On August 25, 2016, Motherboard published episode two of its Humans+ series: "The Man Biohacking Encryption From His Garage." The crew came to the Dangerous Things garage headquarters for an early look at UKI, a prototype implant built around encryption: a chip designed to hold cryptographic keys inside the body, then expected to release in 2017.
A companion piece by Madison Margolin ran the same day under the headline "This Biohacker Wants to Implant Cryptographic Keys Beneath Your Skin." My pitch in it still summarizes the project: "When you think about the ability to get rid of your keys and get rid of your wallet, now you're talking about something the average person can get behind." Digital signatures, authentication, transit passes, even a bitcoin wallet, carried subdermally instead of in a pocket.
Motherboard closed on the right question: merging our physical and digital identities is the point, but how will society react to these technologies living under the skin? More than a decade into carrying implants, I was more than used to the question. The technology was finally catching up to it.
Humans+: The Man Biohacking Encryption From His Garage
The cryptographic-keys short
Motherboard also cut a three-minute short focused squarely on the keys-under-skin idea.