Individuals can be authenticated either with something they know (username/password), something they have (smartcard) or something they are. The last category, better known as biometrics, comes in multiple flavors, which include fingerprints, faces, irises...
Not too long ago, a China-based VC told me that nearly all the startups he was seeing were of the “Copy To Asia” or C2A variety. Each pitch inexorably led to the goal of becoming the “Google of China” or “Facebook of China” or “YouTube of China” etc....