Yesterday blockchain firm Digital Bazaar released details of its Proof of Concept for identity management. The project, developed with GS1 US, SecureKey, TradeLens, and 20 other partners, hopes to build Decentralized Identifiers (DiDs) for organizations.
Virginia based Digital Bazaar focuses on open payment and credential projects, with mainly large enterprises and federal governments as clients. Meanwhile, SecureKey is an identity provider, and TradeLens is the high profile blockchain collaboration between IBM and Maersk for logistics.
It can be assumed that the project will meet the standards set by supply chain organization GS1 US. The other 20 collaborators are as yet unnamed. Yesterday’s announcement reveals that the firms are creating various new products to ‘fill in the gaps’ of identity management.
One of the critical areas to be addressed is reusability. With blockchain, Digital Bazaar and its partners plan to build secure, verifiable credentials for organizations such as government agencies and large firms. The DiDs would allow them to streamline the vetting process.
A trusted issuing party would add credentials to the blockchain while a verifier, such as a hiring company, would request and confirm those credentials. An authorized verifier could store the data securely to prevent having to re-check. Like many other identity projects, users can also save their credentials.
“We are focusing on customer-driven bottom-line benefits that these technologies can bring to industry, which is a welcome change from many of the blue-sky approaches technology companies have taken to date,” stated Manu Sporny, Digital Bazaar’s CEO.
“We are excited to work with real customers on real problems. GS1 US, TradeLens, SecureKey, and large governments are focusing on real world solutions using emerging organizational identity and blockchain standards to improve efficiencies in the supply chain and financial industries,” continued Morny.
Last month, IBM announced its own credentials blockchain solution, Trust Your Supplier, with the likes of GlaxoSmithKline, Cisco, and Vodaphone involved. The biggest name in decentralized identity is Sovrin, which funded the first cohort of its Self-Sovereign Identity Incubator (SSII) last week.
