Latest news with #digitalidentity
Finextra
6 days ago
- Business
- Finextra
EBAday 2025: Authologic wins the Fintech Zone
EBAday 2025 hosted 16 pioneering startups to present their proof of concepts to a panel of judges in Paris, France. 0 This content has been selected, created and edited by the Finextra editorial team based upon its relevance and interest to our community. Authologic were crowned the winners of the seventh annual EBAday Fintech Zone, coming out on top from 16 finalists, who were chosen out of over 70 international applicants. Authologic was developed to "supercharge" existing KYC with e-IDs. Responding to the influx of fraud and deepfakes online, Authologic created a platform where digital identity verification can be seamless and automatic. Without manual checks, and avoiding deepfakes or forged documents, the firm is able to add digital IDs to existing KYC/KYB and AML infrastructure. The goal of Authologic is to build trust back into the internet and make identity reliable, secure, and easy. Authologic's proof of concept was presented by co-founder Jarek Sygitowicz and head of product Florentyna Frend. Responding to the win and providing a snapshot introduction of the business, Sygitowicz said: "Thank you very much. I'm very surprised and humbled. We are building a global e-ID hub, so we are aggregating all the government issued digital IDs, identity wallets and bank IDs into single API. If you are KYC/AML regulated company and you need e-IDs because of eIDAS 2.0 Regulation, come see me and let's chat about business. Thank you!" Each fintech had a ten-minute slot to showcase their products and plan, and were shortlisted based on their innovative and cutting-edge concepts. The finalists this year exhibited dynamic solutions for cross-border payments processing, customer personalisation, financial crime, fraud, compliance, financial advisory, and onboarding processes. The 15 other finalists who presented at the Fintech Zone were: A352 SARL, Adhara Ltd., Adnitio, Bankify Oy, Cavefish, Consilient Inc., Instnt, Izi Payments Limited, KM2 FinCrime Limited, Open Finance AI, pAIscreen Limited, StopCrime GmbH, Tell Money Limited, ToriiPay, and Trustfull. Sitting on the panel of judges at EBAday's Fintech Zone 2025 were: Michael Knetsch, tribe lead instant payments, cash management, Deutsche Bank; Paul Thomalla, non-executive director, Unifits; Teresa Connors, managing director, Payment Matters; John Mitchell, director, Sell IT Better; Vincent Brennan, banking and payments advisor, Accenture; and Kate Frankish, retail banking and payments advisor, Announcing the winning fintech, EBA director Daniel Szmukler said: "We had a really tough time coming down on a final result, because the pitches were so good. So many close runs, but at the end, one stood out a little bit more than the others."
Fox News
7 days ago
- Health
- Fox News
Biometric iris scanning launches in US cities for digital identity
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, known for creating ChatGPT, has launched World, a project that uses an eye scan to prove you are a real person online. The idea is to help people stand out from bots and AI by creating a digital ID with a quick scan from a device called the Orb. While Altman says this technology keeps humans central as AI advances, it also raises serious concerns about privacy and the security of sensitive biometric data, with critics and regulators questioning how this information will be used and protected. World ID relies on a device called the Orb, a spherical scanner that captures a person's iris pattern to generate a unique IrisCode. It stores the code on a blockchain-based platform, ensuring that users can verify their identity without revealing personal details. Once scanned, individuals receive their World ID, which can be used for authentication across various platforms where the World ID protocol has been integrated, including Reddit, Telegram and Shopify. Additionally, those who sign up are rewarded with WLD cryptocurrency as an incentive. They get the equivalent of $40 worth of tokens, which they can spend, exchange or share with other World ID holders. World ID is currently available in Austin, Texas, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Nashville, Tennessee, Miami and San Francisco, with plans to expand further. The company aims to deploy 7,500 Orb devices across the U.S. by the end of the year, targeting 180 million users. While the technology promises enhanced security, the debate over its privacy implications continues to grow. World ID has ambitious goals, but despite this, the project has faced significant backlash. Many people worry that storing eye scan data in a worldwide database could put their personal information at risk. Adding to the controversy, critics point out the irony of Sam Altman, whose company, OpenAI, contributes to the very AI challenges World ID aims to solve, being at the helm of this project. Governments in Spain, Argentina, Kenya and Hong Kong have either suspended or investigated the project due to concerns over excessive data collection. Furthermore, cybersecurity experts warn that once biometric data is linked to an identity system, it becomes irreversible, raising fears of potential surveillance. World ID helps prove that people online are real humans and not AI bots, something that is on the rise. In this AI-driven world, it can be an essential security measure to ensure the internet is a safer and more trustworthy place. Since the system is integrated with blockchain technology, it can definitely provide secure authentication across multiple platforms. However, the storage of sensitive biometric data in a global database will always raise concerns for many. Do you think the benefits of blockchain-based iris scanning technology outweigh its privacy implications? Let us know by writing us at For more of my tech tips and security alerts, subscribe to my free CyberGuy Report Newsletter by heading to Follow Kurt on his social channels: Answers to the most-asked CyberGuy questions: New from Kurt: Copyright 2025 All rights reserved.
Forbes
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
PlaySafe ID Secures $1.1 Million To Tackle Cheating, Safety In Gaming
Cheaters and child predators are in the sights of PlaySafe ID. In response to cheating, threats to child safety, and wider toxicity in gaming, British startup PlaySafe ID has launched with a pre-seed funding of $1.12 million to tackle these challenges by focusing squarely on on digital identity. The London-based venture's concept for verified, privacy-first digital gamer IDs received investment from Early Game Ventures, Hartmann Capital, and Overwolf. The company hopes the capital will facilitate quicker growth, strengthen product development, and help it forge partnerships as it gears up to secure over 250,000 users in its first few months after launch. PlaySafe ID aims to offer anonymous, game-agnostic verification, allowing developers and platforms to identify genuine users while removing cheaters and predators, without compromising player anonymity. This ID will be a portable trust badge, demonstrating that a player has not been banned or flagged for inappropriate behavior across various titles, studios, and platforms. PlaySafe ID's funding comes nearly a year after another digital ID initiative, k-ID, raised $45 million in June 2024 to build safety layers for children in gaming environments. While k-ID focuses on age verification and parental oversight, PlaySafe ID appears to take a broader approach to trust and accountability. Andrew Wailes, CEO of PlaySafe ID. FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder 'This round gives us the firepower to move fast, expand our world-class team, and partner with games that want the most fair and safe environment for players to enjoy,' said Andrew Wailes, CEO of PlaySafe ID. 'This is now more important than ever before. With cheating in games as a mass-epidemic that ruins fun for players daily, and the Online Safety Act ushering in long overdue requirements for child protection in gaming, PlaySafe ID's mission to safeguard gamers isn't just relevant — it's now essential for compliance and the future of global gaming.' The company is engaged in integration discussions with numerous unnamed major gaming platforms and anticipates launching its technology later in 2025. 'PlaySafe ID is building the trust layer for gaming and beyond,' said Cristian Munteanu, managing partner of Early Game Ventures, the Romanian VC which led the round. 'In a world where AI and anonymity are eroding safety and fairness, PlaySafe ID restores balance with identity, transparency, and accountability. 'PlaySafeID builds a network-effects flywheel. Once a gamer is verified through PlaySafeID, that identity becomes portable across games, platforms, and genres. The more developers adopt it, the more valuable it becomes to players — and vice versa. Eventually, the verified identity becomes a default layer of the gaming stack, just like your Steam account or your Xbox Live profile. It's a winner-takes-all kind of play.' Felix Hartmann, managing partner at Hartmann Capital and Forbes 30 Under 30 Local entry, added: 'Despite its immense social and economic value, the gaming ecosystem remains largely ungoverned. Accountability is fragmented across platforms, allowing bad actors to evade consequences by simply creating new accounts or migrating between games. 'As a universal authority beyond any single game or even nation, Playsafe establishes a digital rule of law across multiplayer platforms worldwide.'
Telegraph
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Britain's primary data portal just failed a red-team test. Yes, that is very bad
Late last year, GCHQ's specialist cyber security centre warned that UK business and government had never been in such danger from cyber attacks. The message from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and its partners in the Five Eyes nations was clear: bolt the doors, and fasten the hatches. So it's disturbing that the Labour Government wants to force us all to use an unsecure system to handle all our most important data. Let me give you some background. In January, The Telegraph was contacted by a whistleblower working on the Government's new digital identity verification system, One Login. The plan is that this will be the way we sign in to pay our taxes, collect pensions and other benefits, and in time other things. The senior civil servant, a professional in assessing risk and security, was shocked by what he had found at the Government Digital Service (GDS) which is developing One Login. The GDS had inherited the 'move fast and break things' culture of Silicon Valley. At once, I alerted Parliamentarians with an interest in security and critical national infrastructure. The whistleblower's testimony, backed by copious evidence, was disturbing. He said that developers on the One Login project had been routinely accessing the system without the required security clearance and background checks on laptops that were not secure. Some development on One Login was even taking place in Romania, without the top leadership's knowledge. Foreign intelligence services are active in Romania, which is a favourite with cyber criminals. All of this should have alarmed senior management at GDS, but instead, their response was to disband the whistleblower's team. We published some of the disclosures last month. Ministers responded to the story by saying that the allegations were old, and irrelevant. But now GDS has confirmed our worst fears. In the course of a 'red-team' penetration exercise by an external specialist, which simulates a hostile cyber attack, One Login was penetrated at the highest level without detection. No flags were raised, and no alarms went off. This took place in March, indicating that One Login today is an insecure system. It should never have come to this. The Science Minister, Peter Kyle, responsible for One Login, had been contacted by the whistleblower last July, but blandly accepted the project management's assurances that there was nothing to worry about. That now looks foolish. Instead of being a dispassionate observer, whose interest is to protect the public, Mr Kyle is a Tiggerish digital enthusiast, keener to get One Login system adopted than to hold his civil servants to account. While we can all benefit from trustworthy government digital services for the potential savings they may yield, they should not be encouraged at any cost. They certainly should not compromise national resilience. The Government's handling of the disclosures about One Login project puts the digital government project at risk of losing that trust. The agonies suffered by Marks and Spencer and the Co-op after their recent cyber attacks remind us how devastating a cyber attack can be. To meet deadlines, GDS spurned the chance to nip a potential disaster in the bud by tightening up security practices. It seems ministers have not been told the truth. Only a fully independent audit by NCSC can now allay the public's legitimate concerns. As the Government Digital Service itself wrote in its 2022 Business Case for the project – which, incidentally, it refuses to release in response to Freedom of Information requests – security vulnerabilities could be used by 'fraudsters to steal user information or by hostile actors seeking to disrupt national infrastructure. This could have severe consequences for a large number of people, and result in persistent reputational and political damage'. If this problem is not sorted out, the risk of a national disaster is very real.
Coin Geek
20-05-2025
- Business
- Coin Geek
BSV: Solution to censorship, digital identity challenges
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... As digital transformation accelerates, concerns about censorship and digital identity management have surged, particularly with the rise of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Governments and institutions seek to control financial systems, often at the expense of individual privacy and freedom. BSV, a blockchain built to scale and adhere to Satoshi Nakamoto's original Bitcoin vision, offers a robust solution to these challenges. By leveraging its unparalleled scalability, transparency, and decentralized architecture, BSV addresses censorship risks and provides a secure framework for digital identity, positioning it as a counterbalance to the potential overreach of CBDCs. This article explores how BSV tackles these issues and its transformative potential for the future. The growing threat of censorship and CBDC control Censorship in digital systems, particularly in finance, is a pressing issue. Governments and centralized platforms increasingly monitor and restrict transactions, communications, and access to funds based on political, social, or arbitrary criteria. CBDCs, digital currencies issued and controlled by central banks, amplify these risks. Unlike cash, CBDCs are fully traceable and programmable, enabling authorities to freeze accounts, limit spending, or enforce policy compliance. For instance, China's digital yuan trials have demonstrated how CBDCs can integrate with social credit systems, raising fears of surveillance and state overreach. The fear is that CBDC could centralize power, stifling dissent by controlling financial access. Digital identity systems tied to CBDCs further complicate the landscape. While intended to streamline authentication and reduce fraud, centralized digital IDs often lack transparency and give governments unchecked authority over personal data. Without robust safeguards, these systems risk becoming tools for surveillance, where individuals' financial and personal activities are monitored and potentially censored. The need for a decentralized, censorship-resistant alternative has never been more urgent, and BSV is uniquely positioned to meet this demand. BSV's censorship-resistant architecture BSV's design as a scalable, proof-of-work (PoW) blockchain makes it inherently resistant to censorship. Unlike centralized systems or even some blockchains with governance bottlenecks, BSV operates on a permissionless network where miners validate transactions incentivized to maintain integrity. Its unbounded block size—reaching 4GB in recent tests—enables high transaction throughput, with the BSV Infrastructure Team reporting 1,000,000 transactions per second (TPS) on Teranode. This scalability ensures that BSV can handle global financial activity without congestion, reducing the risk of transaction censorship due to network limitations. BSV's immutable ledger ensures that a transaction cannot be altered or erased once a transaction is recorded, protecting users from retroactive censorship. This transparency contrasts with CBDCs, where central banks can manipulate transaction records or freeze funds. BSV's Simplified Payment Verification (SPV) allows users to verify transactions independently, further decentralizing control. BSV's immutable proof-of-work is a mainstay against censorship, ensuring users retain financial sovereignty. Moreover, BSV's low transaction fees—often less than $0.00011—make it accessible for micropayments, enabling peer-to-peer transactions without reliance on intermediaries prone to censorship. This is critical when individuals face financial exclusion, such as in authoritarian regimes. By providing a censorship-resistant alternative to CBDCs, BSV empowers users to transact freely, preserving economic and personal autonomy. BSV and decentralized digital identity Digital identity is a cornerstone of modern systems, but centralized models tied to CBDCs pose risks. BSV offers a decentralized, blockchain-based identity solution that prioritizes user control and privacy. Its ability to store and timestamp data on-chain allows for secure, verifiable identities without centralized oversight. Identity protocols enable users to create self-sovereign identities (SSIs) tied to cryptographic keys. These SSIs allow individuals to control their data, sharing only what is necessary for specific transactions or services. Unlike CBDC-linked identities, which may require government-issued credentials and expose users to surveillance, BSV's approach ensures privacy through selective disclosure. For example, a user could prove their age for a transaction without revealing their full identity, using zero-knowledge proofs integrated into BSV's smart contracts. This minimizes data exposure while maintaining trust, addressing concerns that CBDC could track everyone. BSV's scalability also supports global digital identity systems. With the capacity to process millions of TPS, BSV can handle identity verifications for billions of users, from financial services to healthcare and voting. Its tamper-proof ledger ensures that identity records remain secure and unalterable, preventing unauthorized access or manipulation. Enterprises and governments can adopt BSV-based identity systems to reduce fraud while respecting user autonomy, contrasting CBDC frameworks prioritizing control. The Future: BSV as a counterbalance to CBDCs BSV's potential to solve censorship and digital identity challenges positions it as a critical player in the evolving financial landscape. As CBDCs gain traction—over 100 countries are exploring them, per the IMF—BSV's decentralized alternative becomes increasingly vital. Its regulation-friendly design, built to comply with existing laws, makes it appealing to institutions seeking secure, transparent systems without sacrificing user freedom. Projects like Teranode and the BSV Association's ongoing development ensure that the blockchain will continue to scale, meeting future demands. The BSV ecosystem is already demonstrating real-world impact. Applications can leverage BSV for censorship-resistant social platforms and data storage and enable asset tokenization with built-in identity verification. These use cases highlight BSV's versatility beyond finance, addressing broader digital rights concerns. Conclusion BSV stands as a powerful antidote to the censorship and digital identity challenges posed by CBDCs. Its scalable, censorship-resistant blockchain ensures financial and personal freedom, while its decentralized identity protocols empower users to control their data. As governments push for centralized control through CBDCs, BSV offers a transparent, secure alternative that aligns with the principles of autonomy and trust. By continuing to innovate and expand its ecosystem, BSV is poised to reshape the future of digital finance and identity, proving that decentralization remains the key to preserving individual rights in a digital age. Watch: Finding ways to use CBDC outside of digital currencies title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen="">
