Jolocom launches new GDPR-compliant blockchain identity management app SmartWallet 2.0

Jolocom GmbH, a digital application provider that uses blockchain technology for proof of identity, announced Sunday the launch of its SmartWallet 2.0 solution, a new version of its app for storing digital assets and identification that’s compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation in the European Union.

To maintain compliance with the GDPR, digital identities stored in the app must allow users an easy and verifiable way to opt out of firms collecting personally identifiable information.

By using distributed ledger blockchain technology to provide identity management, users can store their identity documents on their device, control who can see their documents and understand how their identity is used.

Nobody – not even Jolocom – can access the data without permission. And the permission can be revoked at any time.

“The way we share identity data is often overlooked,” said Joachim Lohkamp, Jolocom’s founder and chief executive. “Jolocom takes a forward-looking approach to identity management that helps journalists, enterprises and governments, among others, employ identity solutions for a digitally native world.”

Each time users sign up for a new website, they populate information about themselves, spreading their personal information to new entities where they ultimately lose control over it.

Jolocom’s wallet enables users to store their identity documents on a device and share them with a verifier who is authorized by the government to provide certification of the document. After that, the document never needs to be shared again.

For example, does a website need to know that a user is over the age of 21? The user can authorize a verifier via the Jolocom wallet to confirm and this transaction can happen without that website ever viewing the document. The user’s privacy remains paramount and only the information required is exchanged.

Finally, if users prefer, they can remove their documents and authorization at any time. Since their identity documents and verification are completely under their control, they can do so without fear that a commercial entity has a copy of their ID.

“Jolocom’s SmartWallet 2.0 is not only GDPR-compliant today but adaptable to fit future use cases like e-government IDs, COVID passports, gym memberships and much more,” said Lohkamp.

Jolocom has created a program for Belgian citizens to interact with businesses via e-government IDs and access academic events. The wallet company also participated in a program aimed to showcase its use for decentralized ride-sharing with Telekom Innovation Laboratories’ official launch of Xride.

SmartWallet 2.0 also supports Stacks, a platform for building decentralized applications on the Bitcoin blockchain. That allows developers to inherit the security of Bitcoin’s network for their own apps and use them on Jolocom’s wallet.

Image: Jolocom