No Digital ID, No Food: Coming Soon to a Western Society Near You

Why It Matters

For businesses and financial services, mandatory digital IDs create new compliance burdens and market opportunities for identity-verification technologies while also concentrating regulatory and reputational risk around data control and consumer access.

Summary

Governments from Beijing to Berlin and London are accelerating rollouts of digital identity systems in 2025 that promise convenience and security but risk turning access to everyday services—including food and commerce—into contingent privileges tied to electronic credentials. The trend combines pervasive CCTV, biometric scanning and centralized databases, raising urgent concerns about surveillance, exclusion of unregistered or dissenting citizens, and the erosion of privacy. For businesses and financial services, mandatory digital IDs create new compliance burdens and market opportunities for identity-verification technologies while also concentrating regulatory and reputational risk around data control and consumer access.