The finer points of securing a digital ID in the metaverse getting attention

Conversations about the metaverse (and Web3) that do not feature hyperventilated predictions tend to end the same way – with the question “…but what about digital ID?”

Ultimately, the workability of digital ID is going to be more important than 5G. People expect performance problems online, but people having their biometric identifiers stolen and used is going to have serious monetizing consequences.

Below is a window into some tl;dr viewpoints, but tomorrow’s Web3 funders, entrepreneurs and developers should definitely make some time to read them.

A piece posted on deep-thought publisher Medium ostensibly addresses decentralized finance, or DeFi, but it is full of insights about the larger digital identity world. It is written by Jelena Hoffart, an investor with private investment firm 9Yards Capital.

One of her points is that identity rules compliance. Hoffart see the logic loop holding decentralized finance hostage: “DeFi needs institutions for mass adoption. Institutions need compliance.”

Legacy financial firms have to verify identities, and for good reason. But crypto assets exist largely to avoid any kind of examination, for some good reasons. Cryptocurrencies, if their universe cannot show compliance, will not get current-world finance giants to buy in. If they do not get on board, the cryptocurrency universe’s growth is limited.

An identity verification layer can be created and should be created with haste. Hoffart notes that the European Union in June broached regulation of fund transfers, which calls for ID verification.

A collection of views on digital ID swirl in an article published in the trade publication Tech Monitor.

One of those voices is metaverse platform Mona CEO Justin Melillo. In his vision, no one but no one has control over a person’s data except for that person. And he thinks the landscape may already be slanting this way.

Melillo notes that relevant digital ID standards are coming out of the World Wide Web Consortium that would fully secure a decentralized ID.

He is quoted saying, “We will be able to achieve an entirely interoperable, coherent, decentralized identity to use across various Metaverse worlds whilst maintaining our privacy.”

One of the more interesting product debuts in this area comes from JPMorgan. Onyx, as the product is called, is billed at enabling people “to seamlessly traverse digital realms in a trusted way.”

In Onyx, people reportedly will have one place to store, manage and share any digital asset. It is a remove from the world Melillo wants.

The potential landmines to pulling this off are many, and some are called out in a research paper. The report is a warning about the pitfalls and expense of having social media biometric patterns leaked.

People have to broaden the identifiers they prize. At one point, that was a signature. In the metaverse (and other social media) with accurate representations of oneself, the physical treasures are ear patterns, tattoos, irises, palms, fingerprints, voice and face.

Any content holding that information should not be the same quality as a high-definition movie on a big screen.

Given these tips, it could be argued that it is time to render paper bags for one’s body, but instead, Trend Micro says to “prioritize the use of biometric patterns that are less exposed and use multifactor authentication when possible.”

Article Topics

biometrics  |  cybersecurity  |  data protection  |  digital identity  |  identity verification  |  KYC  |  metaverse  |  web3