'Code As Law': CEO Of AI Biometric Digital ID Network Firm Says Blockchain Will Be Used For Age Verification And Proof Of Identity In Tokenized Society

“Blockchains now are not just about currency. You can think of a blockchain as write once, never erase, but you can update."

Last month, Evin McMullin, CEO of Billions Network, “the first universal human and AI network built with mobile first verification” - which is affiliated with biometrics provider Privado ID - did an interview with Biometric Update explaining how blockchain technology goes beyond storing tokenized assets and currencies, but is also how digital IDs and age verification will occur by storing personal data on chain. “You can use the devices you already have, such as your phone or your computer, to prove who you are online, on chain, and even in real life,” the company says.

McMullin told the podcast that he takes issue with Google’s YouTube’s approach to age verification as problematic when it comes to privacy. YouTube (and even Google in some contexts), which is owned by parent company Alphabet, controversially forces users and content creators to provide a legal ID or biometric data to prove one’s age, if the algorithm believes the user is underage.

“There’s a concern that YouTube will continue to tighten the gate here, leveraging age not just for safety, but rather for controlling which content is recommended or monetized, which could be seen as the first step in normalizing AI-based age verification tied to censorship. What starts as age safety could become a control mechanism over what content is allowed or recommended or monetizable for different user groups if that process is opaque.”

Unlike other novel attempts to create a blockchain verification protocol, “they are not focused on privacy first, minimal disclosure, and accessibility to all as first principles,” unlike Billions Network, she said. McMullin went on to say that blockchain is more than just money, but a way to effectively tokenize IDs.

“Billions Network was founded on the belief that identity does not need to mean handing over all of your data, but rather we can enable people to make high consent, privacy first, verifiable claims about themselves, rooted in trusted organizations, such as government IDs, or trusted data like biometrics, with minimal exposure of personal data.

“Blockchains now are not just about currency. They are trust layers that allow us to make verifiable claims, such as the claim of age based on a passport, in a way that is tamper-resistant and verifiable without storing that actual data on-chain. You can think of a blockchain as write once, never erase, but you can update.

“In the context of regulation, that’s really powerful because you can comply with laws and emerging regulations such as those in the UK and EU in a way that also respects the privacy and consent of users.”

On October 7th, Billions Network in a press release announced a partnership with Deloitte, the world’s largest services network and accounting firms based out of London.

The company notes:

In a comprehensive analysis of how tokenization will reshape private markets, Deloitte specifically named Privado ID as a solution for privacy-preserving [Know Your Customer] KYC and [Anti-Money Laundering] AML compliance in tokenized finance.

Right now, retail investors can only invest in 8,274 public companies globally. But there are 231,124 private companies with real growth potential—completely out of reach unless you’re already wealthy. Semi-liquid funds are changing that. But there’s a bottleneck: identity infrastructure.

The infrastructure needs to verify humans are real, ensure compliance with KYC/AML regulations, and do it all without creating massive privacy risks. That’s exactly what Billions’ Proof of Humanity was designed to solve.

Companies using Pravado ID

“Tokenization supports the simplification of know your customer and anti-money laundering compliance for semi-liquid funds using reusable decentralized identity management solutions. Some examples of such solutions include those offered by zkMe, cheqd, and Privado ID.” -Deloitte wrote

Translation: The future of tokenized finance needs:

• Privacy-preserving KYC that doesn’t create data honeypots

• Reusable credentials that work across platforms

• Zero-knowledge infrastructure that proves compliance without exposing data

KYC refers to the basic information about a user or client, including legal name, birth, estate, phone number, email, social security and tax ID, and now we are increasingly seeing facial, iris, and vocal recognition, along with biometric fingerprint scans; and in the context of tokenization, this would include very detailed financial background, residency, medical history, online activity and social credit - all retroactively updated on the blockchain.

AML “is the concealment of the origins of money gained from crimes, including tax evasion, human trafficking, drug trafficking, and public corruption. It also includes money being illegally routed to terrorist organizations,” says Investopedia. In a tokenized society, a number of security checks and codes programmed into the tokens via smart contracts, and ways to detect and report potential fraud, along with the peer-to-peer transactions and third-party custodians and banks for digital assets, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and stablecoins.

Both of these things are critical pieces of digital ID; and The WinePress has detailed this in a number of other reports on tokenization and digital IDs:

• Tokenization: Trump Administration Moves To Create Digital ID To Facilitate Digital Dollar And Tokenized Assets In Loss Of Financial Freedom

• Tokenization: United Nations Publishes New Framework For Digital IDs While The World Moves In Lockstep As A Means To Enforce Social Credit Scores

• Tokenization: BlackRock’s Larry Fink Says ‘We’re At The Beginning Of The Tokenization Of All Assets,’ Promotes Necessity Of Digital ID To Form A Social Credit Score

• Tokenization: The “Trivergence” Of Blockchain, AI And The Internet Of Things Will Tokenize Everything And Everyone In A Dystopian World

This process aligns with what the World Economic Forum (WEF) wrote in a post in 2024 titled, “'Code as Law': The tokenization of financial assets and the paradox of programmability.”

The WEF is very much pro-tokenization, and in its post wrote, “In short, the real benefits of tokenization may not be reaped, unless the blockchain ledgers on which it rides are open, permissionless and support programmability.” They go on to describe the concept of “code as law” in these blockchains, and recommends mitigating KYC and AML activity rather than nerfing the technology itself.

At its core, programmability transforms code into enforceable legal contracts or specific market functions when interacting with tokenized asset values. This “code as law” characteristic inherently constrains intermediaries’ discretionary choices. While this constraint helps reduce moral hazard in financial institutions systemically, it also means individual intermediaries will face increasing commoditization. With limited discretion over asset composition and other operational choices, institutions will find it harder to differentiate themselves, likely leading to an erosion of traditional market power as their functions become increasingly automated.

This transformation points to a broader shift in financial markets. Tokenization is poised to increase liquidity in previously illiquid assets while simplifying the balance sheet structure of financial institutions in terms of asset composition.

The result will be a movement away from traditional balance-sheet-heavy intermediation in credit and payment activities toward more market-based price discovery and risk sharing, fundamentally changing how risks and capital are allocated across the economy. As tokenization gains momentum, regulators would do well in regulating the activity and not the technology.

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AUTHOR COMMENTARY

The WEF always comes out and just says it. It’s “code as law.” The law is algorithmic, behavioral, surveilled and tracked. This is why there is a consolidation of government and corporate workspace occurring because those extra bodies are not needed because AI and senior officials will do the tracking and coding, and overseeing the governance of that code and tokenization. Instead of mitigating the technology, the people themselves will be mitigated; which is everything I have been warning about in these tokenization reports for a while now.

As I covered in a recent report, identities themselves will need to be tokenized; and those at the IMF, World Bank, BIS, BlackRock, believe that everyone’s identities will be tokenized in 15 years or so, though I think this will happen a lot sooner for most people.

Tokenization: The "Trivergence" Of Blockchain, AI And The Internet Of Things Will Tokenize Everything And Everyone In A Dystopian World

Digital ID is the key to all of this. Each and every time deep discussions of tokenization arise, it always comes back to digital ID. Without it, tokenization cannot function properly and is made way too cumbersome.

Proverbs 29:2 When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.

Proverbs 22:7 The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.

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[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).

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