Government authorities in Korea are experimenting with using blockchain technology to build a digital ID system for citizens.
The solution is called B PASS and, as Tech Wire Asia reports, it’s based on the concept of decentralized identity, or ‘DID’. Essentially, the aim is to store citizen data on a blockchain ledger; the data is therefore not stored in any central database, but across a distributed network.
The solution is available as an app for residents of Busan, a designated “blockchain regulation-free zone” and a hotbed for smart city innovation in the country. Authorities are aiming to integrated B Pass functionality into a number of areas including public transport, health services, and even retail, with Tech Wire Asia reporting that it can be used to access “unmanned convenience stores”.
“We want people to ‘feel’ and experience blockchain technology in their daily lives with services like access to public institutions, public library cards, transportation, etc.,” a B PASS representative explained to the publication.
Feelings aside, the blockchain-based DID approach offers a number of tangible benefits. A major one is that it could virtually eliminate the use of forged IDs, since it is not possible to tamper with the overarching ledger of data distributed on the blockchain – not without getting noticed.
End users’ data, meanwhile, is encrypted and stored on their mobile device, rather than a central database. That would theoretically eliminate the possibility of data breaches in which sensitive PII is lost to hackers.
B PASS was developed by the private blockchain specialist Coinplug, and is built on the Self-Sovereign Identity blockchain Metadium, according to the report.
Source: Tech Wire Asia