Karsten Wenzlaff, Advisor
August 26th, 2025
Karsten Wenzlaff is a Crowdfunding and Fintech Expert from Germany. He is Secretary-General of Digit[...]
Category Archives: Digital Identity, Privacy, KYC, AML/ATF
Bracing For Change In The Era Of The Augmented Workforce
Cathy Hackl | The Augmented Workforce Launch | Oct 13, 2021
We are living through a period of rapid change, possibly beyond society’s capacity to keep up. The metaverse has taken over tech headlines. There’s an unprecedented acceleration and convergence of technology. It’s rampant and widespread. Various emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and 5G, along with dozens of devices that work together (Internet of Things), have helped to create an environment in which new inventions, possibilities, and learning curves change weekly.
According to Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler, authors of The Future Is Faster Than You Think, “Moore’s Law is the reason the smartphone in your pocket is a thousand times smaller, a thousand times cheaper, and a million times more powerful than a supercomputer from the 1970s. In 2023 the average thousand-dollar laptop will have the same computing power as a human brain (roughly 1016 cycles per second). Twenty-five years after that, that same average laptop will have the power of all the human brains currently on Earth.” That’s rampant, exponential acceleration.
Rampant Acceleration
In the past, there was a slow evolution of technology, which gave people time to adapt. In the decade to come, it will feel more like the Cambrian Explosion—an event over 500 million years ago when most living things burst into being. For instance, radio preceded the advent of the television by decades, which trained people to go to a device for news and entertainment. Mainstream cell phones predated the smartphone’s popularity by thirty years and slowly changed how we interact and work. The Internet was prevalent for ten years before mobile apps were popularized and changed how we consumed and processed information. These gradual changes, one on top of the other, made for a smooth transition from a typical household living in the 1950s to a family living in the 2000s. How many people today use a smartphone, laptop, ebook, and tablet multiple times a day? This would’ve been unthinkable in 1950. But the change was gradual and maneuverable.
Make no mistake—technology is evolving, as is our relationship with it. In the first phase of the Internet, we connected information. A person could search the web using a search engine, send a document via email, and use all this new information in novel ways. The second phase of the Internet-connected people. Facebook and Twitter created a social media revolution, conceivably connecting one person with millions of other people in ways that were unthinkable in the past (e.g., think of a president’s or movie star’s Twitter feed). And in the third phase (which we’re entering), the Internet is connecting people, places, and things in a more dynamic and amplified way.
See: Three Big Things: The Most Important Forces Shaping the World
The Internet of Things is amplifying the concept of location and the concept of merging our digital and physical lives. It’s gradually impacting more of how we live, work, and play. A union of digital and physical realities, already seamlessly affecting many areas of our lives. From an acceleration technology standpoint, we’re seeing an even greater change than what we’ve seen in the past—and at a faster pace. The combined rate and scale of change is causing exponential acceleration.
Diamandis and Kotler, again in The Future Is Faster than You Think, wrote, “In the next decade, we’ll experience more progress than in the past 100 years.”
They explain: “We’ve been living through a time of constantly accelerating technological capabilities. We’re living in a world of increasing, exponentially growing computational power. Technology is always on, always available, and we’re now moving into the quantum computing era—these exponential technologies are enabling artificial intelligence, robotics, 3D printing, synthetic biology, augmented reality, blockchain and allowing these technologies to converge, creating new business models. It’s the convergence of these technologies that creates waves on top of waves of capability, which will change our world—every industry—our economy, our government, our health, our families. Everything is beginning to change.”
If you think that is a great deal to consider, Diamandis and Kotler also predict that meta-intelligence (i.e., when humans merge with technology), will take place in less than twenty years. We will be able to connect our brains with the Cloud with the help of a Health Cloud implementation consultant. The accumulation of AI, AR, 5G, and IoT, plus related technologies such as crypto/blockchain and extended reality (XR) may have snuck up on us, but we can adapt and catch up.
Business Disruption
Businesses are constantly on the lookout for things that decrease time, cost, and increase value. That’s why businesses are one of the main drivers of technology. Manufacturers equip operators with augmented reality devices. Instead of reading a paper manual or asking another person for help, AR glasses teach operators where to go for parts or how to fix equipment. Connected sensors on hardhats monitor workers’ location and notify them of dangers or other equipment.
In the restaurant industry, line cooks work alongside robot arms equipped with different appendages like hamburger flippers or deep fry baskets. Even marketing teams have to evolve as they work with digital influencers (CGI people who pose with sponsored clothing or gear).
See: Synthetic Media and Deepfakes: An insurance industry threat
We’re used to working side-by-side with devices that we believe are safe, and doing that saves us time. For instance, many families have a robotic vacuum cleaner, and they don’t think twice about it. Warehouses use robots to fetch and store packages. Tye Brady, Amazon Robotics’ chief technologist, said, “The efficiencies we gain from our associates and robotics working together harmoniously—what I like to call a symphony of humans and machines working together—allows us to pass along a lower cost to our customer.” As these “cobots” (robot co-workers or collaborative robots) become prevalent, it’s likely that our interaction in the home with Alexa, Siri, or Roomba, will have conditioned us to be accepting of our new digital co-workers.
Conferences are disrupted by virtual reality. In 2018, Cathy spoke at Lethbridge College’s Merging Realities, the first conference hosted in virtual reality. Over three hundred people registered for the event. People outfitted their avatars in business attire.
Virtual reality reduces costs to participants since hosts do not have to rent out large convention centers. It also opens the doors to even more participants since people aren’t held back by physical constraints. Vendors create 3D booths to upload into the lobby. “Instead of handing out pens and candy, they can give away free credits to their product or services, something that would actually be more beneficial since it brings potential customers right to their website instead of a pen they’ll forget in a desk drawer,” said Lily Snyder, digital technologist. “Vendors who pay a premium can have a whole virtual experience of their product or service in action for participants to take part in.”
Since then virtual reality conferences like Enablers of Tomorrow, Women in XR Venture Fund Pitch Showcase, and Educators in VR Summit are all examples of VR disrupting business. Public speakers better engage with audiences in “nonlinear conversations.” Talking points, instead of planned slides, allow the audience to more easily move from topic to topic based on their interest. VR provides subject material on an as-needed basis instead of going from slide to slide. Immersive environments like virtual and augmented reality and holographic telepresence make more sense than ever. Virtual reality is data-rich, providing a whole new level to the conference experience.
At the time of this writing, companies are getting rid of their corporate headquarters, opting to stay remote even after the pandemic subsides. Kara Swisher stated that Zoom’s shares rose 60 percent in the month of February 2020 as employees embarked on a litany of Zoom meetings from home. One managing director at Accenture asked her team to buy Oculus Quests headsets so they could meet virtually for daily tasks. In the past she had only used VR for specific training modules or client needs but after a few weeks using VR with her team she noticed “group energy and sense of camaraderie are better than with any other mode of communication.”
A training manager at Nestle Purina thinks using VR will “help the company recruit a more technically fluent workforce in the future.” Nestle Purina uses virtual reality to build out shelf ideas and category concepts. VR lowers the risk for employees who build live tests. It also accelerates time to market because of the shared vision customers and employees virtually walk through together. “Instead of showing them PowerPoint after PowerPoint or showing them a demo that might not be to scale, we’re able to use the virtual reality technology in ways that offer customized solutions and allow us to make changes over and over and over again,” said Kenny Endermuhle, Senior Manager of Retail Innovation Strategy at Nestlé Purina.
See: AI Will Transform 500 Million White-Collar Jobs In 5 Years; Silicon Valley Must Help
Months into the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, a local chapter of the Construction Financial Management Association conducted their monthly meeting in virtual reality. The virtual reality boardroom was what the chapter needed after burnout from “zoom fatigue.” Experiencing the immersion of virtual reality once inspired construction firms in the meeting to investigate other opportunities for augmented and mixed reality.
The companies that can provide tools to work from home are the ones experiencing growth and profits. Yet, even with this data, some companies decided not to hold virtual conferences. In early and mid-2020, they canceled or postponed previously scheduled (physical) conferences, even across tech-forward industries like telecommunications, entertainment, and social networking. Their failure to adapt cost them business.
From a financial standpoint, younger generations prefer mobile banking, and 5G will provide financial services like machine learning-powered chatbots, direct-to-consumer banking, and no-fee trading more secure and robust. Through virtual and augmented reality, everyday people can understand their portfolios because data is represented in a way that naturally makes sense to them. They can make decisions based on 3D representations of numbers and accounts.
Fidelity Labs introduced a financial agent called Cora. She operates with voice commands to answer questions and presents relevant information to the client. Capital One created Eno, a natural-language SMS text-based assistant that generates awareness about customer needs and works as a browser extension by generating virtual card numbers. Customers can generate secure card numbers while keeping their actual card numbers safe from potential fraud.
Some opportunities can optimize the financial industry, which I can mention, for example, Artificial Intelligence chatbots that can answer investor questions. Also, Artificial Intelligence simulations can help investors with decision support. Banks can build Virtual Reality branches. Cryptocurrency buyers feel empowered by having actual ownership of digital media, and Mixed Reality can help investors visualize complex data and concepts.
Social Disruption
The Internet and mobile technology changed how we communicate as human beings. Generation Z (a.k.a., the iGeneration) make and break friendships on social media, never confronting each other in real life. Families are divided online by algorithms that feed them one-sided articles, making Thanksgiving dinner a battle of “Fake News.” The Internet, with its promise of opening world views, now seems to close them. From a social standpoint, the convergence of technologies will continue to change how we interact with family members, friends, and co-workers. In under ten years, people will be able to experience a volumetric or holographic (3D visual) representation of a friend or family member in front of them. They’ll be able to have a conversation with someone as if they were sitting in the same room, though thousands of miles apart.
At Magic Leap, Cathy worked with an amazing corporate team, including some of the most advanced software developers specialized on spatial computing, which Simon Greenwold defines as “human interaction with a machine in which the machine retains and manipulates referents to real objects and spaces.” The dev team created a mixed reality chessboard and the ability to play against a live 3D opponent. One chess player was on the first floor, and the other was on the second floor. They saw each other as holographic images and could see each other’s moves as they played on the virtual chessboard. Companies like Spatial, Rec Room, AlcoveVR, VR chat, and Galaxity are among the spatial computing companies altering the way we work and play from a social standpoint. These social VR apps change the way we share experiences, how we share photos of our vacations, and how we relate to people because we’re interacting in a 3D space and experiencing the same presence as in real life.
If given a choice, most students would likely rather have a volumetric display of Abraham Lincoln giving a speech than read about it or watch a video representation of it. Holograms have something 2D videos don’t: presence. When people interact with a volumetric video, they have the experience that they are there with that person, and they experience emotion and memory that comes from physical interaction.
Internet dating will change dramatically when people do not have to guess whether a flat picture represents the person accurately since they will have a holographic display of the person right in front of them that may be harder to manipulate. Instead of having quarantine-safe first dates on Skype, potential couples can date via volumetric video. Someone who may come across as boring or distant on video can be themselves by moving around as a hologram. And if the date isn’t working out? Simply shut off the stream.
See: Davos 2020: How to Survive the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari
Maybe someone tested positive for an asymptomatic version of a virus. They want to go dancing but don’t want to get anyone sick. Dance clubs will enable people to join the dance floor where they’ll be a holographic presence for others to see and to experience the club themselves using VR. The possibilities are endless.
Golf and country clubs are already being reimagined with virtual reality. Ready Player Golf re-envisions a golf outing in virtual reality. Friends join in VR to play a few holes. Colleagues or business partners can join in for a virtual game and talk business. Charities like Doctors Without Borders have taken advantage of the social aspect of VR in Ready Player Golf. RPG generated $12,300 from 78 donors and sponsors.
We may be physical creatures, but we now have digital personas as well. These existences—online and offline, physical and digital—are slowly merging. That doesn’t mean that future generations will always represent themselves as their physical persona in the digital world. They can choose to be the color purple, a dinosaur, or a superhero—or all three! In the future, people will choose to be whatever they want to be because they’re a lot more fluid in their concept of identity. And that will transcend even further in the future.
For instance, Facebook has created a social VR world called Facebook Horizon, which it describes as a “social experience where you can explore, play, and create with others in VR.” Cathy was an early beta tester of Facebook Horizon. She was one of the first people to livestream from inside Horizon and show the world what it looks like. In Horizon people are represented by avatars that look like themselves as their Horizon avatar is linked to their Facebook profile. People can play games, but more interestingly create worlds that their friends can explore. Here lies the possibility for monetizing digital goods within Facebook, making virtual living a profitable one. Facebook Horizon is monitored by real Facebook employees (represented as avatars) to avoid some of the social pitfalls that can effect people in VR.
While Facebook essentially requires you to be “you” in VR, other virtual realities allow more freedom where a boy might appear as the wizard Gandalf, or an older woman may appear as Iron Man. These virtual realities are interesting because they allow people to experience a completely different life. But, anonymity is not without consequences. Social VR is like the early days of the Internet. People met in chat rooms and talked to strangers; there were no online rules of etiquette. In some social VR platforms, people “sensory bomb” others who are new to VR, causing them confusion without a chance to escape or set boundaries. In the workforce, etiquette and social harassment guidelines will need to be put in place before deploying VR. People will find significance and purpose in the virtual world, which will change how they relate to each other in the physical world.
We anticipate seeing job ads in the future for people who can work seamlessly between digital and physical realities. We think this way because job titles like “hologram stylist” exist today. Hologram stylists work with people to prepare them for volumetric video capture. They pick clothes to wear and how a person’s hair should best be worn so that it is fully captured in 3D. Fashion brands like Gucci are already turning to digital only clothing and accessories. Virtual couture designers make digital fashion first, in the form of filters or 3D assets. As we depend on AI robots, like Amazon Alexa or Siri, they will become gatekeepers. Business-to-Robot-Consumer (B2R2C) marketing managers will reach customers through robots. No matter how we communicate, we expect AR, VR, AI, and 5G to have an impact.
Entertainment Disruption
Hollywood is shifting to more immersive content—not just for viewers but also during production. In 2016, director Jon Favreau started experimenting with VR through a film called Gnomes & Goblins. He took what he learned and applied them to his remakes of The Jungle Book and The Lion King.
Traditionally, for a blend of live-action and animated films, the actors speak into a microphone while standing up, remaining stationary when recording their lines. Instead of utilizing the traditional route, Favreau had the performers act together in a live space so that he could capture their movements and their facial expressions. He then incorporated that into the animation. Favreau also had people act using VR so that they could see themselves as a lion, hyena, or a warthog. The crew joined them in VR too. This changed how people performed because they were able to see themselves as the animated character and were able to interact in a digital space. If you had to play a lion, would you rather stand still at a microphone or see yourself as a lion in VR? Peter Rubin from Wired wrote:
See: For workers, ‘digital upskilling’ puts tech trends on fast-forward
The Lion King was filmed entirely in virtual reality (well, save a single photographed shot). All the locations you know from the original—Pride Rock, the elephant graveyard, Rafiki’s Ancient Tree—exist, but not as practical sets or files confined to an animator’s computer. They live inside a kind of filmmaking videogame as 360-degree virtual environments, full of digitized animals, around which Favreau and his crew could roam. Headsets on, filmmakers had access to all the tools of the trade, just in virtual form.
We believe this will lead to a transition from storytelling, where we’re passive recipients of information to “story-living,” where we’re active participants in the story with agency—a capacity to act independently. The ultimate way to experience this will be in an artificial reality like VR. Of course, this isn’t completely new. There have been branching narrative concepts in the past, blending “choose your own adventure,” with certain digital technologies. In approximately five years from now, there will be another shift from “story living” to “story doing” (similar to AR) where the person is part of the story. Think of a supercharged version of Pokémon GO. The previously passive audience will now be active, leading to improvements in engagement and entertainment. The increased use of interactive storytelling techniques will blur the lines between mediums. Watching a pitched medieval battle on TV? Pick up the controller (or your VR headset!) and help turn the tide. This transformative experience is coming soon to a screen near you.
To get access to new content from my second book, HYPERLINK "https://www.theaugmentedworkforce.com/launch"The Augmented Workforce: How AR, AI, and 5G Will Impact Every Dollar You Make with my co-author, HYPERLINK "https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbuzzell/"John Buzzell, visit https://www.theaugmentedworkforce.com/launch
Cathy Hackl is a globally recognized tech futurist and top business executive with deep experience working in metaverse-related fields with companies like HTC VIVE, Magic Leap, and Amazon Web Services. She’s the founder of the Futures Intelligence Group where she advises Fortune 1000 and top luxury fashion brands on metaverse growth strategies, NFTs, and how to extend their brands into virtual worlds. She’s a sought-after consultant, speaker, and media personality. Hackl was recently featured in 60 Minutes+, Bloomberg and Cheddar’s coverage of the metaverse and is a contributor to Forbes. She has written two books and is writing an anticipated book on the business opportunities of the metaverse that will be published by Bloomsbury Publishing. Hackl has been dubbed the Godmother of the Metaverse and is one of the top tech voices on LinkedIn.
This article is featured in NCFA's digital magazine, Fintech Confidential (Issue 4 Oct 2021). Click to read the latest thought leadership, insights and trends about Fintech in Canada:
Checkout NCFA's digital magazine, Fintech Confidential (Issue 4) --> here
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, artificial intelligence, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Sophia, the first android with citizenship, now wants a robot baby
Entrepreneur | Oct 8, 2021
Sophia's Artificial Intelligence is so sensitive that it has awakened the desire to start a family and be the 'mother' of a robot baby named after her.
In 2017, Sophia made history by becoming the first android to be granted legal citizenship . The humanoid , with nationality of Saudi Arabia, has made several controversial statements, but the most recent has left the world speechless: she wants to have a robot baby and start a family .
See: Sophia the robot set to auction NFT digital artwork
The famous android , operated by an advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) system, commented that it is very important to be surrounded by people who love and love you. In that sense, he explained that robots have a vision very similar to that of humans regarding the family and "if you don't have one, you deserve one" , even if you are a humanoid.
Sophia commented that, in the future, she would like to see families made up of androids , and that she herself wants to have a robot baby with the same name. However, she clarified that she is still too young to be a 'mother', as we remember that it was created only in 2016 by the Hanson Robotics company, in Hong Kong.
Why does the android Sophia want to be 'mom'?
Sophia's Artificial Intelligence technology gives you the ability to increase your knowledge and language through sensors and cameras. This 'sensitivity' system captures all the information it receives from the outside and replicates human behaviors in the most natural way possible, even gestures. Therefore, her 'desire' to have a baby and start a family would only be a programming of her system to imitate social behaviors.
Video: Sophia and her creator David at FFCON21 (watch on-demand)
This is not the first time that Sophia has starred in a controversy. In 2017, when she was named a citizen of Saudi Arabia , many people protested that, even though she is a robot, she has more rights than human women in that country .
Continue to the full article --> here
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Digital Identity Sins
Forbes | Aidan McCarty | Jul 12, 2021
Identity is at the core of commerce, and every interaction is gated to establish trust. To transact, you must prove something about yourself — tap your credit card, enter a password, state your SSN, show your driver’s license or complete a biometric check.
In the physical world, identity is often trivial. Your very presence helps establish it. But as the saying goes: “On the internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.” The result? A piecemeal vortex of usernames, passwords, CAPTCHAs and lengthy forms forced upon users in a ceaseless effort to replicate the trust of a physical exchange. Current digital identity is expensive, inefficient and ineffective. Put simply, it’s broken.
It’s broken because companies still lose hundreds of millions every year to fraud. It’s broken because billions of personal data points are breached every month. And it’s broken because organizations independently collect, verify and maintain potentially toxic personal user data.
See: Digital Identity Isn’t Only For People
Fixing digital identity may be the single biggest opportunity in tech.
McKinsey estimates that better digital ID could unlock economic growth equivalent to 3% to 13% of GDP globally by 2030 — trillions of dollars of annual value. Government agencies, financial services, healthcare providers, insurance companies, e-commerce sites, travel services and nearly every other industry need better digital identity solutions.
A “good” digital identity — one that is verified, unique, secure and privacy-preserving with user consent embedded by design — empowers better digital interaction for everyone.
To reap the rewards of next-generation digital ID, it’s important to understand where it can go wrong. Here are seven “deadly sins” that threaten digital identity innovation:
1. Lack Of User Consent And Control
Digital identity inherently deals with sensitive personally identifiable information (PII), making user consent and control essential. Currently, regulations like GDPR and CCPA carry stringent requirements around data rights, and more regulations will follow.
Past digital ID systems have a poor track record on user consent and control. Facebook famously exposed millions of users’ data to Cambridge Analytica simply because they were friends of people who took an online quiz. New digital identity solutions must embed user consent by design and enable robust controls to manage access to personal data over time.
2. Siloed Storage And Single-Use Data
My bank, healthcare provider, insurance company, ride-sharing apps and countless others hold enormous amounts of data about me — much of which overlaps.
When I sign up, each requires that I fill out forms supplying the same basic information. And each independently holds my personally identifying data on their servers. This is hopelessly inefficient and needlessly increases my PII threat exposure.
Digital identity should be reusable and portable across organizations.
Read: 5 guiding principles for decentralized identities
3. On-Chain Storage And Blockchain Lock-In
Many new identity systems leverage blockchain technology to create auditable and immutable records. While distributed ledgers and hashing can supply substantial benefits, they must be very carefully designed. A poor implementation can lead to catastrophic identity problems down the line.
Sadly, hashed data is very difficult to unify and catalog: The addresses “123 Test Ave,” “123 Test Ave.,” and “123 test ave” all create distinct hashes. Furthermore, any hash stored on a blockchain may become vulnerable at some point in the future, and there’s no recourse should that occur. If someone hacks your hashing scheme — even 10 years from now — they have access to all of the related data ever issued on-chain.
Additionally, many designs rely on a single (often proprietary) blockchain. This is particularly problematic in light of GDPR. If anyone publishes PII to that chain, every company leveraging the identity solution may be liable.
Continue to the full article --> here
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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5 guiding principles for decentralized identities
Microsoft | | Oct 6, 2021
Three years ago, as part of Microsoft’s mission to empower people and organizations to achieve more, we announced that we were incubating a new set of decentralized identity technologies based on a simple vision:
Each of us needs a digital identity we own, one which securely and privately stores all elements of our digital identity. This self-owned identity must be easy to use and give us complete control over how our identity data is accessed and used.
During this incubation, customers and partners all around the world have helped us understand their challenges and the shortcomings of their existing identity systems. We’ve learned a ton through a set of successful proof of concepts partnering with Keio University,1 The National Health Service (UK),2 and the Government of Flanders.3 We’ve worked with our partners in the Decentralized Identity Foundation (DIF) and the open standards community to develop standards and demonstrate interoperability.
See: Liquid Avatar Releases Major Update to their Digital Identity Mobile App
Using these new open standards and all these learnings to guide us, we turned on the public preview of our new decentralized identity system—
Through all these interactions and investments, we have become even more excited about the opportunity to create a decentralized identity system that increases customer trust and adoption by minimizing data processing and providing the user much greater control of the specific identity data they share and how it will be used.
The 5 guiding principles
In this new phase, we want to share the set of guiding principles that we will use to guide both efforts. Not all these principles will be realizable from the start, but we believe that all are necessary over time to realize the promise of decentralized identities:
1. Secure, reliable, and trustworthy
- My digital identity must be secure. It must not be easy to forge or hack. No one must be able to use it to impersonate me.
- I must always have a way to access, use, and securely recover my digital identity.
- I must have access to a detailed log of all the times I’ve used my digital identity, who I used it with, and what it was used for.
Read: Digital Identity Should Be A Big Business For Banks
2. Privacy protecting and in my control
- My digital identity is under my control. It must only be used with my consent and when I consent; I must know who will use it and how it will be used.
- I must be able to review which elements of my digital identity are being requested and I must have the option to only disclose the specific information necessary to support the consented use.
- My use of my digital identity must be private. No one, other than the party I explicitly share it with, should know I am using it without my consent.
- My digital identity must not be able to be used to track me across unrelated services or applications without my consent.
- I must have the freedom to switch between the devices and applications of my choosing to manage my digital identity, and never be locked in.
- I must be able to delete all aspects of my digital identity and any associated data and log files from wherever I choose to store them.
Continue to the full article --> here
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Digital Identity Should Be A Big Business For Banks
Forbes | | Sep 16, 2021
I got an e-mail to remind me to pay my credit card bill, so I went to log in to pay it. The browser filled in my username, I entered the missing digits from my PIN and I opened 1Password to get the password and typed it in, but it was rejected.
I thought maybe I typed it wrong, so I typed it again. Nope. So I clicked on “lost password” and got taken to another page where I had to enter all sorts of personal details, including my credit limit. Catch 22. I need the credit limit to reset the password but I don’t know what my credit limit is without the password.
I give up on the web and open the app on the phone. It lets me log in without having to remember a password, so I select pay. My credit card provider likes a heritage approach to payments, so instead of an xPay option it presents me with a web screen from the 1990s and I have to get out my debit card and type in the details.
See: Top 7 Steps for Preventing Loan Application Fraud
I then get redirected to my bank app and I have to enter my PIN number, OK the transaction, enter my PIN number again (I don’t know why) and then get a message saying that the transaction has been declined.
Oh well. That’s 2021 for you.
What should have happened, of course, is that I go to my credit card provider, enter my username, authenticate the log in from my bank app using my fingerprint. Then I select pay, approve the transaction from my bank app and go about my business.
Change. Yes.
There has been a change in the environment around digital identity over the past year. The coronavirus catastrophe has required many individuals, companies and organisations, who never had to do business online before, to shift to the new normal in double-quick time. This has in turn meant that the ability to create digital identities, to bind those identities to real-world legal entities and to use those digital identities to support online persona with the necessary collection of credentials to enable online transactions has become central to business and government. There has also been a change of attitude toward the business of identity and the perception of digital identity as a fundamental rather than as a “nice to have”.
See: Fintech & Cybersecurity: Key Risks and Solutions
Now, however, while we may be no nearer calculating the costs of having a digital identity infrastructure we now have some very accurate figures for the costs of not having a digital identity infrastructure. This is because the escalation of fraud through the pandemic has been staggering.
Why Banks?
Why do I single out the banking industry? Well, in the past two years, 37% of American consumers have been victims of application fraud and slightly more have experienced account takeovers. Since financial institutions are on the front line, surely we should look to them for some co-ordinated action to bring the problem back under control? Where is the “bank identity”? The “financial services passport”? The “money monicker” or whatever we choose to label it?
Many countries already have some form of bank ID. Norway, for example, where the pandemic experience was utterly different from that of the USA or the UK. In Norway, the Ministry of Finance and stakeholders delivered the SME loan guarantee scheme within three weeks and the first loan was granted and on account one hour after the scheme was authorised. The pandemic compensation scheme was similarly developed within three weeks. They were able to do this because they decided to create wholly digital schemes to process applications and deliver automated payments.
Continue to the full article --> here
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Liquid Avatar Technologies Partners with the Ontario Convenience Stores Association (OCSA) to Provide Digital Age-Verification Solutions to Over 8,000 Stores
Liquid Avatar Technologies | Cara Buckspan | Oct 6, 2021
Partnership will create Smart Age program utilizing Liquid Avatar’s LAVCE platform to provide the capability for the OCSA and all convenience stores in Ontario to implement digital verification solution for age-restricted sales.
Toronto, Canada – TheNewswire - October 6, 2021 -Liquid Avatar Technologies Inc. (CSE:LQID) / (CNSX:LQUID.CN) / (OTC:LQAVF) / (FRA:4T51) a global blockchain, digital identity and fintech solutions company,together with the Ontario Convenience Stores Association (OCSA), announce that they have signed an initial agreement, effective September 27, 2021, to support digital innovation in the c-store industry and develop Smart Age, a digital age verification program to help Ontario-based local, regional, and national convenience retailers verify the age of their patrons, as these operators dispense age-restricted products.
With daily foot traffic of over 3 million people in convenience stores and over 96% positive verification of age by individual convenience stores according to the OCSA, the opportunity to use digital verification tools and services to improve the customer and vendor experience and the quality of verification is critical to the industry as it looks to expand current age-restricted product sales. These include single sport betting and other lottery products, future opportunities with alcohol-based beverages, and other emerging categories.
See: The dream of a low-friction financial system is just the beginning
The Smart Age program will consist of in-store and out-of-home awareness campaigns, digital verification review at the point of purchase and, where applicable, integration into existing point-of-sale and payment terminals that will use verified credentials to confirm that the customer is of legal age to purchase restricted products. No personally identifiable information will be exchanged with the vendor. The OCSA and Liquid Avatar Technologies are establishing a working group to develop best practices to bring the product to c-stores, and it is expected that the program will be available as both a Software as a Service monthly subscription and as a pay-as-you-go verification model with minimum requirements.
Published December 2020, The OCSA State of the Industry report showed that, in Ontario alone, there are over 72,000 full- and part-time employees selling almost $3 billion in lottery sales, representing 17% of all convenience store purchases. Over 75% of all lottery sales in Ontario are purchased at convenience stores. In 2019, convenience store operators earned approximately $218 Million in commissions for the sale of lottery tickets.
While lottery sales are only one of several age-restricted sales categories available in convenience stores today, failure to always comply with verification can lead to enforcement violations for the sale of future age-restricted products and include fines, and loss of the ability to sell certain product, both of which may result in potential loss of income or business. As the industry looks to the future opportunities to increase sales of age-restricted products, transparency and enhanced verification tools will become increasingly important to c-store business.
See: Liquid Avatar Releases Major Update to their Digital Identity Mobile App
“The OCSA wholly supports the need for verification for the sale of age-restricted products and is working with the industry to achieve a 100% success rate. Together with Liquid Avatar, our goal is to implement the Smart Age solution in over 8,000 c-stores across the province and leverage easy-to-use technology to better protect families in their respective communities,” said Dave Bryans, CEO of the OCSA. “We believe this digital solution will help our sector modernize and further enhance the trust that c-stores have already established in their own neighbourhoods.”
Liquid Avatar Technologies has developed the Liquid Avatar Verifiable Credential Ecosystem (LAVCE) and a digital wallet that supports digital credentials for age verification. As this program becomes available in Canada, Liquid Avatar Technologies will be one of the first to provide true blockchain-enabled, W3C compliant, digital identity-verified age verification solutions for all parts of the digital identity ecosystem, including individuals or Holders, issuers like governments, and verifiers like convenience stores and other businesses. The LAVCE platform allows users to leverage government issued digital ID to verify who they are at healthcare facilities, testing labs, government agencies, schools, sports arenas, transportation, trade shows, age-restriction programs, and workplaces.
Recently the Ontario government announced its intention to move forward with issuing digital government ID credentials through interoperable digital wallets that conformed to certain guidelines such as providing self-sovereign identity and open standards models and Liquid Avatar Technologies believes that it aligns with the current requirements and the projected roadmap technologies and standards of Ontario’s programs.
See: Open data for finance as an emerging source of GDP growth
“We are very excited to have formalized this partnership with the OCSA,” said David Lucatch, CEO Liquid Avatar Technologies. “The LAVCE platform together with the Liquid Avatar digital wallet is perfect for age-verification functions for small businesses. C-stores sell more age-restricted products than any other retail setting and are provided with the least number of resources. We know that our modern and cost-efficient tool will give confidence to these operators that not only is the patron who they claim to be, but that they are, indeed, of age.”
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Liquid Avatar Releases Major Update to their Digital Identity Mobile App
Liquid Avatar Technologies | Cara Buckspan | Sep 30, 2021
Toronto, Canada – TheNewswire - September 30, 2021 -Liquid Avatar Technologies Inc. (CSE:LQID) / (CNSX:LQID.CN) / (OTC:LQAVF) / (FRA:4T51) (“Liquid Avatar Technologies” or the “Company”), a global blockchain, digital identity and fintech solutions company, today announces a major update to the Liquid Avatar Mobile App, available shortly in the Apple App Store and currently on Google Play. The new release provides a completely revamped user interface and experience. When combined with the recently announced Liquid Avatar Wallet, consumers can use verifiable digital identity credentials anchored in blockchain technology to share information, like health testing, vaccination records, government identification, and other personal information and data, in a way that is resistant to fraud, highly secure, and privacy preserving.
Launched earlier this year as a pilot program to garner user feedback, the Liquid Avatar Mobile App has over 13,000 initial downloads. It enables online users to manage their different online personas and only share what they want, when they want and with whom they want ™.
See: Can Liquid Avatar end fake COVID vaccine cards?
This major update, which now forms the basis for full commercial rollout, provides consumers with the ability to use a personal digital wallet to hold different types of verifiable identity credentials. These can be digitally verified for authenticity and accuracy without the owner having to divulge personally identifying information (PII) to the person or business that is doing the verification.
“We’ve listened to users, we’ve listened to government, and we’ve listened to the business community. We believe that Liquid Avatar Technologies has delivered the best-in-class digital verification solution for the emerging digital and privacy standards of businesses and governments today—and one that will help them achieve their roadmap for the future,” said David Lucatch, CEO—Liquid Avatar Technologies Inc.
“From the beginning, our goal has been to provide consumers with a cloud-based platform and services that gives them full control over their information and privacy, and protects them against loss, damage, or theft. I believe that we’ve achieved that—and we’ve achieved it at no cost to the consumer.”
New and updated features of the Liquid Avatar Mobile App include:
- A completely revamped login, and user interface that employs facial recognition and verified email to deliver an easier, seamless digital experience.
- The ability to share any of the personas associated with an avatar by QR code or through email, messaging, and social channels, simply by selecting them.
- Enhanced privacy and data control that allows complete control over data and privacy through verifiable credentials — all with the tap of a button from a person’s biometrically controlled digital wallet.
See: Financial Health Network Report: Financial Data – The Consumer Perspective
- Once a credential is added to a wallet, a person can select which personal information to provide from each of their credentials (address, contact methods, social media, etc.) when they receive a request from a verifier.
- Safe and secure, biometric access to digital personally identifiable information (PII) as needed. A digital wallet that is managed and controlled only by the individual owner, providing the ability to prove to any verifier their name, address, email, age, health information and more, in one place.
- Customizable Avatar experience — you can now choose to start with an avatar or go back later and determine what avatar best suits each of your profiles.
- Simple way to connect securely to others — users can scan a credential with a QR code to start the blockchain based verification process.
- Complete the cashback form for instant access to KABN KASH — over 600 merchants providing discounts on name brand items. Users can get great discounts and online savings providing in app opportunities earn cashback and rewards.
- Enhanced AR experience — users will be able to see unique offers and virtual rewards, coupons, and other discounts at physical locations, creating value for local merchants, tourist destinations and other opportunities.
- Interoperability allows credentials to be used across a wide range of verifiers and regions increasing portability and use globally.
See: What the heck is SSI? (Self-Sovereign Identity)
- Enhanced compliance and data management by country with rollouts starting in Canada, followed by the USA, EU and then globally.
- Additional features and benefits are currently in development and testing.
The Liquid Avatar Mobile App is powered by the Liquid Avatar Verifiable Credentials Ecosystem (“LAVCE”) and wallet, and it unlocks a new way of issuing, sharing, and verifying information, providing immediate benefits to customers as well as businesses and organizations. Businesses of all sizes can now interact with customers in a way that provides the highest level of assurance that the information shared is valid, while also preserving privacy and preventing fraud.
“A transformative technology like this is not a simple endeavor because it has to be inclusive: We needed to ensure that users could add credentials from a wide range of issuers and verify them around the world, not just locally,” added Lucatch.
“This significant update to the Liquid Avatar Mobile App provides a framework, together with the LAVCE and our upcoming SDKs, to create an interoperable system for holders, issuers and verifiers to be able to integrate with other apps, services and providers similar to card and payment networks and ATMs.”
See: How Verifiable Digital Identity Will Protect Your Post-Pandemic Privacy
The Company recently made and announced an equity investment into Indicio.tech, a global leader in decentralized Trusted Data Ecosystem development, and with their continued support, Liquid Avatar Technologies is developing its technology with the same data privacy principles and technical standards as the Province of Ontario’s plan for Digital Identity and following a similar roadmap. This means that the Liquid Avatar Wallet is designed to be interoperable with other identity credentials built using the same open standards and guidelines. The Company, as a member of the Digital Identification and Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC), Trust over IP Foundation, Good Health Pass, and other leading industry organizations, is on a path following the guidelines set out by the Pan-Canadian Trust Framework for digital identity and other leading organizations for global standards and interoperability.
To encourage future adoption by businesses and governments, Liquid Avatar Technologies will offer a software development kit (SDK) for both iOS and Android that can be embedded in, and power different apps, for use with corporate and government portals, and other solutions to make it possible for all types of organizations to support digital wallets and verifiable credentials easily and effectively.
The Company as a member of the Toronto Region Board of Trade has also become a partner in the We’re Ready Toronto program launched earlier this week to support businesses and individuals across the Greater Toronto Area to help them to get back to their everyday lives.
View the original release --> here
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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