The internet was launched in the 1990s based upon generations of technologies that went before. It was designed for the exchange of information, not value. Now, we live in a networked world of information and value exchange, and are trying to retrofit the mechanisms for commerce to a flawed structure. That is why we are…
For centuries, we’ve relied on paper, plastic, and people to prove who we are. A signature, a passport, a nod from someone who knows you — the analogue scaffolding of identity. But in a world where everything is going digital, why are we still treating identity like it’s 1995? Let me be blunt: digital identity…
In a disturbing new development using AI, I can generate a fake passport in minutes that would fool Revolut and Binance for account opening. This was a discovery by Polish researcher Borys Musielak using ChatGPT-4o, who created a fake passport in five minutes You can now generate fake passports with GPT-4o. It took me 5…
I’m working on my next book which is due for release in spring 2026. The theme is all around how to trust in a deep fake world. As a result, I’ve been talking to a lot of people – technologists, bankers, policymakers, ethicists, hackers (some reformed, some not) – and the conversations is around the…
Been having lots of conversations about digital identities and digital wallets lately. It is a theme that has been bubbling for years, yet seem to now be coming to a head. From the EU Digital Wallet and Identity program to India’s Aadhaar and UPI to Brazil’s Pix, there’s definitely something afoot. The core of the…
I found a fun meme on Facebook about passwords. Passwords. What??? When I was a lad, we didn’t have passwords and usernames. What has the world become? Well, it’s become a world of people who are dumb and stupid and create passwords that are ridiculous and easily hackable. For example, the world’s most popular passwords are 123456,…
Like many, I’m still working on the idea of authentication, verification and identification using immutable technologies or, more specifically, distributed ledger technologies (DLT). There are many firms active in this space, trying to create digital identity systems using DLT, but it is far more complicated than such a simple solution. The reason is that the…
For many years now, we have been talking about digital identity. The core is how to prove you are you. You have to be identified, verified, authenticated and approved. You would think with so many layers of monitoring access that everyone online in the financial system could be trusted. So, how come there are criminals,…
