Today blockchain digital identity platform Bloom released the second version of its mobile application to offer free credit reporting to its users. The company has partnered with TransUnion to provide credit monitoring services in the U.S.
The Bloom app allows users to create a digital identity, monitor data breaches and credit scores. Underpinning all these services is distributed ledger technology (DLT).
In 2017, the Equifax data breach exposed the personal information of about 147 million people in the U.S., which raised the alarm for data privacy and control.
Bloom, with its digital identity service, aims to give a degree of control over personal data back to the consumer and protect their identity.
Using the BloomID, one can have more control over data shared with companies such as lenders. For example, if you need to prove your income, instead of providing a bank statement that has a lot of extra personal data, Bloom can get temporary access to the data and create a credential of your income. If you wish, you can share that verified data about your income with multiple lenders when applying for a loan.
“Until now, consumers had to use an array of different services to monitor their credit and manage their identity, many of which are offered by the very companies that leaked or sold their data without consent in the first place,” says Shannon Wu, spokesperson for Bloom. “Bloom’s mission is to empower people to take back control of their data and protect their identity. Today’s release helps make that a reality.”
For monitoring data breaches, the Bloom platform scans the internet and the dark web for matching information and notifies the user on their app. Additionally, based on the credit score, users can apply for loans through the app.
This seems to be part of Bloom’s business model – a lending marketplace where users can apply for loans from multiple companies using their BloomID.
Bloom’s platform is built on the Ethereum blockchain, and a few months back, the mobile app hit 1 million downloads. The company is offering its credit monitoring and data breach services free of cost.
A few months back, former Experian executives Geoffrey Arone and Victor Nichols joined Bloom as the COO and an advisor, respectively.
Two years ago the startup was part of a BMW accelerator. It raised $41 million in an ICO in early 2018 and currently its token has a market capitalization of $1.3 million.
Another startup with similar ambitions is Spring Labs, which aims to cut out the credit agencies altogether and enable users to store their own data. The company is backed by $38 million in venture capital and is working with General Motors Financial to develop its first products. It’s also launched a registry for clean energy financing.
