UK, Switzerland Want Digital IDs. What Could Possibly Go Wrong? | Yana Afanasieva

Originally published on 12 Oct 2025.

What if the first 80% of users flocking to a new digital ID system are hackers and fraudsters? Is this technology the dawn of a dystopian future, or are the risks just overhyped?

In this episode, I’m talking to Yana Afanasieva, an expert in financial regulation, FinTech and data privacy. Yana led regional compliance teams at Amazon and PayPal in Europe, where she gained extensive experience and inside knowledge of Big Tech. Today we want to discuss Digital IDs, not least because the UK has rolled out a project and the Swiss also just voted for a digital ID to become a reality. We explore why the current debate is far too simplistic and what's really at stake.

Yana draws on her Big Tech experience to explain why our data is never truly safe, even when stored on our own phones. We discuss the critical need for a new legal framework that treats our data as property and argue for strict firewalls around our financial and medical information.

Links:
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