Experts globally agree on one key point about decentralized identity: it will be essential to the evolving metaverse and Web3 world. We’ll all be using personal keys, blockchains and decentralized applications to limit the amount of personal information we expose to data brokers, data breaches and dodgy business practices.
Experts also say brands that go fast to market with this new technology will see huge competitive advantages. We agree. Discover how you can rapidly put decentralized identity solutions into your customers’ hands with Sudo Platform.
Brands should embrace decentralized identity now
We’ve been singing the praises of decentralized identity for a long time and a recent Nasdaq article backs up our view, saying companies should walk away from metaverse and Web3 vendors who don’t offer “a solid strategy for exploiting broadly adopted, decentralized, identity management standards and technology.”
Put simply, decentralized identity is the future of identity management on the internet. It gives a strong foundation for better user privacy, and it’s considered the most important privacy innovation of this decade. It’s also one of the most important use cases for blockchain, as our co-CEO and CTO Dr. Paul Ashley told a recent blockchain convention in Australia. Everywhere you look, experts agree it’s time to get on board with decentralized identity.
Decentralized identity finally gives people control over their personal data
Decentralized identity is essential because, finally, it gives people a way to control what personal information they share online. It’s the answer to the greatest challenge consumers and businesses face today. Consumers are sick of trading their personal information for access, and companies are burdened by having to collect, store and protect customer data and fulfil complex data compliance obligations across jurisdictions.
Decentralized identity drives a new digital identity that is universal, trustworthy, and respects privacy.
Decentralized identity puts the user in sole control of the personal information that forms their identity. It’s decentralized because there’s no central authority or single issuing agent.
Decentralized identity allows a fully digital, universally accepted way of identifying ourselves online (e.g. to a web site or app) and in real life (e.g. at a bar or a border crossing) so:
- We don’t have to use email or usernames and passwords to login, carry paper or plastic versions of our IDs, or give out our personal information to every organization we want to access.
- No central authority (e.g. bank, airline, Instagram, Netflix) needs to collect and store our personal ID information (e.g. name, DOB, SSN, address, phone number etc.) and abuse it or risk losing it.
- We can take back control of our own IDs and personal information.
At the core of decentralized identity is the identity wallet and what’s known as verifiable credentials. The user stores their credentials and other personal information in their wallet, which is a digital app on their device. They don’t use a password for access; instead they have cryptographic keys which transparently authenticate who they are to businesses they want to interact with, and which secure their communications with those businesses.
The verifiable credentials are like digitally signed, digital ID documents. The digital ID documents establish trust, prove the user’s identity, and complete transactions. A trusted authority (e.g. the DMV) will sign the verifiable credential to prove its validity, and the user then stores and controls who sees their verifiable credential or part thereof, such as name, age, DOB, credit card numbers, employer, citizenship status and so on. When the user offers their verifiable credential to a business they want to interact with, that business verifies the credential to check the person is who they say they are. This signing by the initial authority and the checking by the verifying authority goes through the blockchain. Since the user is in total control of their ID information, you’ll hear DI referred to as self-sovereign identity.
Anonyome Labs is developing a wallet app and can help enterprise customers integrate the technology into their own apps.
So, what’s the takeaway message from experts on this new technology? This is the future and it’s time to act!
As the Nasdaq author puts it: “Thanks to advancements in technology like virtual reality headsets and mobile devices, we are at the cusp of the “fourth generation” of cyberspace – the cyberspace of our dreams (and nightmares). Alongside this technology refresh, we have an opportunity to a return to authenticity. As more people work, play, and hang out in virtual worlds, the digital identity management solutions of the past will no longer suffice. We’ll need new ways to ensure that identities are immutable and verifiable across the intersection of the virtual worlds of the metaverse and Web3.”
We’re here for it. Talk to us today about how you can build digital products that let customers communicate privately and transact securely in an increasingly connected world.
Sudo Platform combines a scalable identity foundation and menu of enterprise-ready APIs and SDKs, built for developers by developers.
