As the world has shifted from using cash to digital payments, a new digital identification system could pave the way for one global ID.
While most people still use cash for everyday purchases, debit and credit cards accounted for 60% of transactions between $10 and $100, according to finance database Fortunly.
“It makes sense that the bigger the payment, the less likely one is to make it with cash. As the value of transactions rises, other forms of payment like credit and debit cards become more popular,” Fortunately wrote in its “Cash Versus Credit Card Spending Statistics” report.
This has led some companies to launch different services to make paying faster and more convenient. For instance, PayByFace is a Romanian-based company that helps small businesses set up a “secure digital payment ecosystem” that allows for easy and secure payments with just a “selfie.”
PayByFace is reportedly expanding to South Africa, India, the UAE, and here in the U.S. The company’s CEO, Mihai Draghici, said that his organization wants to enable a global movement towards cashless and cardless societies.
“As a pioneer EU fintech start-up committed to enabling global movement towards a cashless and cardless society, using face as a highly secured virtual card, we have to go outside the EU to understand the global shoppers,” Draghici said.
“As PayByFace, we must not only be present in these markets but lead the process with best practices and learn so as to better scale this unique solution worldwide,” he continued.
Despite the company’s assurances, many are still concerned about using a universal ID to pay for items in the marketplace. Voxeurop reported that corporations are proposing a central ID system that integrates facial recognition and all sorts of personal documents, such as medical records.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is investing $200 million in a similar global digital ID system that aims to expand infrastructure in third world countries.
This development comes as the Biden administration has issued an executive order that removes the safeguards against spying on American citizens without a warrant.
The executive order, ironically named the “Enhancing Safeguards for United States Signals Intelligence Activities,” allows the federal government to bypass provisions in order to gather personal information “through signals intelligence.”
