Trust will always come into play when it comes to the exchange of goods. Without it, no one is willing to take the plunge in buying from someone they know and don’t know.
Whether shopping online or offline, at least one participant will ask for identification to vouch that it is not a scam. Being able to show identification that vouches for your authenticity builds trust and speeds up the process. No more back and forth questions, and of course, removes the risk of scam or fraud.
But, what more if blockchain technology is involved in the process? And, yes, it’s all about digital identities.
What are Digital Identities?
It is an identification of a person, which consists of different credentials that have the owner’s information encrypted on it. It’s like a physical ID but is uploaded on the blockchain. People will need to use their digital identity to gain access to resources and services that already implemented the technology.
Digital Identity in 2020
The first quarter of 2020 brought in a situation wherein people can not go out of their homes without wearing face masks and being six feet apart to the person they are talking to. If this is a transaction, verification will take time to process since touching objects can increase the risk of getting the disease.
In every transaction, there is verification. And verification takes time. When shopping online, there is a prompt that says MasterCard will verify the card used, or the online seller will ask for credentials and vouches to strengthen your claim of identity.
With digital identities, the claim becomes stronger. Take Estonia for example; the country created a digital society to streamline how citizens access their services. A citizen has their own digital identity, which allows them to access government services and even travel around the EU. They even vote and pay taxes using their digital identity. According to their data, 67% of Estonians use their ID-card regularly, and that 99% of the state services are online. Such services can create a high risk of fraud, but Estonia was able to combat hacks and create a safe system to verify sensitive information.
The bottom line is that digital identities will revolutionize how people will handle their data. They can update their credentials as long as it’s authentic for a confirmation via smart contracts will happen. Also, all thanks to its privacy measures, people can choose who can see their credentials. If it’s medical records, they can choose the doctors who can see their medical history. If it’s a job application, they can provide authentic school and work credentials, removing doubt on the part of the human resources department.
Verification will become faster — if the documents are authentic, the process or transaction will proceed.
COVID-19 gave a huge push for organizations to look at blockchain and its potential for touchless identity verification. Without direct contact with the documents, there are still ways to verify it; thus, everything is still streamlined and processed faster.
