Decentralized digital identity is spreading as fresh use cases emerge

A recent post on Forrester’s website, written by VP and Principal Analyst Andras Cser, dips into how travel and mobile are driving the growth of Decentralized Digital Identity (DDID). With SITA leading Series A funding for Seattle’s Indicio in a push for digital transformation in the air transport space, and the NFID Foundation announcing plans to promote DDID standards in the security industry and mobile device sector, use cases could proliferate.

“Finding and supporting use cases (such as presenting secure, standardized digital travel documents) in standard mobile wallets on standardized frameworks (such as OpenWallet) in mobile devices will significantly accelerate DDID adoption and alleviate concerns around DDID technologies becoming fragmented or proprietary,” writes Cser. “These standardized use cases will drive interoperability and usability and help grow DDID adoption.”

Ownership of data at core of adoption by travel industry

In a press release issued following its renewed investment in Indicio, SITA says “the emergence of digital identities means we can fundamentally rethink today’s complex passenger journey to make it easier, faster, and connected with the wider travel ecosystem.” Ultimately, decentralized digital identity, self-sovereign identity (SSI), decentralized travel credentials (DCT) and other variations hinge on giving control back to travelers, in terms of what information they opt to share with various parties, how secure their data is, and how much friction they encounter along the way.

A post from PhocusWire examines the question of which parties “own a customer” – which is to say, can collect enough data to create meaningful personalization through profiles and preferences. “What if rather than a supplier or intermediary owning the customer profile, travelers themselves controlled their own personal information, choosing which suppliers and intermediaries to share specific details with?” asks the post.

This is the basic concept of self-sovereign identity. But it also requires a delivery mechanism – in this case, a digital wallet. “A full, inter-operational digital ID ecosystem will be required to truly reap the benefits of frictionless travel,” says the post. “The first step is to enable a new type of mobile digital wallet, referred to as a mobile software wallet. In addition to identity, mobile software wallets must be capable of securely storing various valuable objects (e.g. reservations, tickets, passes, vouchers, loyalty points, policies).”

Ontology launches $10M crypto fund for decentralized ID innovation

Public open source blockchain Ontology has announced a financial initiative to help give decentralized digital ID an extra push. A press release announces the creation of a $10 million fund, designated in ONT & ONG tokens, to accelerate the adoption, education, and development of decentralized digital ID technology. The fund is aimed at sparking innovation in four key areas: public awareness and education, technical tutorials and adoption initiatives for the ONT ID decentralized digital identity platform, and the development of new applications and services that showcase the platform’s versatility.

Worldcoin launches World Chain blockchain to scale protocol

Worldcoin is launching its own dedicated blockchain for identity. Following on its iris biometrics scanner, the Orb, the WLD cryptocurrency and the World ID app, Tools for Humanity’s contentious digital identity initiative now adds World Chain to its list of related brands.

“World Chain is a new blockchain designed for humans,” says an announcement posted to Worldcoin’s blog. “It will be open for everyone, and verified humans will get priority blockspace over bots as well as a gas [fee] allowance for casual transactions. Developers will be able to reach millions of these real users around the world, with apps focused on utility for everyday life.”

The move is prompted in part by the need for increased capacity. In nine months of existence, Worldcoin has seen 10 million people in 160 countries create a World ID, 5,019,224 of which have verified their World ID using an Orb biometric capture machine. And it intends to keep growing; although World Chain is “built for humans,” it is also “built to scale the Worldcoin protocol and the broader Ethereum community to 1 billion people and beyond.”

Article Topics

blockchain  |  decentralized ID  |  digital identity  |  NFID Foundation  |  Ontology  |  World  |  World Chain