South Korea’s NongHyup (NH) Bank has introduced a blockchain-based mobile ID system developed within a tech consortium established by major local firms including Samsung Electronics and LG Uplus, as Samsung is being rolled out for first commercial use.
According to the United Nations, 1.1 billion people worldwide don’t have a way to claim ownership over their identity. A number of countries have been experimenting with blockchain-based identity tools so far. https://t.co/UE6qFzBTJF @Samsung #blockchain pic.twitter.com/cAyuoCa2FY — Xblockchain Developers (@DevXblockchain) February 28, 2020
On February 25, it has been reported by South Korea’s news agency JoongAng Ilbo that NH Bank is jointly implementing the new ID system with SK Telecom, South Korea’s largest wireless carrier.
However, according to local reports, Lee Dae-hoon, the President and CEO of NH Bank, held a demo of the mobile employee ID card with 20 executives and employees at NH Digital Innovation Campus in Seoul.
Based on blockchain technology, the new mobile ID system is designed to provide better control of staff’s personal information and protect their personal data while enabling handy authentication through a smartphone instead of a traditional ID card.
At the launch, the blockchain-based ID service will reportedly be used for commuting and managing access to entry into offices. In the future, the mobile ID card is planned to be expanded to facilitate setting up appointments and payments for services.
According to JoongAng Ilbo, NH Bank’s demo of blockchain-powered ID service is the first commercial application of distributed identity technology developed by a decentralized identifier (DID) consortium known as the Initial DID Association.
It has been analyzed that the association apparently refers to a blockchain identity-focused consortium featuring major local firms.
Likewise, the founding group of the Initial DID Association included Samsung, financial services firms like KEB Hana Bank, Woori Bank, KOSCOM, as well as mobile carriers SK Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus.
As reported by JoongAng Ilbo, the consortium is hosted by the Korean Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Internet & Security Agency.
By rolling out the first commercial application of its blockchain-powered DID technology, South Korea’s Initial DID Association showcases yet another proof for the big potential of blockchain for digital identification purposes.
As blockchain provides an immutable ledger for data records, its technology has become a major tool implemented for streamlining digital identification by global tech giants like IBM.
<img width="1280" height="720" src="https://i1.wp.com/www.cryptonewspoint.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/digital-identity-blockchain-1280x720-1.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-11658 lazyload" />
Image: sociable.co
In addition, a number of countries over the globe have been experimenting with blockchain-based identity tools so far. As such, in late 2019, the Central Bank of Azerbaijan announced its plans to launch a project of a blockchain-based digital identification system in the first quarter of 2020.
Thus, previously, five Canadian banks including the Royal Bank of Canada started deploying a blockchain-based user identification system to enable better security.
Source: news.joins.com | koreaittimes.com | cointelegraph.com
Comments