CULedger, a Credit Union Service Organization (CUSO) which focuses on delivering innovative blockchain-based solutions for credit unions, announced that it has reached its goal of $10 million in Series A funding. In November last year, the organization stated it had reached 85% of the milestone. The investors are predominantly credit unions which CULedger says highlights the “market need, interest and support for MyCUID “.
Forty shareholders committed funds to the Series A, implying an average investment of $250,000 per organization.
CULedger’s flagship solution is called MyCUID. The start-up teamed up with Evernym for development, and it also uses the Sovrin Identity Network. In turn, Sovrin uses Hyperledger Indy technology for self-sovereign identity, which was contributed to the open source organization by Evernym.
Essentially, credit union members will have lifelong portable digital identities which cannot be easily hacked nor depend on a central authority. This will allow users to enjoy more secure alternatives to passwords, like voice or fingerprint login.
It’s almost a year since CULedger launched MyCUID. When a member phones into a call center, CULedger sends a cryptographic challenge to the member’s phone app. With the addition of fingerprint confirmation, the call center rep doesn’t require any further authentication.
In May the company announced plans to use Hedera Hashgraph for cross border payments.
This fits in with the start-up’s vision of developing a DLT-based ‘platform for digital exchange’. It envisages potential applications to include cross border payments, payments, loyalty and rewards, compliance, lending as well as other solutions.
“We are grateful the credit union community recognizes the importance of self-sovereign identification and the innovative future of the digital experience,” said Julie Esser, chief experience officer of CULedger. “By leveraging distributed ledger technology, credit unions are leading the industry into the next generation of security and trust in financial services.”
