment for its Amazon One palm biometrics payment system through a mobile app. Japan is also adding support for digital wallets to its My Number national digital ID system, starting with Apple Wallet next spring. Estonia’s mature digital government makes high uptake of its EU Digital Identity Wallet quite likely.
Mobile driver’s licenses represent a major opportunity to move towards decentralized digital identity, but complex standards need to be orchestrated. For mDLs and digital wallets to be adopted, they need to be interoperable, trusted by issuers and relying parties by wallets. Germany has selected Sphereon, Ubique Innovation, Animo Solutions, Governikus, Tice, and Authada to participate in its EUDI Wallet prototype design competition, with teams from Google, Samsung, Kaprion, Lissi, and wwWallet chosen for the non-funded track.
Customer Futures’ Jamie Smith argues that eIDAS 2.0 is an opportunity to tread a new path in digital identity, empowering businesses with direct access to trustworthy information and people with more control and data privacy. Humane AI seems unlikely to be the next big thing in consumer electronics or biometric wearables, especially when it’s on fire. Cybersecurity giant Gen Digital is running an identity verification pilot for employee onboarding with reusable digital credentials in partnership with Accenture.
Nepal is progressing through a digital transformation that has already enabled online birth registration in most of the country. The government has a plan to promote the use of its biometric ID cards. Hypr has raised $30 million from a venture capital investor to fuel the development of cryptographic tech for protecting passwordless authentication and identity assurance tools from the threat of generative AI. Facebook is turning on biometric facial age estimation from Yoti for users in Australia, following a successful rollout on Meta’s Instagram and in anticipation of a global rollout.
