Biometrics are not just the future; they are very much the present. Every time you unlock your smartphone with your fingerprint or face, you engage with a system that captures and stores your most personal identifiers. Right now, these biometrics—whether it’s your fingerprint, face map, or even iris scan—are being captured, stored, and leveraged by corporations. This is done through the devices we use every day, and the convenience of biometric authentication has made us comfortable with handing over these critical pieces of ourselves.

in the hands of those who might not have your best interests at heart. Currently, your smartphone is the window through which your unique identifiers are collected. Every time you use facial recognition or a fingerprint scanner, the data gets stored in ways you may not be fully aware of. And what’s worse? These biometrics could be used in ways you definitely wouldn’t approve of.

Biometrics and the Threat of Mimicry In the near future, with the advent of advanced AI models, there is a high likelihood that your biometric data—once considered uniquely yours—could be mimicked. AI could use these datasets to recreate your face, voice, or fingerprint with stunning accuracy. Imagine a world where not only your online identity but your physical identity can be cloned. Once that happens, corporations, or even malicious third parties, could potentially use this mimicry for their own gain, locking you out of your own identity or worse.

This brings us to the critical question: do you really own your face?

Towards True Self-Custody of Biometrics The key to solving this problem is self-custody—the concept of having full ownership and control over your biometric data. Just like the self-custody of your digital assets, self-custody of biometrics involves not just storing, but protecting and managing them in a decentralized and secure manner.

For absolute self-custody, one should be able to combine the convenience of biometrics with the security and autonomy that decentralization provides. Here’s where we start to see a solution: decentralized biometric storage. Imagine a network where your initial biometric measurements—whether that’s a face scan, fingerprint, or voice profile—are securely stored on-chain. Every subsequent measurement you make (like unlocking your phone or accessing a secure website) is recorded on the same network, ensuring that you remain in control.

Decentralized Networks for Biometrics Such a decentralized network would allow you to retain ownership of your biometric data. The biometrics would be securely encrypted, and each time they are accessed or verified, that access is done with your explicit consent, and crucially, without ever revealing the actual biometric data.

Here’s the real game-changer: zero-knowledge proofs. This technology allows you to prove you are who you say you are without exposing the underlying data—your actual fingerprint or face scan. In essence, you can provide a signature that says, “Yes, this is me,” without ever sharing the biometric information itself. The proof is generated and verified by the network, but the biometric data stays yours, protected and untouchable by external parties.

The Convenience Without the Compromise What’s the point of biometrics if they don’t make your life easier? The beauty of this self-custody model is that it doesn’t sacrifice convenience. You can still use your fingerprint or face scan to unlock your phone, verify payments, or log in to applications. However, instead of the biometrics being stored in centralized databases (which could be hacked, copied, or otherwise compromised), they are stored on a decentralized network where you hold the keys. Your data is your own, and only you decide how and when it is used.

In this future, you can imagine a world where your biometric data, like your private keys, is securely locked away in decentralized storage, available only to you. No tech company, no government, and no rogue AI can access or use your biometrics without your explicit consent.

The Future of Self-Custody and Biometrics Self-custody is more than just a trend in the digital world; it’s a movement towards total ownership of one’s identity. The ability to store your biometrics on decentralized networks, protected by advanced cryptography and privacy-preserving technologies, will allow people to take control of their identities in a way that was never possible before.

In this world, your face, your fingerprint, your voice—they belong only to you. You decide how they’re used, who has access, and when. The future of self-custody isn’t just about protecting assets; it’s about protecting the very essence of you.

Conclusion: Ownership is Everything In the end, self-custody is about ensuring that your identity, in all its forms, cannot be co-opted, copied, or compromised. By leveraging decentralized networks and zero-knowledge proofs, you can maintain full self-custody of your biometrics, enjoying the benefits of modern convenience without sacrificing control. Because, let’s face it—if you don’t own your biometrics, do you really own your identity?

This is the next frontier of self-custody, and the question remains: are you ready to own your face?