Blockchain technology has found many supporters in the financial sector. However, finance is not the only industry where blockchain can be successfully applied. One of the most importation areas where it can show its full potential is biometrics, including in the context of banking.
Niall Cameron, global head of corporate and institutional digital at HSBC, told CNBC:
“There's voice biometrics, there's fingerprint biometrics, there's iris biometrics, I think there's going to be many more invented.”
He also referred to the other blockchain use cases that can transform industries and streamline processes.
Cameron’s comments come only a few days after it was announced that Ant Financial, a subsidiary of Alibaba, along with other Chinese and Russian funds, have invested a total amount of $460 million in Megvii, a Chinese startup that focuses on facial recognition technology. The startup developed Face++, a facial recognition application.
China’s government led the latest funding round through its state-controlled Venture Capital Fund, a 200 billion Yuan (about $30 billion) fund that focuses on Chinese startups. China’s involvement is an effort to compete with the US in the area of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other innovative technologies. Foxconn, a leading electronics manufacturer, and Ant Financial also joined the government’s initiative. The later uses Megvii Face++ technology for mobile payments.
The biometrics-oriented startup is currently collaborating with China’s police to help it monitor over 1 billion citizens by detection through surveillance footage.
The State Council in China announced earlier its plans to become the leader in Artificial Intelligence research by 2030, and the investment in Megvii is part of this broader program.
In an interview with Financial Times, Leng Biao, professor of body recognition at Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, noted the benefits of state funding:
“Investment from the ‘national team’ [state-owned funds] means Face++ will receive much more policy support from the government, which will greatly benefit their development.”
“But there are risks too, because national team funding comes with restrictions on who can invest in them in [the] future,” Biao added.
Last week, ZorroSign, a company focused on electronic signature, announced that customers could authenticate their electronically signed documents with the help of biometrics and their smartphones.
Mr. Shamsh Hadi, Co-founder and CEO of ZorroSign, said that mobile signature and blockchain technology could offer the best user experience:
“We feel this is just the beginning of ways we can integrate mobile devices and with all the technologies implementing Blockchain. This integration provides the best user experience with the additional security and safety of high-valued documents of our customers.”