Tech5 to provide decentralized DPI for Honduras

Having acquired patent protection for its decentralized system for digital identity issuance and verification, Swiss biometrics provider Tech5 has scored a major win in securing the contract to build digital public infrastructure (DPI) for the nation of Honduras.

A release from the firm says Tech5, along with its local partner, International Technology Group (ITG), will implement the digital ID program of the Republic of Honduras as the basis for a “comprehensive decentralized digital public infrastructure.”

The work includes digitizing four key physical documents for storage in a digital identity wallet. National ID cards, foreign resident ID documents, driver’s licenses and firearms permits will all be available as digital identity documents. Biometric databases managed by the National Registry (RNP) and the Immigration Authority (INM) will provide the “trust anchor” for generating credentials.

Tech5 will also deliver a “comprehensive standards-based platform that establishes trust between the various ecosystem participants, a wallet infrastructure that enables frictionless onboarding, and credential management and presentation.” The so-called super wallet leverages the firm’s T5-AirSnap contactless capture technologies for face and fingerprint biometric modalities, and integrates the KeyShare biometric digital ID platform. An offline verifiable digital credential called T5-Cryptograph is also included.

The current plan schedules setup of the wallet infrastructure, including an official identity verification application designed to scale and service the entire population of Honduras, happening in the first half of 2025.

Rahul Parthe, chairman and CTO at Tech5, says “the next step will be the creation of the infrastructure and use cases, including eKYC, SSO, and enabling payments between all the entities that are empowered by the program: citizens; merchants and enterprises; government; banks and financial institutions; multilateral and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).”

“The delivered ecosystem will become the basis for a Digital Public Infrastructure enabling rails for identity, payments, digital assets and data exchange, mostly in a decentralized fashion. We truly believe that technologies empowering DPI will change the way the world is using digital identities and will boost the economies of countries adopting it.”

Gerardo Pacheco, CEO at International Technology Group, says “this digital ID and wallet project is part of the Republic of Honduras’ journey towards establishing transformative Digital Public Infrastructure in our country. We are proud to be working with Tech5 and its world-leading biometric technologies to establish a DPI program that the rest of the region will want to emulate.”

Article Topics

biometrics  |  decentralized ID  |  digital ID  |  digital public infrastructure  |  digital wallets  |  Honduras  |  identity management  |  International Technology Group (ITG)  |  T5-Cryptograph  |  TECH5